Tetsuo and Youth is an album that many have been anticipating for a while. I personally haven't listened to much of Lupe as an artist, and what I have heard is from his older records. I sat down, and let this album play. Here's what I thought of it..
What immediately hit me on this album was Lupe's use of wordplay. This isn't a rare thing for somebody of his calibre, but it is inescapable in this album specifically. In fact, his world playis so strong that I had to rewind a few times just to consider what had been said. Even after doing so, to took me a while to grasp the bar fully. I don't do that for many albums, so I knew from that start that I was in for something special.
The second thing I usually look at in a hip hop album is production. I've found some rappers have the ability to produce some incredible lyrics, but their album is filled with a ton of mediocre instrumentals. Lyrics are incredibly important for me, but the instrumental is a crucial part of the song. I listen to a ton of genres and the sound of songs is what keeps me interested initially, it can even make up for lyrics that aren't so good. The instrumentals in this album were very impressive. In fact, I enjoyed the production on this album so much that I forgot to focus on the lyrics at times. This is very rare for me indeed. I'm not saying that I liked every single instrumental in this album, but I did catch myself bobbing my head like a madman on countless occasions.
The general structure of the album was very good, and Lupe has certainly mastered the art of keeping the listener interested. I was impressed by each song, and always doubted that the next track could be any better. I was proved wrong every single time! The album seemed to sound better song after song. Overall, I didn't find a single song that I didn't enjoy.
I tried very hard to find negatives, but I couldn't find any. This is a masterpiece, and I can't stress that enough. I haven't listened to many new albums this year, so I can't say whether it's in my top 5 of the year or not. However, this is going to be a hard album to beat. Lupe received a lot of criticism for some of his albums prior to this one, but he has certainty found his flow again. I'm just looking forward to what he has in store for the future.
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