Lupe Fiasco – “Enemy of the State: A Love Story” (Mixtape Review)

This is beautiful, abstract art. If you look really close at it, and then squint your eyes and then slowly back away...you'd still see the boring artwork. Sarcasm, for the win.

K1ng Eljay – So when I first saw the title, Lupe Fiasco’s “Enemy Of The State” mixtape reminded me of the throwback movie from Will Smith where he ran the entire movie. I mean, he easily ran more than Tom Cruise in War of the Worlds, and that movie has one of the best climactic endings to a movie that I have seen TO THIS DAY.

That being said, just because of the title I had high hopes for this mixtape. Usually I lower my expectations a little to be biased, but in this case I didn’t think I’d have to. It’s Lupe. Fiasco. So it’ll be dope. That was my thinking at least.

The Good:

I was right. It’s not the deepest stuff you’ve heard Lupe spit, but he delivers on some of the most popular beats out right now, and a couple of throwback tracks as well. His wordplay is STILL unmatched as far as his style of flow, and the interludes are kept to a minimal… Which is good. And channeling the movie (kind of), the last half of the mixtape finishes itself off almost flawlessly (R.I.P. Slaughterhouse/Clipse instrumentals). So it doesn’t seem like there’s any problem with this mixtape at all, right?

The Bad:

Wrong… there’s a huge problem with this mixtape. It shouldn’t take you more than about 20 minutes to figure it out. That’s because the mixtape is released with the purpose of being cassette style, and it tops out at about 22 minutes. Yes, it is high quality as far as mixtapes go but…

It’s 22 minutes long.

If anything, it’s more of a tease than a mixtape to me. 7-track EPs average longer than this mixtape. I’m used to mixtapes being chocked full of music. Yes, I’d rather have quality than quantity on any day, but 22 minutes? And 3 or 4 of those minutes are interludes? Yes, the interludes all have purpose, but there’s a strong chance that you won’t listen to those again if you’re in the mood to hear Lupe.

Ever.

…and if I hear one more person go in on that CRAPPY Diddy song, I’m going to slap something. The song’s NOT that good. The instrumental isn’t even all that great. The only redemption is that Lupe kind of redeemed it because I love the story he told with it.

Bottom Line:

Regardless of my minor/major gripes with the tape, “Enemy of the State” is still definitely worth listening to. I’m just glad he’s releasing a part two soon. That way, I can stick them together and make a dope mixtape. But hey, that’s just me complaining about the length again… bottom line, download this. It’s worth it, even if it’s just to hear him kill some instrumentals and to get excited about his next tape, “Friend of the People”…

Which, unfortunately for me, has no neat movie tie-in…crap…