2006 was a monster, simple and plain. I cannot recall a year in the new millennium where hip hop and music was so prolific (save, perhaps 2000). One shining star from this year’s product was Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor, which dropped September. The album has been a topic of much debate and contention among the Musicologists. While all of us agree that the album is dope, creative and well done, only I am of the opinion that it should have the revered “classic” label. That’s right—Lupe Fiasco’s debut is a classic.
Aside from the precocious wordplay and stellar production, my main reason for giving this album classic status is social in nature. Because the album was made by an artist of the XY Cusp Generation (explanation to come), this album has single-handedly united Generation X with Generation Y, while simultaneously highlighting (in a profound way) the geopolitical and social ills that plague all three generations.
All the world’s ills,
Sittin’ on chrome twenty-four inch wheels
-"Hurt Me Soul" track 11
Food & Liquor, like people of the XY Cusp Generation, is a link between two vastly different generations that have trouble communicating with each other. See, Gen Y isn’t merely an offshoot or a derivative of Gen X, as some believe. Rather, Generation Y is a distinctly different cohort with strikingly different musical tastes and life values than that of the Xers.
Generation X, generally speaking, are people born between 1963 – 1976. These are children of the 70s that were teenagers during the 80s and are generally painted as a generation that is overshadowed by the previous generation–The Baby Boomers. This overshadowing is said to have produced a generation characterized as indifferent, alienated, overeducated and underachieving. They were too young to march against Vietnam, in middle or early high school during Reganomics, and the first to drink Starbucks as young professionals. They are the original “slackers”.
Genration Y for all intents and purposes, ranges from the high school class of 2000 to the class of 2006 (people who are currently in high school or younger are dubbed the iGeneration, for obvious reasons). They are the younger brothers and sisters of Generation X and are characterized as being a derivative of Generation X. Meaning, for example, whereas the advent of video games were integral for both Gen X and Gen Y—Gen X is “Atari” while Gen Y is “Playstation”.
But there exists a bridge-generation. This generation feels that it is both a part of and independent of Generations X and Y. Generation XY, or the XY Cusp Generation, are people born between 1977 – 1981, an interesting overlap of the two previously discussed cohorts. To crystallize this duality using the video game analogy, Generation XY dabbled with Atari and Playstation, but was defined by “Nintendo”. (Incidentally, you might know the XY Cusp Generation by another name—The MTV Generation.)
So how does Food and Liquor fit into this generational discussion?Well here it is: Food & Liquor is the personification of the XY Cusp Generation in that it features standards of hip hop that appeal to both Gen X and Gen Y. A blend like this could only be created and executed by a XY Cusper, which Lupe is, since he was born in 1981.
Lyrically, the album takes Generation X back to a time when they used to have to constantly press the rewind button. Generation X’s emcees were so lyrically dense, insightful, and intricate that a listener could not just give an album a cursory run-through and understand what the album was about or the message that the emcee and the music was trying to communicate. The Xers grew up with the likes of Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, Nas, and Brand Nubian. Suffice to say that Generation X is about lyrics and emceeing.
Conversely, Generation Y has grown up in a time in music where the importance of the emcee – and emceeing – is not as widely accepted. Generation Y’s formative years occurred during a time in music where Jay-Z was unequivocally crowned the “Greatest of All Time” (a huge gaff on the hip hop community’s part for letting that slide for so long) and Kanye West (as an emcee) was not far behind. (In full disclosure, Kanye’s debut The College Dropout was probably the first album by an XY Cusper, as he was born in 1977.)
The acceptance of the diminished role of the emcee isn’t necessarily a slight by any means towards Gen Y, rather, it demonstrates how the ear of the hip hop masses has changed, how it is different. We can blame the XY Cuspers and Genration X for this, for it was these two that ushered in and accepted the commercialization of Puffy’s “I just want to make you dance” music as something that was hip hop to the core. The fact is, this was rap music at its finest.
Similar to how Gen Y is defined as an offshoot/derivative of Gen X, a shift away from the emcee towards the producer (the “super producer” to be exact) to produce these “make you dance” beats can be seen as an offshoot of the hip hop ear. Whereas Gen X was slaves to the emcee, Gen Y are slaves to Just Blaze, Kanye West, and Pharrell. Again, not a slight, because these artists are masters at their craft and deserve respect.
XY Cuspers are defined by such an ambiguous existence. They can either be an ambassador or a walking contradiction. They can relate to Generations X or Y one day and feel alienated by them the next. For example, as an XY Cusper myself, I can frequently recollect instances where my Gen X peers were make sweeping generalizations about Gen Y like, “Man, the shorties are crazy these days!” or make more personal social observations like, “Damn, my little cousin be wildin’ out!” Hell, during my senior year in college I could barely carry on a conversation with a freshman/Gen Yer—on any topic, let alone music—because our palettes and life values were just so different. This was not the case when I was a freshman as I could easily relate to people 4 or 5 years my senior.
Give em gum, give em guns,
get em young, giv em fun
But if they aint givin it up, then they aint gettin none
-“American Terrorist”, track 13
As a Cusper, however, there are times where I can relate to the plight of Gen Y and in some cases have disdain for Gen X’s rigidity. Take for instance my opinions on Food & Liquor versus how the rest of the Musicologists view the album. By and large the consensus is “The album is dope, but it’s not a classic. Dudes like Nas were way ahead of him at his age.” I am both in agreement and frustrated with these assessments. In situations like these I almost feel that it is my duty to play one of my XY Cusper roles and be the ambassador for both generations.
Things just changed in society in such a short period of time—maybe just three or four years—to the point where the generational gap, between people who were roughly the same age, seemed almost as wide as the gap between father and son. A lot of innocence was lost, and the music reflected that. (I don’t know what it was………the rise of the internet…..9/11……too much gun play in the lyrics….”gangsta” rap…I really couldn’t tell you.)
I can tell you this though. The rift that occurred between these two groups created a new generation—the XY Cusp Generation—a generation that feels like it is a part of both bookend-generations, but paradoxically, part of neither. This is the paradox of Food & Liquor—as stated in the albums intro—the good and the bad, or in this case one generation vs. the other. Neither generation is necessarily “good” or “bad” or "better" or "worse”—just vastly different.
Lupe effortlessly connects X and Y In one fell swoop. Food & Liquor contains the sharp lyrics that Generation X can appreciate with the Jay-Z/Kanye delivery and production that Gen Y can easily digest. All while capturing the social ills that run across all three generations.
A travelin’ band of misfits and outcasts,
Nod they heads from Misfits to Outkast.
A lot of scars, they did this without pads,
A lot of hearts who did this without dads.
One’s father was filthy rich
Two was middle class, and one was homeless.s
And then the paralyzed girl in the wheelchair
Who just liked to watch, and that was the whole clique.
-“Kick, Push II”, track 15
The album is the perfect generational bridge in that it seamlessly unites these two generations in a way that only XY Cuspers can unite the two generations. An album that has this kind of social import is worthy of “classic” status.
