REVIEW: LUPE FIASCO - SAMURAI

4/5

Yasuke.

Yasuke was the name of a man of African descent, serving as a samurai to Japanese daimyō Oda Nobunaga for fifteen months in the 1500s. His legend is well known. Recently, Yasuke has been immortalized in a Netflix anime voiced by 'Atlanta's' very own LaKeith Stanfield and an 'Assassin's Creed' video game. But peep some promotional photos of the 'Food & Liquor' of great Chicago (maaan) rapper Lupe Fiasco, and you'll see there's more than one black samurai.

Just like the amazing artwork that harks back to the Edo era with amazing anime styling, Lupe Fiasco's 'Samurai' is a masterpiece of reinvention for the man who has kicked, pushed, but never coasted his compelling career or catalogue. This ninth wonder of an album is an eight-track as such. Short and sweet like Sakura season, and to the point like the blade tip of a Japanese warrior. And boy are these barbs sharp, from the titular track, to taking it to 'Mumble Rap', there are no fiascos here. The cool of Wasalu Muhammad Jaco speaks ever so clearly. Just like he did as a 'Superstar' when all 'Lasers' were on him like the eyes behind those icing geek glasses. From 'Drogas' to 'Drill Music'.

1st and 15th and Thirty Tigers give you something smoother than Onitsuka sneakers in Ginza. Scoring a second Soundtrakk with the prolific producer 'In Zion' two years back like Ms. Lauryn Hill's joy. There's no miseducation here, going back to black. As off the 'Cake' of candles being blown out on a second-single, this samurai is actually about the life of late, great Brit singer Amy Winehouse (also immortalized in a brilliant biopic picture) released just days after what would have been the smouldering singer's 41st birthday. With this half-hour jazz rap, Fiasco gives us his best yet, after his definitive debut, for a cool concept of what it would have been like if the 'Rehab' singer was a battle rapper. She would have bested everyone. Yes. Yes. Yes!

To serve her, is to love her. And this Coachella announced album also takes cues from the chambers of the Wu-Tang Clan. Which is interesting, because Winehouse once told her producer Salaam Remi, "I keep coming out with battle raps and they're just pouring out of me. Like Wu-Tang stuff, but really neat, very beautifully alliterated little battle raps. So next time you wanna come for me and have a battle rap-off, I'm gonna kill you. Because I’m a samurai." Now can you see Lupe's looping point on his self-confessed most personal project yet as he feels close to his muse?

With a homage to heaven, Lupe builds 'Palaces' for Winehouse waxing, "We've been talented, all along/We think we're fortresses, made of stone/But we’re just palaces made out of flesh and bone/Waiting for our time to shine to come on home" lyrical with a mantra for the masses that amass artwork of the highest order. There's more of them than you think, hidden behind the silkscreen of those who think making money as a commercial product is more important than honing your craft in discipline and servitude.

Rocking his 'No 1. Headband' like he's about to ball out, Fiasco takes 'Bigfoot' steps off the skateboard stereotypes some still want to grind him in. "Front row the only row, the show sold nothin'/Then second thoughts spell intimacy as a plus/Plus, energy conducts, if I truly put my all in/The responsibility feels just like a callin'/The rest of thе crowd must be stallin' before thеy fall in/Or maybe this all them and there's no more autumn/Try not to worry 'bout the walkings and focus on the waltzin'/If the King of New York actually enters, that'd be awesome/But it's better not to get lost inside in a song talking." If this is what Amy might have had on her mind when she was thinking about rapping, then the gone girl really was amazing.

Going 'Outside' like George Michael with Kush Baby, Fiasco spits, "My business bone is connected to my ethics/In a series of daisy chain preferences that I filter things through, just like a checklist/In a much wiser bride pie with spouses on the top, such as, "I now happily apply these metrics"/To the setlist, on the surface, separates." for some bold and beautiful bars. Lines that last forever, like 'Til Eternity' of the curtain closer that reaches for the lost stars we still look for in inspiration. "Yeah, live in the flesh/Beehive survived in a wreck/I carry knives like samurais on a quest/That I drive in the chest like it's a riot in the treasure/He lost the game and cried in his checkers/Lost his name and now signs with an X." Sealed and delivered, this wonder is yours...and Amy's. As like a 'Liquid Sword' this 'Samurai' will be a classic for more than the next 50 years of hip hop's reign. Just like the legendary Lupe, remaking his legacy...and the one of Amy. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Samurai', 'Palaces', ''Til Eternity'.