Personnel include: Lupe Fiasco (rap vocals); Jill Scott (vocals); Gemini , Jay-Z (rap vocals).

Recording information: Right Track, New York, NY.

There was a buzz surrounding rapper Lupe Fiasco (thanks to a botched deal with Arista, an association with Kanye West, and a postponed record release date) for some time before his debut dropped in 2006. Thankfully, however, the hip-hop world's high hopes were met in full with FOOD & LIQUOR. Innovative, conscious, and boasting work from top-shelf producers like West and the Neptunes, the album comes on strong and doesn't let up, offering a battery of agile, articulate, laid-back rhymes over a backdrop of sophisticated, retro-tinged tracks. FOOD & LIQUOR announces the arrival of a talent poised to take his place in a lineage that includes Nas, Common, and West himself.

What the critics say...

Rolling Stone (p.126) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Fiasco reflects on the personal and the political, and reminds fans of everything hip-hop can be. It's full of surprising, creative moments..."
Rolling Stone (p.104) - Ranked #16 in Rolling Stone's "The Top 50 Albums Of 2006" -- "Fiasco's debut is smart, ballsy hip-hop both backpackers and Jay-Z fans can love."
Spin (p.59) - Ranked #20 in Spin's "The 40 Best Albums of 2006" -- "[H]e's the hip-hop Morrissey, which is exactly what the genre needs."
Entertainment Weekly (p.71) - "[The songs] show a young man reaching for the sky, and touching it often enough." -- Grade: B+
XXL (Magazine) (p.140) - "Lyrically dense with a strong moral undercurrent, the album delivered on Lupe's promise of thinking-man's hip-hop..."