Lupe Fiasco

Lupe Fiasco's "The Cool" is the best album I've heard since "Hail to the Thief." It's thematically coherent, musically various, beautifully written, and performed by an absolute natural. I first heard Lupe on Kanye West's last record, I forget which song; but I don't forget hearing him. Lupe's part lasted maybe four lines, but I remember besieging a hip-hop savvy student the next day to find who that guy was. Apparently he was a Chicago unknown who accosted Jay Z on the street, demanding an audition right then (this must happen to Jay Z hourly, so who knows how much urban legend is involved here), and impressing him so much that he got signed. I don't know. But I do know that his album, which owes a lot to Kanye, is better than Kanye's—grasshopper has snatched that pebble and is off to the races.

Though I kinda hate to say publicly that I liked it this much, since the fanship of someone like me has to be the kiss of death for his record sales.