You know Lupe Fiasco, right? He's the Big Day Out-loving backpack rapper with a soft spot for skateboards and sunny days. Not anymore.
On Food & Liquor II, a sequel of sorts to his acclaimed 2006 debut, Fiasco graduates into rap's top tier, ranting and raving like a full-blown mini-Kanye while delivering his hardest-hitting album yet.
"You can be Mr Burns or Smithers, the tyrant or the slave but nowhere in the middle," Fiasco raps like a man on a mission on Around My Way (Freedom Ain't Free).
It's his most political statement yet, tackling environmental disasters, oil-based wars and America's struggling economy while keeping it fun and funky thanks to the classic Pete Rock T.R.O.Y trumpet sample.
It's a great trick that he repeats on the pro-feminism thump of Bitch Bad, the religion-baiting Lamborghini Angels, and Audubon Ballroom which examines what the N-word means to Americans in 2012.
