Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor

Lupe Fiasco - Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor
Critic Score
Based on 20 reviews
2006 Ratings: #12 / 732
User Score
2006 Rank: #29
Liked by 212 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
A.V. Club
Stylistically, Fiasco's flow, fussy pronunciation, and wordplay owe a sizable debt to Jay-Z, who executive produces and guests on "Pressure." But thematically and lyrically, there is no father to Fiasco's style.
100
HipHopDX

While Lupe Fiasco has become the quintessential next big thing, he will also suffer the same unfortunate fate that many others before him had to deal with... having to wait for people to digest how special this man’s gift truly is.

90
Prefix

Food & Liquor is the best hip-hop album of 2006.

90
Slant Magazine

Food & Liquor is one of the year's fresher efforts and future classics.

83
Entertainment Weekly
A messy, ambitious CD by a deeply thoughtful MC.
80
Rolling Stone
It's full of surprising, creative moments that recall Nas and Kanye West.
80
Evening Standard
Soaring on slick orchestral swells, Lupe's fleet-footed rhymes unfurl slowly over multiple listens - and in this case hitting rewind repeatedly is no chore.
80
Mojo
One of the albums of the year.
80
Uncut

While Food & Liquor struggles with its own contradictions, it does so over scorching beats and with lyrical flair.

80
The Skinny
Lupe counteracts the philosophical quandary with strong narrative thought in his rhymes - every track moves towards a single motive; every lyric has a point.
80
Sputnikmusic
Fiasco's impressive offering stands as a strong contendor for 2006's best debut album.
80
AllMusic

Food & Liquor just might be the steadiest and most compelling rap album of 2006.

80
PopMatters
The album might not become a rap classic, but it is easily one of the best rap albums of 2006, and maybe one of the top records of any kind to appear this year.
79
Pitchfork

His first album's the work of an MC in love with rap's freedom of expression but at odds with its current landscape.

70
NME
All in all, this is merely promising rather than masterful.
60
The Observer

Kanye West collaborator delivers with a little help from his friends.

KIDWITHGUNs
100

🎤 🎤 🎤 🎤 🎤

Lupe's albums are similar to the likes of Kendrick's in the sense that you haven't really listened to their music unless you've heard it more than once, that statement applies to even one of his simplest and far less conceptual albums to date; "Food & Liquor". Other than being a fun, excellently produced and beautifully cohesive body of work... with a little more focus one would be blown away by the metaphors Lupe uses to disguise his profound messages, ... read more

AllAboutMusic
88

I've been meaning to give this a listen for the longest time, but my procrastinating ass finally got around to it. I had known about Kick, Push and Daydreaming before listening, both of which I love. But when I listened to this LP in its entirety, I was pleasantly surprised to find a handful of tracks that match, and sometimes even exceed those 2 records in terms of pure artistry. Food & Liquor is a gratifying listen in every sense. From the subtle MC'ing, to the orchestral production, to ... read more

Cry
77

Happy Birthday @RenIsNowNas :)

Drive Thru Debuts X Suggestions X Listening Party (w/ my good friend @TomBejoy)
Food & Liquor: Good & Bad
Suggested By: @RenIsNowNas

'Food & Liquor' is Lupe Fiasco's debut album and it's quite lovely, being filled with fantastic messages on many different topics or issues and it's crazy to see that most of what Lupe raps about is still relatable today as the topics/issues he's rapped about still do not have solutions and stand today, excluding the ... read more

DComic
87

Kick, Push is a classic and a 10. All tracks are good. Very fun listen with great production and the typical fantastic lyricism that Lupe is known for.

Jago
90

I really like this album. It has Kanye's influence all over it with the soul samples, which is a good thing, and Lupe's rapping skills are phenomena- is that a fucking DS on the cover?

97

A94
E100

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Track List

1Intro
3:06
77
2Real
4:01
87
3Just Might Be OK
4:24
feat. Gemini
90
4Kick, Push
4:13
97
5I Gotcha
3:58
86
6The Instrumental
3:26
90
7He Say She Say
4:12
94
8Sunshine
3:55
88
9Daydreamin'
3:55
95
10The Cool
3:46
89
11Hurt Me Soul
4:22
95
12Pressure
4:47
feat. JAY-Z
88
13American Terrorist
4:40
88
14The Emperor's Soundtrack
2:56
82
15Kick, Push II
4:11
88
16Outro
12:13
64
Total Length: 1 hour, 12 minutes

Year End Lists

#16/A.V. Club
#16/Rolling Stone
#17/Cokemachineglow
#20/SPIN
#32/Pitchfork
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