4/5
Mount Zion.
72 hours. That's all it took for Lupe Fiasco to record his new album 'DRILL MUSIC IN ZION'. His first since 2018's 'Drogas Wave' (coming a year after 'Drogas Light'). But don't let that drill into you that one of Chi-town's finest didn't bring it. Broad and bullying in its bulk, 'Zion' is an incredible body of work like New Orleans Pelican and next NBA superstar Williamson's new formidable frame, forged in the lab. From Kanye to Kid Cudi, this is one of backpack rap's best. From Paris to Tokyo. Ever since he kicked and pushed way back in 2006 with his 'Food and Liquor' that had everyone convinced he was a skater like Pharrell. But this N.E.R.D on his own planet like Neptune contains multitudes and he hasn't stopped releasing monumental albums in their multiples as the show goes on. From Lupe Fiasco's 'The Cool', to even a 2012 sequel to his debut, 'Great American Rap Album' six years later. 'Lasers' lighting the way for Wasalu Muhammad Jaco who also fronts the rock band Japanese Cartoon. This is 40. And the 1st and 15th double J former Child Rebel Soldier is a 'Superstar' (like you too if you say you are). The Reebok style of this anti-establishment rapper, rhyming against all the genre's misogyny and vulgarity is on anything but a loop. Now it's time for the mainstream to play and pay...its respects to one of today's best in show.
Because in Zion like the joy of Lauryn, up on the hill, this 'DRILL MUSIC' may just be Lupe's best Fiasco yet. Opening up with 'THE LION'S DEEN', from the rapper who once touched the sky with 'Ye and told us he wanted to "stop lying like Mumm-ra." Testify. Because this is the truth. The genuine article in its conscious attitude and album artwork that portrays even more for his music museum. A triangle mined into the clay like paint of this earth. Speaking to a greater truth, the youth and a watching world, waiting for the change John Mayer sang about way back in 2006. On 'GHOTI', Lupe raps, "Assassin's Creed, rapping it back indeed/Like a mansion that's lacking fees, tapping the blackest keys/Capture catastrophes like a camera feed /Ball like a can of peas, fall like Michael Jackson on anaesthes'/Mistaking maidens for manatees/Neuralink is now pirating all your fantasies/Mistaking the sanitation for sanity/My mistake, I'm mistaking staying for cannot leave." Still one of the genres giant greats with so much to say. Just like on his lead single 'AUTOBOTO', transforming with Nayirah, turning into a Porsche, "I defend myself in court, this is sport, I get signals from the source/I can twist and I contort, I just feel like I'm a Porsche/I'm Carrera, -era, -era, -era, -era, -era, -era-era, -еra, -era, -era, -era, -еra."
Now if that chorus doesn't have you singing along, playing it in your car (even if it isn't a Porsche...hey, I don't even have one. What's so wrong with fallin' in love with someone with a bus pass?). Then you'll really hold on to these 'PRECIOUS THINGS'. The Fiasco raps are back with, "Never bite the hands that feed/But when those same hands grab the gats and up their sleeves/They gather traps and apparatus for your griefs/They catch you lackin', wrap around yo' hatch and squeeze/I swear my hands werе pure, I gave 'em manicurеs/Became my adversaries, became my saboteurs." Opening the 'KIOSK' on lines for our times like, "diamonds only worth what you are willing to pay/a deceptive game you are killing to play." Whilst 'MS. MURAL' is something that demands oyur attention like the artwork or 'Ms. Marvel'. It's 'NAOMI' that's the real dedication though before 'DRILL MUSIC IN ZION'S' titanic title-track. A dedication by all means necessary. "I was in Roxbury on Malcolm X block/Talking that talk that got Malcolm X watched/Tryna pick up where Malcolm X stopped/Only gave my players a Malcolm Xbox/Look in the sky, see the Malcolm X ring/Malcolm X-files, it's a Malcolm X thing/As you ask yourself, "What does Malcolm X mean?"/I return to the force in a Malcolm X-Wing/And scene." And that's a great way to wrap things up before the fantastic finale 'ON FAUX NEM' and the supersonic storm of 'SEATTLE'. Reigning with bars like, "I'd keep a secret, but I'm honest/If I ever go and leak it, may reactors go atomic over me/Yeah, yeah, yeah/I don't believe in nothing solidBut if we are trapped in here, I hope that we go supersonic when we think." Holding the game like a glove, or Gary Payton too. Drilling his way back into the game. Finding his holy place in the kingdom of hip-hop heaven. TIM DAVID HARVEY.
Playlist Picks: 'AUTOBOTO (Feat. Nayirah)', 'PRECIOUS THINGS', 'SEATTLE'.
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