Homework Sunday

I woke up nicely at 12 o'clock in the afternoon today! My room is a mess right now :(

My whole day was very just a bunch of lying around and I didn't anything until I started to cook dinner, which was Tofu and Vegetables with Iced Green Mango Tea (see below).

I had homework for English, P.E. and Economics. It's cool because I got to do my Economics homework on my computer. Sundays are usually set aside for homework for me.

I want to start my Food & Liquor critique and analysis right now. I'm going to try to do each song each day but I can't promise that will happen because I know some songs better than others. I will be going in order of the album so first up is Intro:

[Uncredited female rapper]
Food and liquor stores rest on every corner
From 45th and State to the last standing hymn nuhana
J&J's, pale chicken, good finger licking
While they sin, gin, sin sin at Rothschild and Lynnwood Liquors
The winos crooked stagger
meets the high stride of the youth searching for the truth
They rebel and raise hell across alleyways and in classroom settings
They get, high off that drum bass and 20/20 rims
They rock braids, Air Force Ones and Timbs
They drink Hennessy, Hypnotiq and 40's
They call they women hoes, bust downs and shorties
They keep funeral homes in business and gunshot wards of hospitals full
Prisons packed, bubbling over in brown sugar
They keep empty, Westside lots crowded, hype's powdered
The well is running dry, the days of Malcolm and Martin have ended
Our hope has descended and off to the side
Waiting for the reinstallment of the revolution
Because we are dying at the cost of our own pollution
But God has another solution, that has evolved from the hood
I present one who turns, the Fiasco to good

[Lupe Fiasco]
A'uzu billahi min ash shaitani r rajimi
Bismi 'llahi 'r-rahmani 'r-rahim
Dedicated, to my grandmother
Peace! And much love to you
YEAH!! And it start
1st and, 15, proudly present
You know what it is
See.. I got this philosophy right
I think the world, and everything in it
Is made up of a mix, of two things
You got your good, you know, and your bad
You got your food, and your liquor
That's right.. Chilly Chill!
You already know, it's a long time coming
I give you my.. I give you my heart
My soul, my mind my thoughts, my feelings
My experience, nothing more, and nothing less
Yes, FNF, uh-huh! So
With no further adieux...
Lupe, Fiasco's, Food & Liquor

First off let me say that I think this is a brilliant opening to Lupe's first album. He starts having another rapper/poet introducing him, pointing out the ills of 'our' world (our referring to black folks, I'm quite sure). I think it's interesting how the female poet uses a "they-we" method to the poem/rap. In the beginning she says that "they" do this "they" do that but when she transitions to getting into the "solution" (when she starts speaking about Martin and Malcom) she starts to present the problem as her problem as well and not just "they", as though she is placing blame on herself as well. I'm not entirely sure what this could mean in deeper meaning but I thought it would be interesting to point out.

Next thing I would like to touch on is the meaning of Food & Liquor. Obviously they are symbols of good and bad, food being good, liquor being bad (i.e. the parallelism to "you got your good and your bad, you got your food and your liquor"). Food gives one nourishment, liquor gives the illusion of nourishment. The liquor is the people, the "hood". It is what is putting "us" in prison and keeping funeral homes in business. But then it goes on to say from the Liquor, from the hood, from the bad comes a revolution, which brings forth Lupe Fiasco, the fiasco is turned to good. I think this is an even greater image if one is familiar with hour Lupe got his last name. He saw it on one of Nas' albums which said Firm Fiasco and he liked how the Fiasco looked so he choose the name without knowing what fiasco even meant. In interviews he says that he kept the name to remind him of his mistake and how quick he took on the name with no forethought. So it's a nice symbol to have in the poem/rap that the fiasco would turn to good. From this simple of good and bad, food and liquor, one can assume the album will be about the good and the bad and I believe most of the songs in the album hold true to that theme, except for a few exceptions.

I also thought the suggestion the poet/rapper makes about Lupe being the new revolution, the new Malcom or Martin. If one really thinks about it Lupe makes a ballzy move comparing himself to Malcom and Martin and that he will be the new revolution. If one is going to start the album with something like that then you'd expect something really amazing to come out from the following tracks. I think that right there just shows Lupe's confidence with himself and his self-awareness and also his world awareness. He's in his element here. He knows "our" people really are in the crapper as a culture and he realizes that some of us are waiting for a reinstallment of a revolution and to say he is that revolution is extremely daring.

10/10 on this one.

This fool has super powers (view below).

Peace