The Lupe Fiasco Show

photo by Dave Bullock/eecue.com (original)

You know that plastic bag in "American Beauty?" Imagine Lupe Fiasco is that plastic bag, and the music is the wind that moves said bag. A strong, bi-polar wind.

Sounds poetic, huh?

It's hard not to start with the graceful way (and frequency at which) the young MC moves around on stage, as he did at last night's show at the Hollywood House of Blues. Leaping, sliding, bobbing and weaving (no, really, very snakelike, he was) to the beats and melodies that had a sold-out crowd moving from start to finish.

Should your eyes grow weary of trying to catch up with the talented Chicagoan, no worries. There is plenty to see: backed by an amazing band, 1500 or Nothin', and back-up singers that seemed to match, if not supercede, the energy of the artist.

Not an easy feat considering it was a heightened level of energy that sustained through a nearly 2-hour set. Split into two "acts," the first covering mostly songs from 2006's debut "Food and Liquor," Lupe took the audience from 0 to 60 and back down again with his diverse mix of sounds (rock, jazz, hip hop) and varying speeds with which he chose to deliver his metaphor-heavy and sometimes message-heavy lyrics.

Best performances were of the lounge music-y chorus-featuring "Daydreamin'" from "F&L" whose verses Lupe rocked out much harder than the album version (originally recorded with Jill Scott singing the chorus) and "Dumb it Down" (from his latest sophomore release "The Cool") a humorous (and sad in it's truth) dig at the suits and the streets that continually urged Lupe to pimp his talent and dumb down his lyrics for mass consumption (in other words, "Superman" something already!).

Although "The Cool" is considered a darker album than his first, Lupe kept it fairly light (light, I guess, by Lupe's standards) with songs like "Paris, Tokyo," "Gold Watch," and "Superstar" dominating the second "act" (songs vastly different in tone than, say, "Little Weapon," which he also performed).

Passionate in his stage presence (and in his love for his fans, a loyal base that pushed him up to the surface from the underground - or, internet - buzz that launched him into Grammy-nominated, critically-acclaimed celebrity), it's hard to imagine that Lupe would step back from the mic after his third (and final?) album (as he has implied in several interviews) and that he has already named "LUPend." Although a shout-out "CRS" towards the end of the show gives fans hope that he'll pull a faux fade-to-black like another hip hop star-ah....

But for now, here's hoping he gives us enough time to process "The Cool" and the even cool-er show before dropping "LUP(ihopeitsnotreallythe)end."

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