Video: Lupe Fiasco: "He Say She Say"
Plenty of politically inclined MCs rap about how good they are for us, as if they were selling whole grains rather than rhymes, but even in preachier moments Chicago rapper Lupe Fiasco spends more time telling stories than patting himself on the back. From last year's complete breakfast Food & Liquor, "He Say She Say" verbalizes the all-too-familiar tale of young boys growing up too fast because their fathers are missing from their lives. Sure, the strings can get a bit "manipulative," as Pitchfork's (now Vibe's) Sean Fennessey put it in his album review, but vivid couplets like "No positive male role model/ To play football and build railroad models" tug on these male heartstrings as easily as a late-night TV showing of the equally manipulative Field of Dreams. The video, directed by Christopher Adams and Hana McDowell, is a fairly straight dramatization of the lyrics, aimed squarely at the viewer. Of course, it can't spare itself a little well-meaning self-congratulation, citing a U.S. Census Bureau report on the link between absent fathers and violent crime. Whatever, Lupe can't always rap about skateboarding.
[from Food & Liquor; out now on 1st & 15th/Atlantic]