Today, common hip-hop policy dictates that no genre or artist is free from crossover manipulation at the hands of subpar rappers–no, not even Radiohead.  While most half-hearted attempts at the gloriously high bar set by Jaydiohead fall far far short, Lupe’s verses over  The National Anthem nearly deserve the baseline and vocals they are set over.  Having heard very little from the Chitown local in 2009–let’s not count that single for the Twilight soundtrack–the Enemy of the State mixtape was just the reassurance his fans needed.  Lupe proves on this, the first track of the mixtape, that his mastery of metaphor, hyperbole, and personification are far and beyond the poetic ability of the current rap community at large.  Perhaps the simple “verb like noun” line structure (e.g. kick it like judo) won’t prevail in 2010 after all.

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

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