Steppin Lasers - Part II

For Part I, Click Here. Basically, I talked about B.o.B and I forgot to mention the notes I wrote in my cell phone of B.o.B "freestyle to band. Early Red Hot Chili Peppers with Better hip hop, harder. sigur ros mobb deep - esque twilight song. then acoustic guitar."



Lupe Fiasco
Ok, do I really need to talk about the merits of Lupe Fiasco? Yes. When he broke onto the scene, people recognized his uniqueness (in his lyrics, voice and personality) but also his "traditional hip hop roots." What do I mean? He's a passionate thinker, his voice has a laid-back Chicago attitude but he tries to come hard sometimes, and his big single was about skateboarding. He preaches positivity despite hard ships in life, and intertwines songs about love in a way most hip hop artists would be afraid to do so.

I can't say I didn't have high expectations for the show... but I did. Maybe it was the steep price of the show or I hadn't seen him before in concert, and when he first came on stage and performed a few songs I was taken aback (and honestly, not really feeling the vibe). Shock!!



Our friend Hova's picture of the show:

He jumped out to an excited crowd ready to listen to some "straight hip-hop" and served up a twist. With his backing band, it felt like I was at some 80s punk-rock show, with Lupe screaming some lyrics. Intense might be an understatement. More than anything, I was surprised. It took a little while to process what was happening, he had a very hard rock mentality and made some unexpected choices with what appeared to be new songs. Lot of railing guitar -- almost too much shredding.

After going hard for a few songs, he took a break to talk with the crowd, commenting on how his NYC concert earlier has a stronger crowd, and called out a section in the crowd not keeping up with everyone else (note: We were not in that section!). People then got in a retaliatory DC Chant, and his obvious egging on led to him basically saying "I don't care, because... I'm from the best city in the whole wide world..." which are the beginning words to "Go Gadget Flow" (this is a live version, and basically exactly the same as what we experienced). I believe this was the turning point in the show - the whole crowd was on page with the song, everyone participated in the chorus and Lupe slid into a more comfortable pace and attitude. He then mixed in some crowd favorites (my favorite being "Daydreamin") after talking more in between songs with some new songs and it worked well. He started to tell us a story of his youth and how messed up he was in the head, that he was considering taking his life -- but music and his friend picked him out of that -- and he then let that friend perform a song. I think that is what happen, please confirm. I can't stress enough Lupe's passion.

So I'm gonna give a few new songs to listen to here:

The new single and inspiration behind Steppin Lasers and We are not Losers, We are Lasers: "I'm Beamin"

Originally supposed to be on an Alicia Keys album, but I think Lupe is putting this on the new album, "Love Letter to the Beat"

The song he's been opening with "Shining Down (live)"

Ok, straight from our show, Lupe does "Scream" which really shows how hard he brought everything in his set --



For more live footage of the show (this is for you Lombo and Hova) click here.


Are you a Lupe hater or lover?