Lupe Fiasco has blessed his fans and whoever else wants to listen with an hour-plus audio breakdown of his classic debut Food And Liquor that came out on this day 10 years ago.
Fresh off his memorable guest verse on Kanye West‘s “Touch The Sky” and his Fahrenheit 1/15 mixtape series, Lupe Fiasco had the world calling him a Hip-Hop messiah as he prepped to drop his debut album. That pressure would have made any other new jack crumble, but not Lupe.
With Food & Liquor Lupe aka “Cornell Westside” cut through Hip-Hop like a samurai sword. At the time Hip-Hop was walking a tight rope where artists were super street or super glossy. If they were neither one of those they were likely a veteran artist trying to keep up. Lupe carved his own lane.
10 years later, Food & Liquor is still considered Lupe’s best work as every album he’s made since then has been compared to it. To celebrate the decade after, Lupe has recorded himself reminiscing about the time.
“You only get to do your first one once,” he writes on Soundcloud. “I don’t do interviews but I will record myself talking to myself lol. 10…Remembering is hard but its fun lol. Enjoy. Happy Anniversary!”
Lupe’s monologue contains plenty of gems like the time Three 6 Mafia was supposed to be on the album, but the song was cut because DJ Paul and Juicy J sold the beat to Playaz Circle. He also tells a story about how he almost couldn’t perform at the album release party because he had an abscess on his throat.
Check it out below.
