House EP - Lupe Fiasco & Kaelin Ellis: Review
is a Chicago based rapper who first emerged in the mid 2000's on Atlantic Records and has spent the last 15 years or so sporadically releasing records with a wide variety of sonic palettes and influences. On this EP he teams up with producer Kaelin Ellis and Louis Vitton and Off-White designer Virgil Abloh to create a mixtape heavily themed around the world of fashion and its creation.
Review By Lavender:
I've always enjoyed Lupe Fiasco when he is operating at his peak. His last album Drogas Wave was one of my favorite Lupe projects in years and I also enjoyed his single Run Game last year. I didn't see much promotion for this EP and it nearly slipped by me when it was first released but ultimately I'm glad I listened to it, even if it isn't among my favorite works in his discography.
House is 22 minutes long and features three songs that last over 5 minutes but the first track is just a short spoken word intro performed by Virgil Abloh. The next track Dinosaurs is a decent and I like the very spacey beat that is rough around the edges but still good. Lupe definitely does a great job of maintaining his focus on the theme of the song and staying on point. The flow is unconventional and could be tighter as he switches it up a lot, and some of the political points on the song are really weird. The whole thing is a touch strange but I still like it. Sledom AKA Models backwards is a much better track with a hook from Crystal Torres who I enjoyed on Lupe's last album. The flows across the song remind me a lot of Q-Tip which is a big compliment and the topical focus is strong once again. Even if the "sell things on the internet" line on the hook is a little bit heady I still enjoy the song.
Shoes is a nearly 7 minute long track filled with solid verses from Lupe but with a lot less topical focus and not quite as much consistency with the flows. The verses are also separated by more Virgil spoken word passages as he takes us through his process of designing shoes. These get way too literal and way too indulgent which makes me really wonder why this song needed to be 6 and a half minutes long. LF95 is the closer a good track with a slow paced beat and flow. I think the songs lyrical theme is mainly centered around just Lupe and his various memories which makes me wonder why it isn't called Mural III. It's a good closer even if it suffers from the same long winded-ness of most of this EP.
I liked more of this project than I didn't but there is still an entire good albums worth of filler in just these 22 minutes. The concept here doesn't particularly land with me so the EP is mostly reliant on quality performances from Lupe and Kaelin, and they deliver more often than not. 5.5/10
Album Cover Review By Tyler Judson:
I'm not mad at this cover but it's also not the best. The references to old school jazz cover art are very obvious and the line quality and colors of it make it strong. I don't think it has a spot in the modern space. While it's awesome to reference the past and imitate there's nothing new or exciting about it. If we wanted to see the old jazz album covers I would go look at them not this one because it's not the original. If it had something to make it stand apart and re-invent the classic I would like it much more. 5/10
For more hip hop check out my review of Run The Jewels RTJ4 here
