Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool by Lupe Fiasco

Lupe Fiasco's The Cool, the Chicago rapper's second studio album, landed on 1st & 15th and Atlantic on December 18, 2007, and it's a full-blown concept record. Its story grows out of "The Cool", a song and character from his debut Food & Liquor, and Lupe spins it into a dark, cinematic fable, rapping in dense, knotted verses that reward a second and third listen.

He and Charles "Chilly" Patton executive-produced, and the beats come from all over the map: Soundtrakk, UNKLE, even Patrick Stump. Snoop Dogg, Gemini and Matthew Santos drop in, and "Superstar", with Santos, became Lupe's first top 40 hit on the Hot 100. The Cool debuted at number 15 on the Billboard 200, sat at number one among rap albums for 9 weeks, went platinum and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Album.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.