[MERIT]

Coming off the heels of his ground-breaking debut "Food & Liquor," Lupe Fiasco outdid himself in this, his full-length sophomore album.

"The Cool" kept, and even improved upon the sound that made "Food & Liquor" an amazing album. His lyrical delivery comes across as extremely confident (similar to Kanye West), and his beats consist of lots of bass (per the usual hip-hop beat), mixed with synthesizers and some horns and pianos, creating a sound that I can only describe as amazing.

His lyrics always tell a story. While listening to this album, it seemed to me that Fiasco was making this album to make good music, not to sell records.

In "Gotta Eat," he compares the life of living on the street and making ends meat ("getting cheese", "eating", "seeds", etc) to a fast food restaurant.

"Dumb It Down" speaks to black america, and how the music industry holds them down. He addresses how mainstream rap dumbs people down with their trash lyrics such as "make it rain," "pourin champaign," etc.

"Intruder Alert" is oneof the best rap ballads that I've heard in many years. It addresses the pain and struggle of the world and its individuals, and how the world needs to change for the better. It encompasses the story of a young girl who has been raped, a recovering drug addict, war and famine in africa, and many other issues.

This album is a welcome breath of fresh air on the rap scene. Out of the 19 tracks on "The Cool", I only found 3 that didn't sufficiently warrant space on my MP3 player.

Overall rating: 9/10
Favorite Song: Gold Watch
Favorite Lyric: "And my most coveted thing is my high self-esteem
And the low tolerance for them telling me how to lean
See the most important parts are the ones that are unseen
See the wings don't make you fly and the crown don't make you king" - Gold Watch