Chicago rapper Lupe Fiasco drops his highly anticipated album sophomore release `Lupe Fiasco`s The Cool` on Dec 18th in US and Jan 21st in UK. The follow up to 2006`s ‘Lupe Fiasco’s Food and Liquor` boasts a new set of tracks that have been protected better than Osama Bin Laden. With calculated leaks and a hot first single the question posed is how ‘The Cool’ compares to his critically acclaimed debut.

`The Cool`, although different than `Food and Liquor`, sports similar characteristics - strong singles, lessons in lyrical dexterity and political poetry all oozing with Lupe’s spectacular delivery. Lupe gives his cool and calculated view on his life, society and in general the human condition. `The Cool` has a whole new hash of commercial tracks. The standout has to be `Superstar` featuring Mathew Santos. Also not to be overlooked is `Hi-Definition` featuring Snoop Dogg and Pooh Bear, the Tribe Called Quest-esque `Paris Tokyo` and `Go Baby`. But where this project triumphs over his debut is in the excellent narratives told in `Intruder Alert` and `Little Weapon`, where Lupe comes outside of himself and steps into the shoes of other people and telling their story with empathy. He takes us further to the depths of the souls of man with his superb personification of a hustler`s damaging influences (`Put You On Game`) and the urban streets corrupt allure (`Streets on Fire`).

The album does have its low points however - the 19 tracks of Lupe`s abstract stories, similes, metaphors and relentless flow it can become a bit heavy, leaving your brain anything but cool. This overkill can be seen on `Go Go Gadget Flow` and `Dumb It Down` where Lupe overly exerts his complex lyrical ability, which will leave you needing an aspirin, a dictionary and a thesaurus. Yeah Yeah Yeah we know already Lupe - you won`t dumb down for no one....

Overall `Lupe Fiasco`s The Cool` is a beautifully mesh of fresh sounds, sick flows and interesting and daring subject matter, showing Lupe at his best - mixing the conscious with a little bit of commercial appeal and stretching himself artistically and conceptually. The jury is out on whether this will be received by the masses as a classic but until LupEND comes around (next year apparently) we should have enough food for thought, music for our ears and, if nothing else, a new Lupe-Lyrical rubix cube to attempt to master over the winter months! FNF Up...

Rating: 7/10 (Should Buy)

Yaw Owusu (URBEATZ)