Lupe Fiasco has been rather confusing to follow over the past few months. After announcing an album celebrating ten years of The Cool to come in 2017, he then announced he’ll be dropping three albums in 2016, and that they were to be his last records ever. Four months into the year, we were yet to hear any new sounds (or pretty much any sounds from the rapper), but last week Lupe announced a little change in this year’s releases. Instead of the previously announced titles Drogas, Skulls and Roy, he’s scrapped Roy, instead moving to release something called Drogas light* in between Drogas and Skulls. I imagine it’ll be an EP or perhaps even a remix album, but only time will tell.
https://twitter.com/LupeFiasco/status/720621253560696832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Ahead of Drogas, which has no official release date or information, Lupe has released a ten minute recording titled Conversations #1. It is apparently the beginning of a series, meaning the next instalments will no doubt be titled Conversations #2, #3 etc. It isn’t a new track, in fact, it’s three years old – the artwork details that it was “recorded live on the scene in 2013.” Its nature almost feels like another piece in the increasingly difficult scavenger hunt he’s laid out for fans; it’s not music, it is, much like the name suggests, a series of conversations and interviews with members of a community titled LOTUS (Lifting Ourselves Through US).
It’s interesting and certainly thought provoking, but it obviously isn’t what we were expecting as the first release from an album. Exactly what these final 3 (or 2.5) albums will entail is yet to be known.
Last year, Lupe returned to form with the wonderful album Tetsuo & Youth – read our review here.
Image: Youtube