Austinist Preview and Giveaway: Lupe Fiasco

Chicago rapper Lupe Fiasco’s two albums are anomalies on the rap racks: winding, wordy projects with few A-list cameos, recognizable producers, or surefire singles. That he’s managed to build himself into a successful international brand isn't a little bit attributable to a unique set of circumstances—there’s the trap-hop backlash, a dirge in the straight-up New York sound resulting from Atlanta’s ascent, the Kanye Effect, the Jay-Z Effect, that music blogging thing…

And Lupe is as formidable a rapper as you’ll find, something that even the non Kool-Aid drinkers agree with. His flow is crisp, alliterative, and laden with punchlines. He's also ceaselessly topical; on both his debut and the recently released, highly acclaimed The Cool, he posits himself in the middle of a raging storm of rampant war, poverty, hypocrisy, and excess. The material would sound tedious and NyQuil-y in a lesser emcee’s hands, but Lupe’s greatest skill is rapping with such expressiveness and compassion that his words are heard by even those who usually resist the conscious rap camp.

Lupe plays two shows in Austin today (twice as many social ills indicted or your money back!). [Edit: Waterloo is apparently just a signing.] There's also a show at Emo’s later. [Edit 2: It's sold out, which leaves you only one option...] Go talk to the jump for tickets. Ask about our giveaway.