Lupe Fiasco's The Cool

The spoken-word intro to Lupe Fiasco’s powerful second album features an anonymous woman speaking on lynching, gentrification, and police brutality, and thus the stage is set for a blistering set of socially engaged rap songs. “Little Weapon” examines the issue of children with guns, from child soldiers to high-school shooters. Lupe also takes aim at the music industry, giving a dense meditation on life in the spotlight on the gentle, soulful “Superstar” and decrying corporate pressure to dilute his style on “Dumb It Down.”