Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor

## **Singles from *Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor***

1. "Kick, Push"
Released: April 18, 2006
2. "I Gotcha"
Released: August 8, 2006
3. "Daydreamin'"
Released: September 11, 2006

***Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor*** (also referred to as ***Food & Liquor*** or ***LFFL***) is the debut studio album by American rapper Lupe Fiasco, released on September 19, 2006, by 1st & 15th Entertainment and Atlantic Records. It was modeled after Nas' *It Was Written*, cited as Fiasco's favorite hip-hop album.

*Food & Liquor* met with critical acclaim and commercial success, debuting at number eight on the *Billboard* 200 and sold 81,000 copies in its first week. It earned him a Grammy Award nomination for Best Rap Album, along with "Kick, Push" being nominated for Best Rap Solo Performance and Best Rap Song in 2007. In the following year, "Daydreamin'" won in the category Best Urban/Alternative Performance at the 50th Grammy Awards. The album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2021.

As part of *AOL Sessions*, he performed several tracks live that aired on November 7, 2006. He performed the record in its entirety at the Red Bull Music Festival and during his own headline concert tour, the 2021 Food & Liquor Tour.

## Synopsis

Don't be fooled by the goofy retro futurism of the album cover, which shoots for a Bambaataa aping electro cool but winds up looking more like a Gap ad gone horribly awry, Lupe Fiasco is neither a po-faced classicist nor a Beans inspired '80s revisionist. Instead, *Lupe Fiasco's Food and Liquor* provides an album's worth of grandiose, soul steeped beats and skillfully elliptical lyrical virtuosity. Those looking for more of the breathless, Escobar inspired flow that won Fiasco a key spot on Kanye's storming "Touch the Sky" will not be disappointed. And though Fiasco occasionally reverts to awkward platitudes, for the most part he remains as lyrically inventive as he is technically gifted. Fiasco is equally capable of delivering incisive political observations ("American Terrorist") and scabrous commentary on the state of the Hip-Hop nation, but Lupe is at his best when spitting boy's eye view coming of age narratives that blend the expansive ambitions of adolescence with the gritty texture of everyday life.

## Background

Fiasco was signed to Arista Records in 2002, where he began recording *Food & Liquor*. Towards the end, "wrapping up the album, actually doing final track-listing versions," CEO L.A. Reid was fired; consequently, artists on the roster were dropped. Eventually, Fiasco signed to Atlantic Records with the help of Jay-Z in 2005, where he released the three 2006 singles "Kick, Push," "I Gotcha," and "Daydreamin'," the latter featuring Jill Scott. The song "And He Gets the Girl" was released as the B-side single of "I Gotcha" on select releases.

Prior to its official release, the album was leaked in its "unmixed demo form" in April 2006, when Fiasco was in a Philadelphia studio waiting to record with Jill Scott. He addressed online:

>
> Hey shit happens. An unmixed version of *Food & Liquor* got leaked yesterday so I assume it's on [file-sharing services like] Limewire and Bittorrent and all that shit. It's stuff like this that makes you wanna just be like fuck it. A lotta time and money and bullshit went into creating that album. Over the years I've had my people die, get locked up, my company get shut down, weak ass 'intelligent Black men' in my own crew turn against me and just when things are starting to look good [this happens]."
>
>
>
>

Fiasco noted to *Pitchfork* of the bootleg version, "People are saying I did it on purpose or that the company did it. I didn't do it; if I did, I would've gotten the names of the songs right. I would've named the producers. If the company did it, the company's getting sued. I hope they didn't do it." He added, "And there's songs on [the leak] that I leaked years ago, almost, that weren't even going to make the album. The kids got about six solid songs that are going to be on the album. We didn't even have the tracklisting yet for what we were going to put out." He told Contactmusic.com in concern to sales, "There were only six tracks leaked. We're not sure if the tracks have been bootlegged underground yet, the actually physical distribution on the streets as oppose to digital copies being downloaded would be our main concern. We definitely took a hit though but we really won't know until the album comes out." To *Format Mag*, he named the incident to be his "best and worst moment" of 2006.

The album was digitally re-released on September 13, 2011, to mark its fifth anniversary; this version included four bonus tracks. In celebration of a decade, Fiasco uploaded the audio recording "Ten Yurrs Layda" to SoundCloud, where he discussed the behind-the-scenes of the album artwork and songs. In celebration of fifteen years, he performed a virtual concert on April 15, 2021, exclusively for LFT holders. It was over the ticketed livestreaming platform, FutureStream. In addition, they would have access to an online meet and greet after the concert, and "exclusive access to limited edition physical merchandise and premium digital content." On October 1, the album became certified gold by the RIAA. He said, "Man listen shout to all the fans that stayed down like an elephant chest. And all my enemies that tried to harm the name and caught an L or an F, F&L is full of raps smothered in soul, and now we got another plaque all covered in GOLD!!!"

## Title and artwork

Fiasco told *AllHipHop*, "I just tried to create a balance of good and bad, and that's where *Food and Liquor* comes from." It also gives acknowledgment to the Chicago area, where corner shops are colloquially known as 'food and liquor' stores. He explained to SoundSlam.com, "I didn't want the whole album to be this whole thing about good and bad. And it speaks to subtle issues, like hypocrisy, and what goes on in the world on a social level, and then to a further extent on a political level, and trying to find some solution to it on the album." This duality was expanded on by Ayesha Jaco, who wrote and performed the opening track:

>
> It's a place where you go for nourishment on the food side of things, but then there's unhealthy food there. There's also the liquor component. So you go for nourishment, but at the same time, there are the realities, and some cases temptations, of things that have to potential to be bad like liquor, cigarettes, etc. [...] There are a lot of memories from that span of our lives. So him bringing to life a project centered around that, he wanted to tap me to help tell that story so that it's really drawn from the perspective of our childhood memories.
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>
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The cover artwork was done by his friend, Chuck Anderson of No Pattern. It was based on Japanese anime director Katsuhiro Otomo's *Domu: A Child's Dream*. The artwork depicts Fiasco floating in space. Each item represents "the stuff I carry around every day," including a Banksy postcard, Nintendo DS, sketchbook, Qur'an, pocket ninja, and a robot. Fiasco believed it was shot in Chinatown, Chicago. In an interview, Anderson recalled, "[W]hen Lupe came to me, it was really kind of an open-ended style. But he knew he wanted glowing lights, colored kind of stuff." He added, "[H]e wanted it to be more subversive and more subtle. The inside of the album is so different. I didn't work on anything on the inside of the album—the photography of the students with guns and books. That's what was so interesting about the album. The outside and the inside were two different things. They almost didn't look like part of the same project. [...] It was interesting that there is no food or no liquor on the cover. He wanted to do something that wasn't so literal." The artwork also inspired the hip-hop cover variant for Marvel's *Black Knight* Vol. 3, #1, illustrated by Gyimah Gariba.

In regards to the inner booklet image, Anderson explained, "That was at the end of the day. We had already finished the shoot for the album cover, and he was standing there with the sword and wanted to get some photos. So I took pictures of him pointing the sword at the camera. When I was coming up with different ideas of what might go there, I just pulled that photo and took a lot of the style elements from the cover and put them around him." *The Sydney Morning Herald* observed of its linear notes, "[it] feature[s] a photoessay of covert drug deals, drive-bys and braggadocio poses. In a cheeky twist, Fiasco has swapped the guns for books and the liquor for milk and cookies. It's a savvy parody of a cliché that he is consciously distancing himself from."

## Singles

 "I Gotcha"
 "And He Gets the Girl"

## Critical reception

*Food & Liquor* achieved universal acclaim, where aggregator Metacritic assigned 83 out of 100 based on 20 critic reviews. *XXL* retrospectively wrote, "[T]he album was one of the more anticipated albums of the year for rap diehards and the product did not disappoint [...] a modern day classic that continues to inspire until this day." *DJBooth* noted of the record's significance in time, where people believed him to be the "hip-hop savior" and continued, "If hip-hop was going through its darkest tunnel, *Food & Liquor* was heralded as the light at the end." While they believed it wasn't "culture-shifting," it helped influence the desire for lyricism by future artists in the game.

Andy Kellman of AllMusic wrote, "Wisely enough, Fiasco doesn't turn the skating thing into a gimmick and excels at spinning varying narratives over a mostly strong set of productions from 1st & 15th affiliates." He concluded that it "just might be the steadiest and most compelling rap album of 2006." Canadian webzine Cokemachineglow declared it to "not [have any bad verses] on it." James Poletti of *Dot Music* noted of the rapper's standout as a cerebral lyricist and added of "its appeal to the 'independent' crowd as well as the horns-blazing, chest-beating big money crowd." Robert Christgau's *MSN Consumer Guide* stated, "Though I wish the beats were less corny-orchestral, Fiasco marks his own turf in a three-song sequence that would have led the second side back in the day." Garry Mulloholland of *The Observer* opined that it "lacks originality," and *Pitchfork* believed that "Fiasco misses classic status is his sonic approach."

*PopMatters* named Fiasco's rapping and production to be "rock solid," adding that it "might not become a rap classic, but it is easily one of the best rap albums of 2006." *Prefixmag* in similar assessment called it "the best hip-hop album of 2006," while *Slant Magazine* named it to be "one of the year's fresher efforts and future classics." *The A.V. Club* wrote of the "best tracks," where Fiasco "masterfully melds his peerless storytelling gifts with his idiosyncratic passion for skateboarding, fantasy, and incisive sociopolitical commentary." They finished, "Revelatory albums like this make rap, an often stale and convention-bound genre, suddenly seem rife with boundless, untapped possibilities. By boldly expanding the parameters of mainstream hip-hop, Fiasco's threatening to make rap a welcoming place for geeks and iconoclasts as well as pimps and thugs." *Rolling Stone*'s Evan Serpick gave praise of the rapper exceeding already highly-placed expectations, and added, "Without dipping his toes into violent imagery, wanton obscenity or other hip-hop clichés, Fiasco reflects on the personal and the political, and reminds fans of everything hip-hop can be."

Music magazine *Scene Point Blank* applauded, "Lupe never comes across as anything less than excited and relentless. He continuously ricochets off of strings and horns, never relaxing his flow or simply relying on a hook to sell a song." Colin Fleming of *Village Voice* penned, "if you ever longed to seek solace in a gentler, string-drenched rap world, consider this disc your primer." *RapReviews.com* remarked, "at 25 he's only just getting started in the rap game and people are already expecting him to be the savior of hip-hop music. [...] I've been impressed by some major label debut albums before, but quite honestly I think Lupe Fiasco takes the cake here." *IGN* wrote, "Fiasco's album presents inventive verbiage draped in more pop-oriented beatology." They complimented the rapper's lyricism and cadence, though suggested that he "never quite seems to emerge from behind the shadows of" fellow Chicago-rappers West and Common. *HipHopDX* gave a perfect score of five, commending Fiasco's storytelling, where "it is 80% narrative. What Lupe is able to do is use his abstract imagination and tell remarkable stories with his use very vivid and descriptive language." In a review ten years later, they remarked, "The hood is rarely represented in equal parts lyricism and realism from those who lived it and much like the urban establishments it was named after, Lupe's debut still holds a special place in the heart of the community." *The Michigan Daily* commented upon the "spectacular voyage through urban Chicago neighborhoods, drug-infested street corners and the intricate mind of its narrator," and admired the production work. *The Skinny* summed it up as "a long, clever parenthesis of innovative production."

## Accolades

Awards

 2007

Year-end lists

Listicles

## Track listing

* LeRoy Bell
* Thom Bell
* Jaco

* Jaco
* Don Whitehead
* Maurice White
* Michael Beal
* Verdine White
* Wade Flemons
* Jaco
* Sidney Miller
* Jaco

Sample credits
* "Real" contains a sample of "How Does It Feel" by Harvey Mason.
* "Just Might Be OK" contains a sample of "Humphrey's Overture" written by Paul Humphrey.
* "Kick, Push" contains a sample of "Magtaksil Man Ikaw (Bolero Medley)" by Celeste Legaspi.
* "The Instrumental" contains a sample of "Nestle" by Far.
* "He Say She Say" contains a sample of "The Last One to Be Loved" by Burt Bacharach and "Mesopotamia" by The B-52's.
* "Sunshine" contains a sample of "Friend to Friend" by Diana Ross.
* "Daydreamin'" contains a sample of "Daydream" by I Monster.
* "The Cool" contains a sample of "Life on Mars" by Dexter Wansel and Funky Drummer" by James Brown.
* "Hurt Me Soul" contains a sample of "Stay with Me" by Cecil Holmes.
* "Pressure" contains a sample of "Pressure Cooker" by Thelma Houston.
* "American Terrorist" contains a sample of "The Romantic Warrior" by Return to Forever.
* "The Emperor's Soundtrack" contains a sample of "Between the Walls" by UFO.
* "Theme Music to a Drive-By" contains a sample of "(Do It, Do It) No One Does It Better" by The Spinners.
* "Carrera Lu" contains a sample of "Bad Tune" by Earth, Wind & Fire.

## Personnel

* Wasalu "Lupe Fiasco" Jaco – executive producer
* Mireya Acierto – photography
* Chuck Anderson – cover art
* James Auwarter – mixing, mixing assistant
* Craig Bauer – mixing
* Jeff Breakley – mixing assistant
* Charles "Chilly" Patton – executive producer, management
* Andrew Coleman – engineer
* Bojan Dugich – engineer, mixing
* Patrick Fong – design
* Brian Gartner – vocal engineer
* Chris Gehringer – mastering
* Sarah Green – performer
* Brandon Howard – producer
* I Monster – producer
* Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter – executive producer
* Chris Jennings – assistant engineer
* Darrale Jones – executive producer
* Craig Kallman – producer
* Greg "G-Ball" Magers – engineer
* Jonah Matranga – performer
* The Neptunes – producer
* Ryan Neuschafer – mixing assistant
* David "Prolyfic" Lemar Ewing Jr. – producer
* Will Quinell – mastering assistant
* Righteous Kung Fu – creative director, cover art
* Jason Salvador – management
* Matthew Santos – performer
* Mike Shinoda – producer
* Rudolph "Soundtrakk" Lopez – producer
* Reed "Mountain Man" Taylor – assistant engineer
* Patrick Viala – mixing
* Eric Weissman – sample clearance
* Kanye West – producer, consultant

## Gallery

Audio

Artwork
LFFL logo**@LupeFiasco**: "If you ever wondered..."
* September 19, 2020
* Twitter
**@NoPattern**: "Happy 16th anniversary to @LupeFiasco 's 'Food & Liquor', an album and project that changed the course of my career after working with Lupe on the cover when I was just 20 years old. Every September 19 I find myself opening up the PSD just for a bit of fun and nostalgia."
* September 19, 2022
* Twitter
**@NoPattern**: "Happy 16th anniversary to @LupeFiasco 's 'Food & Liquor', an album and project that changed the course of my career after working with Lupe on the cover when I was just 20 years old. Every September 19 I find myself opening up the PSD just for a bit of fun and nostalgia."
* September 19, 2022
* Twitter
**@NoPattern**: "Happy 16th anniversary to @LupeFiasco 's 'Food & Liquor', an album and project that changed the course of my career after working with Lupe on the cover when I was just 20 years old. Every September 19 I find myself opening up the PSD just for a bit of fun and nostalgia."
* September 19, 2022
* Twitter
*Black Knight* Vol. 3 No. 1
Hip-hop variant cover by Gyimah Gariba
Merchandise
Main article: Merchandise § Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor
Merchandise60's MerchandiseLivestream Merchandise
Events
2019 Red Bull Music Festival2021 FutureStream2021 Food & Liquor Tour
## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Watkins, Greg (February 10, 2006). "Lupe Fiasco: Revenge of the Hip-Hop Nerd". *AllHipHop*.
2. ↑ Crosley, Hillary (December 27, 2007). "Lupe Fiasco Is Finding Some Commercial Success, but Plays Hip-Hop Game His Way". *Billboard*.
3. ↑ Rabin, Nathan (October 31, 2006). "Lupe Fiasco". *The A.V. Club*.
4. ↑ Breihan, Tom (April 19, 2006). "Lupe Fiasco: Already Turning Weird". *Village Voice*.
5. ↑ "Lupe Fiasco Speaks on 'Food & Liquor' Being Leaked to Internet". *AllHipHop*. April 17, 2006.
6. ↑ Breihan, Tom (May 14, 2006). "Lupe Fiasco". *Pitchfork*.
7. ↑ Headley, Maxine (May 22, 2006). "Lupe Fiasco - Interview". *Contactmusic.com*.
8. ↑ Espinoza, Joshua (September 18, 2018). "Lupe Fiasco Shares a Guided Audio Tour of 'Food & Liquor' for Its Upcoming 10-Year Anniversary". *Complex*.
9. ↑ "Lupe Fiasco Cashing in on NFT Crazy with "Food & Liquor" Livestream". *AllHipHop*. April 15, 2021.
10. ↑ Dredge, Stuart (April 13, 2021). "Lupe Fiasco Gets Into the NFTs Game with Livestream Tie-in". *Music Ally*.
11. ↑ Findlay, Mitch (September 22, 2021). "Lupe Fiasco's "Food & Liquor" Goes Gold After 15 Years". *HotNewHipHop*.
12. ↑ Fruchter, Alexander (May 11, 2006). "Soundslam Interviews | Lupe Fiasco". *SoundSlam.com*. Archived from the original on September 8, 2006.
13. ↑ Kyles, Yohance (December 27, 2019). "A Conversation with Ayesha Jaco on Providing the Poem for Lupe Fiasco's 'Food & Liquor' & Their Childhood in Chicago". *AllHipHop*.
14. ↑ Endelman, Michael (October 20, 2006). "A Few of Lupe Fiasco's Favorite Things". *Entertainment Weekly*.
15. ↑ "Ten Yurrs Layda". *SoundCloud*. September 18, 2016.
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Kyles, Yohance (December 10, 2019). "A Conversation with Photographer Chuck Anderson on Shooting Lupe Fiasco's Iconic 'Food & Liquor' Album Cover". *AllHipHop*.
17. ↑ Loebenstein, Ghita (January 19, 2007). "Lupe Fiasco". *The Sydney Morning Herald*.
18. ↑ *Food & Liquor* by Lupe Fiasco". *Metacritic*. September 19, 2006.
19. ↑ "30 Albums That Will Make You Appreciate Hip-Hop". *XXL*. March 10, 2016.
20. ↑ Phillips, Yoh (September 19, 2016). "Lupe Fiasco Doesn't Believe His "Food & Liquor" Album Is a Classic". *DJBooth*.
21. ↑ Kellman, Andy. "Food & Liquor Review by Andy Kellman'. *AllMusic*. September 19, 2006.
22. ↑ Purdom, Clayton (September 22, 2006). "Lupe Fiasco's *Food & Liquor*". *Cokemachineglow*. Archived from the original on October 26, 2006.
23. ↑ Poletti, James (October 18, 2006). "Lupe Fiasco - 'Food & Liquor'". *Dot Music*. Archived from the original on December 6, 2006.
24. ↑ Mulloholland, Garry (October 15, 2006). "Lupe Fiasco, Food and Liquor". *The Guardian*.
25. ↑ Hayes, Neal (November 5, 2006). "Lupe Fiasco: Food and Liquor". *PopMatters*.
26. ↑ Berkman, Seth (September 19, 2006). "Lupe Fiasco *Food & Liquor*". *Prefixmag*. Archived from the original on November 9, 2006.
27. ↑ Jones, Preston (October 10, 2006). "Review: Lupe Fiasco, *Food & Liquor*". *Slant*.
28. ↑ Rabin, Nathan (September 20, 2006). "Lupe Fiasco: *Food and Liquor*". *The A.V. Club*.
29. ↑ Serpick, Evan (September 29, 2006). "Food & Liquor". *Rolling Stone*.
30. ↑ Ivy, Steven (November 2, 2006). "Review: Lupe Fiasco *Food & Liquor*". *Scene Point Blank*.
31. ↑ Fleming, Colin (October 3, 2006). "A Kinder, Gentler Rap Triumph Emerges (Legally) at Last". *Village Voice*. Archived from the original on January 19, 2007.
32. ↑ Juon, Steve (September 19, 2006). "Lupe Fiasco :: Food & Liquor". *RapReviews.com*.
33. ↑ "Lupe Fiasco - Food & Liquor". *IGN*. September 22, 2006.
34. ↑ "Lupe Fiasco - Food & Liquor". *HipHopDX*. September 19, 2006.
35. ↑ Clark, Trent (September 26, 2006). "From the Archives: *Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor* Gets a Perfect 5.0 Rating". *HipHopDX*.
36. ↑ Baber, Anthony (September 18, 2006). "Taste of Chicago". *The Michigan Daily*.
37. ↑ Duffy, Mike (November 12, 2006). "Lupe Fiasco - *Lupe Fiasco's Food and Liquor*". *The Skinny*.
38. ↑ "Top 50 Albums 2006". *Cokemachineglow*. June 13, 2006.
39. ↑ "Top 50 Albums of 2006". *Pitchfork*. December 19, 2006.
40. ↑ "Best Albums of 2006". *PopMatters*. Decembe 23, 2006.
41. ↑ "*Rolling Stone*'s Best Albums of '06". *Stereogum*. December 14, 2006.
42. ↑ "The 40 Best Albums of 2006". *Spin*. Archived from the original on April 26, 2015.
43. ↑ "Best Music of 2006". *The A.V. Club*. December 19, 2006.
44. ↑ "The 100 Best Albums of The Complex Decade". *Complex*. April 2, 2012.
45. ↑ "The Top 100 Albums of the 2000s". *Consequence*. November 17, 2009.
46. ↑ "Lupe Fiasco (@LupeFiasco)". *Twitter*. September 19, 2020.
47. ↑ 47.0 47.1 47.2 "Chuck Anderson (@NoPattern)". *Twitter*. September 19, 2022.