Lupe Fiasco's The Cool

Lupe Fiasco's The Cool
Studio albumby Lupe Fiasco
Released	December 18, 2007(2007-12-18)
Recorded	2006–2007
Genre	Progressive hip hop
Length	70:56
Label	1st & 15th Atlantic
Producer	Lupe Fiasco Darrale Jones Patrick Stump Al Shux The Buchanans Drop Chris Goss Le Messie Simonsayz Soundtrakk Unkle
Lupe Fiascochronology
Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor (2006) Lupe Fiasco's The Cool (2007) Lasers (2011)
SinglesfromLupe Fiasco's The Cool
"Superstar" Released: September 25, 2007 "Hip Hop Saved My Life" Released: March 18, 2008 "Paris, Tokyo" Released: April 21, 2008 "Dumb It Down" Released: June 5, 2008

Lupe Fiasco's The Cool(commonly referred asThe Cool) is the secondstudio albumby American rapperLupe Fiasco.It was released on December 18, 2007, by1st & 15th EntertainmentandAtlantic Records.Recording sessions took place during 2006 to 2007, with Lupe Fiasco himself, alongside Charles Patton (Chilly) serving as the recordsexecutive producers.A concept album,The Coolwas based upon the song and a title character from his debut album,Food & Liquor(2006). The album featuresguest appearancesfromGemini,Snoop DoggandMatthew Santos,while theproductionwas provided byPatrick Stump,Soundtrakk andUnkle,among others.

The album debuted at number 15 on the USBillboard200,selling 143,407 copies in its first week. The album debuted as the number-one rap record and remained for 9 weeks. As of 2022 the album has been certified platinum by theRecording Industry Association of America(RIAA).At the2009 Grammy Awards,the album was nominated for the Best Rap Album.

Background

While Fiasco was recording his second album, his father died oftype II diabetes,his good friend Stack Bundles died, and his business partner and mentor—Charles "Chilly" Patton—was sentenced to 44 years in prison.When asked about the album's dark side, Fiasco replied:

Oh yeah. A lot of loss. I lost my father, I lost my business partner to prison, and I lost some friends. It was a very dark period. It still is in some aspects, but you know, I'm kind of coming out of it. But especially during the time that the album was being cooked, in my head it was a very dark kind of period.

Lupe Fiasco's The Coolexpands on the story with Fiasco telling on the track, called "The Cool" from hisdebut album.Fiasco introduces the characters the Streets and the Game.The album tells the story of the little boy from "He Say, She Say" who grew up without a father, and the people that step in to raise him are the Streets and the Game,with The Streets playing his female love interest and The Game his father.Speaking on the concept Fiasco said:

I expand on the story, I introduce two other characters, the Game and the Streets. The Streets is a female. She's like the action personification of the streets, the street life, the call of the streets. The Game is the same way. The Game is the personification of the game. The pimp's game, the hustler's game, the con man's game, whatever. Then they've got supernatural characteristics. Like the Cool, his right hand is rotted away. The only thing that rotted away was his right hand. It represents the rotting away of his righteousness, of his good. And the Streets and the Cool kind of have a love affair going on. So she's represented by this locket. And the locket has a key and it's on fire. And as a gift to the Cool on his rise to fame, she gave him the key. And the key represents the key to the Streets. So she wears a locket around her neck at all times. And the way the story goes, she has given that key to tons of people throughout time. Al Capone, Alexander the Great, whatever. She's giving them the key to the Streets. Fame and fortune — but also the prices. The Game, he's represented by a stripped-down skull, a skull with dice in his eyes and smoke coming out of his mouth. The billowing smoke is actually crack smoke. It's not a full concept album; it's more spread over like five [tracks], really abstractly.

Fiasco also stated that there are plans to spinThe Coolinto a horror-themed radio program, and a comic book. The album was also personalized into a promotion in the form of a skateboard design contest, hosted byimeem,which was won by Sluglife, the show name for designer/artist Lawrence Ervin.

Recording

In an interview withMTV News,Fiasco explained how he planned to recordThe Cool:

The timing is gonna be pop, pop, pop. There's gonna be a lot of setup and a lot of pre-production on this album, so it's gonna be in pieces. But the pieces won't come together, seriously, until like three weeks before it comes out. We'll probably record everything in, like, a week. So we're just gonna get it all together, map it out, have it done to a T, and then go and record. Then the fresh from the studio, fresh to mastering... so it eliminates a lot of time and error that was surrounding [my debut].

Reception

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number 15 on theBillboard200,selling 143,407 copies in its first week in the United States. In its second week, the album rose to number 14 on the USBillboard200.In theUnited Kingdom,the album debuted at number 7, due to the success of his first single, "Superstar" featuringMatthew Santos.That single reached into the top five on these singles charts.The album was certified gold in April 2008 & certified platinum in October 2022 by theRecording Industry Association of Americafor the shipment of 1,000,000 copies in the United States.

Critical response

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	77/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
The A.V. Club	A−
Entertainment Weekly	A−
The Guardian
MSN Music(Consumer Guide)	A−
NME	9/10
Pitchfork	8.1/10
Q
Rolling Stone
Spin	7/10

Lupe Fiasco's The Coolreceived critical acclaim from music critics. AtMetacritic,which assigns anormalizedrating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received anaveragescore of 77, based on 30 reviews.Entertainment Weeklysaid "Sonically, he's got the same kind of gratifying ADHD going on. Some tracks, like 'Paris, Tokyo,' contrast hisTwista-style rapid-fire delivery with a lazy rhythm that's close to smoothjazzwhich can be compared toA Tribe Called Quest.'Hello/Goodbye,' at the other extreme, hasU.K.electro outfitUnkleproviding a tense rock feel. "The New York Times,hailing the album as "one of the year’s best hip-hop albums," added that "The songs only grow more urgent as Lupe Fiasco expands his sociopolitical perspective. 'Intruder Alert' starts as a wary love song and broadens its topic to immigration. 'Little Weapon,' produced byPatrick StumpofFall Out Boy,looks at children with guns, fromchild soldiersinAfricato high school shooters.AllMusicsaid, "He is one of the most clever artists around, and as far as telling stories with rhymes goes, he's way up there, best exemplified by 'Hip-Hop Saved My Life' (a gripping story about a struggling rapper, based on the story ofSlim Thug) and 'Gotta Eat' (where Lupe's inspiration for metaphors is a cheeseburger, yet it is no more corny thanMain Source's classic 'Just a Friendly Game of Baseball'). "

In a less enthusiastic review forThe Guardian,Alexis Petridisfelt that Fiasco indulges occasionally in "sanctimonious moralising" on what is an otherwise successful album.Entertainment WeeklynamedThe Coolthe 10th best album of 2007 in their year-end list.

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Baba Says Cool for Thought"	Wasalu Jaco		0:46
2.	"Free Chilly" (featuring Sarah Green & Gemstones)	Jaco Sarah Green	Soundtrakk	1:02
3.	"Go Go Gadget Flow"	Jaco Rudolph Lopez	Soundtrakk	4:10
4.	"The Coolest"	Chris Paultre Derrick Braxton Jaco	The Buchanans Drop	5:12
5.	"Superstar"(featuringMatthew Santos)	Jaco Lopez Santos	Soundtrakk	4:48
6.	"Paris, Tokyo"	Eumir Deodato Jaco Lopez	Soundtrakk	4:30
7.	"Hi-Definition" (featuringSnoop Dogg&Poo Bear)	Calvin Broadus Alexander Shuckburgh Jason Boyd Jaco	Al Shux	3:51
8.	"Gold Watch"	Paultre Braxton Jaco	The Buchanans Drop	4:12
9.	"Hip-Hop Saved My Life"(featuringNikki Jean)	Jaco Nicholle Leary Lopez	Soundtrakk	4:02
10.	"Intruder Alert" (featuring Sarah Green)	Jaco Lopez Green	Soundtrakk	4:00
11.	"Streets on Fire" (featuringMatthew Santos)	Paultre Braxton Jaco Santos	The Buchanans Drop	4:40
12.	"Little Weapon" (featuring Bishop G &Nikki Jean)	Jaco Patrick Stump Leary Bishop G	Stump	4:06
13.	"Gotta Eat"	Jaco Lopez	Soundtrakk	3:24
14.	"Dumb It Down" (featuring Gemstones & Graham Burris)	Jaco Lopez Burris	Soundtrakk	4:03
15.	"Hello / Goodbye (Uncool)" (featuringUnkle)	Richard File Chris Goss Josh Homme James Lavelle Jaco	Lupe Fiasco Goss Unkle	4:26
16.	"The Die" (featuring Gemstones)	Jaco Lopez Barbara Wyrick Stephen Bogard	Soundtrakk	3:23
17.	"Put You on Game"	Simon Morel Jaco	Simonsayz	3:02
18.	"Fighters" (featuringMatthew Santos)	Le Messie Jaco Santos	Le Messie	3:33
19.	"Go Baby" (featuring Gemstones)	Jaco Lopez	Soundtrakk	3:36
Total length:				70:56

Sample Credits

• "Go Go Gadget Flow" interpolates a line from "Don't Get it Twisted Freestyle" byLupe Fiasco.
• "The Coolest" samples "Let the Drums Speak" performed byThe Fatback Band.
• "Paris, Tokyo" samples "San Juan Sunset" performed by Eumir Deodato; and interpolates a line from "Ain't No Fun (If the Homies Can't Have None)"performed bySnoop DoggfeaturingNate Dogg,KuruptandWarren G.
• "Gold Watch" samples "Do Whatever Turns You on Part. II" performed by The Prepositions.
• "Streets on Fire" samples "Amen, Brother"performed byThe Winstons.
• "Little Weapon" samples "De Profundis" performed byArvo Pärt;and interpolates a line from "Heat Under The Babyseat" by Fiasco.
• "Dumb It Down" samples "Ignorant Shit" by Fiasco.
• "Hello / Goodbye (Uncool)" samples "Chemistry" performed byUnkle.
• "The Die" samples "The Cool" by Fiasco; and "Damn Your Eyes" written by Stephen Bogard and Barbara Wyrick.

Personnel

Information taken fromAllmusic.

• Chris Allen – programming, digital editing, mi xing
• Veronica Alvericci – marketing
• Craig Bauer– mi xing
• James Book – bass, programming, digital editing
• Derrick "Drop" Braxton – producer
• Chris "Cosmic" Paultre – producer
• Jeff Breakey – digital editing, assistant
• Nathan Cabrera– art direction, design
• Pablo Clements – programming, background vocals, digital editing
• Lionel Deluy– photography
• Lupe Fiasco – producer, executive producer, vocal producer
• Richard File – organ, piano, programming, digital editing, synthesizer strings
• Chris Gehringer – mastering

• Jesse Gladstone – assistant
• Chris Goss – guitar, producer
• Josh Homme– guitar
• Darrale Jones – executive producer
• James Lavelle – background vocals
• Deborah Mannis-Gardner – sample clearance
• Andrew Painter – photography
• Krish Lingala – theremin, background vocals, guitar
• Dave Pensado – enhanced recording
• Brian Ranney – package production
• John Regan – layout design
• Jason Salvador– management
• Livia Tortella – marketing
• "You Can Ask" Giz– mi xing

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (2007–08)	Peak position
Australian Albums (ARIA)	42
Australian Urban Albums (ARIA)	6
French Albums (SNEP)	129
Irish Albums (IRMA)	24
Scottish Albums(OCC)	18
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)	93
UK Albums(OCC)	7
UK R&B Albums(OCC)	1
USBillboard200	14
USTop R&B/Hip-Hop Albums(Billboard)	4
USTop Rap Albums(Billboard)	1

Year-end charts

Chart (2008)	Position
USBillboard200	81
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)	18

Release history

Region	Date
United States	December 18, 2007
Canada
United Kingdom	January 21, 2008
Japan	January 3, 2008

Certifications

Certifications and sales forLupe Fiasco's The Cool

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)	Silver	60,000*
United States (RIAA)	Platinum	1,000,000‡
*Sales figures based on certification alone. ‡Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

External links

• Lupe Fiasco's The CoolatMetacritic