2015's Tetsuo & Youth marked the beginning of a defiant second wind for Lupe Fiasco. Having shaken off his pop-tuned restraints, the Chicago wordsmith embraced his role as both poet and scholar, weaving complex allegory and wordplay into a work that could stand toe-to-toe with his early-2000s classics. And when 2018's Drogas WAVE arrived with a two-pronged, monastic assault on the legacies of slavery, it became clear that Lupe's best work may still be ahead -- a point that this year's Drill Music in Zion continues to hammer ...
Read More
2015's Tetsuo & Youth marked the beginning of a defiant second wind for Lupe Fiasco. Having shaken off his pop-tuned restraints, the Chicago wordsmith embraced his role as both poet and scholar, weaving complex allegory and wordplay into a work that could stand toe-to-toe with his early-2000s classics. And when 2018's Drogas WAVE arrived with a two-pronged, monastic assault on the legacies of slavery, it became clear that Lupe's best work may still be ahead -- a point that this year's Drill Music in Zion continues to hammer home.At a much more succinct 40 minutes, Drill Music in Zion lacks the scope of its predecessors -- yet refuses to budge on their depth. Dualities emerge as early as its title: a juxtaposition of "drill music" and "Zion" begins a lengthy discussion of rap's consequences (with the project's DMIZ/"demise" quasi-acronym hinting at the cost), while an allusion to The Matrix's "drilling into Zion" sequence forms an extended metaphor for resisting external principles. Narrator Ayesha Jaco returns on "The Lion's Deen" to draw these threads out, lamenting how "lions in Zion became alley cats" in a passionate address "to unite the seeds of the oppressed."Across the project's nine remaining tracks, Lupe builds these strands into full-blown discourse: "Ghoti" meditates on technological interference, "Seattle" highlights the path to "escape from a city that's defined by crime rate, " and "On Faux Nem" offers a deeply poignant reflection on rap violence. His conceptual pen works as brilliantly as ever on "Precious Things" and "Kiosk" -- the former writes from the perspective of the narrator's hands, lamenting their use as tools of violence, while the latter sees Lupe alternate between a sleazy jewelry merchant and spurning narrator in a visceral critique of rap's materialistic vices. At the pinnacle of this all is the third volume of his "Mural" trilogy, "Ms Mural," which dramatizes a conversation between an artist and patron in a stunning reflection of the artist/audience relationship. Like most of Fiasco's best, it probes but never preaches: "Professionally accept what ethically I hate/So in all of my work, you see this wrestling with fate/Deceiving in the brushstrokes how aggressively I strafe." On closer "On Faux Nem," Lupe delivers his first one-line verse -- "Rappers die too much... that's it, that's the verse" -- before leaving listeners with a minute to meditate. It is an uncharacteristic simplicity, but one that resonates profoundly; on DMIZ the writes his incisive pen into smaller frameworks, yielding stunning consequences. ~ David Crone, Rovi
Read Less
Add this copy of Drill Music in Zion to cart. $17.19, new condition, Sold by Importcds rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Sunrise, FL, UNITED STATES, published 2022 by Thirty Tigers.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Jaco. New. New in new packaging. USA Orders only! Brand New product! please allow delivery times of 3-7 business days within the USA. US orders only please.
Add this copy of Drill Music in Zion to cart. $19.70, new condition, Sold by newtownvideo rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from huntingdon valley, PA, UNITED STATES, published 2022 by 1st and 15th too.
![Food and Liquor [Clean]](https://www0.alibris-static.com/food-and-liquor-clean/cover/h54466o8s1w.jpg)
