It seems as though Lupe is permanently resigned to staying on the sidelines, throwing occasional potshots at the game at large. He’s not Papoose by any means, too lyrical and talented for all that, but by allowing others to dictate what he does, Fiasco is quickly making that his lane. On “Piece of Paper of Jayzus,” the name itself an obvious toss at Jay-z and Kanye West, who gave him the spotlight in the first place. Fiasco basically goes in for a full seven minutes of telling listeners how he’s different, even spending more than a handful of bars simply talking about Earl Sweatshirt and Odd Future. To explain further, allow me to take a page out of Louis C.K.’s book: Of course Lupe is one of the best lyricists of our time, but maybe he needs to stop arguing with women on Twitter and climbing mountains and just make music. This was . . . something. It’s understood that hip-hop is a restaurant with many dishes, Lupe just hasn’t been serving to my liking lately. When he first came out, it was obvious what set Lupe apart, but now it seems as though he’s trying to tell us what that is instead of doing it and PPCJ just reinforces that sentiment. Let me know if you agree, listen below!
Interesting line: Told Jean, Foxy, & Rah the greatest rapper’s a girl/They said the greatest rapper’s a guy