Drogas Light

Overview

• Credits

• Editions

• Promotion

Drogas LightStudio album by Lupe Fiasco
Released	February 10, 2017 (2017-02-10)
Genre	Hip hop trap
Length	60:57
Label	1st & 15th Thirty Tigers
Producer(s)	B Ham B-Sides Cy Fyre D'Mile Floss & Fame iSHi Jake Torrey Purps Simon Sayz Soundtrakk StreetRunner S-X Tarik Azzouz Ty Dolla $ign
Lupe Fiasco chronology
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Drogas Light (stylized as DROGAS Light) is the sixth studio album by American rapper Lupe Fiasco. It was released through 1st & 15th Entertainment and Thirty Tigers on February 10, 2017. The album was self-described as a "refinement" of his 2011 release, Lasers, and considered to be the prequel to his "real" album, Drogas Wave (2018). Drogas Light features many guest appearances, containing only three tracks without assistance out of a total of fourteen. He collaborated with a variety of artists and producers, including Gizzle, Ty Dolla $ign, Big K.R.I.T., Rick Ross, Simon Sayz, Soundtrakk, and StreetRunner. The material was revealed to be scrapped songs from earlier projects put together, completing his contract with Atlantic Records. The album sold 20,000 copies in its first week and debuted at number 28 on the US Billboard 200 in March 2017.

Translated from Spanish, drogas means 'drugs,' which in turn is an acronym for 'Don't Ruin Us God Said.' The cover art displays a simple white background with the red-colored kanji for "light" in its center. In February 2022, Fiasco said as a piece of trivia, "this album is the closest representation of my actual day to day personality. So on that front it's my most accurate album to me personally. My other albums are me working through concepts or ideas. DROGAS light is actually me." In celebration of six years, he released a remix version of "Wild Child" (the song also named as his favorite from the album) to YouTube. The remix features Vince Lawrence and is the second track from the compilation extended play Chill's Spotlight, Vol. 4 - Spirit of Chicago House (2023).

Description

The Japanese kanji character for "light" adorns the cover of Lupe's album—an accurate description of the contents within. The Chicago MC sheds megawatts of insight, bobbing and weaving over musical beds ranging from trap to vintage dirty south to electro-funk. "More Than My Heart" is a love letter to mothers. "NGL" is a cautionary tale. On "Made in the USA," Lupe drops a rap history lesson. DROGAS Light is a convincing master class about staying true. ^{— Apple Music}

Background

Fiasco's tweet

On December 24, 2015, Fiasco declared of three record releases in 2016: Drogas, Skulls, and ROY, which would've marked his finale from creating any more albums. This was reiterated during Fiasco's tour, Tour for the Fans, though he later amended that ROY was never going to be released and replaced with Skulls instead as the finale.

On May 5, 2016, he revealed the initial track listing, which included "Crack," "Harold's," "Fire," "Magic City," and "Loot." On December 13, he faced backlash for his "N.E.R.D." freestyle, to the point where he declared that he was "not releasing anymore music" and cancelling all albums. On December 24, he announced the official release date for Drogas Light on social media.

In May 2017, Fiasco told his audience during a show that the album "was a compilation of old ass songs we just had laying around." Despite no longer being signed, he was contractually obligated to release one more project for Atlantic Records. He continued, "I will never, ever, ever, as long as I'm on this label, give this label my heart. What I truly believe and what I really feel. 'Cause I feel like when you work for somebody, they have to show you some love back; show that they deserve your worth. So, since Lasers, I've never really put my all into a project because I feel like Atlantic doesn't deserve it. So I took an L."

On January 5, 2018, Fiasco took to Twitter to compare his initial album artwork to Kendrick Lamar's single, "All the Stars," with "Even I admit this is a little too close for comfort…. damn now I guess I need a new album cover…" He continued to point out their similarities of all-black album artwork and backwards albums. The following day on January 6, he stated in since-deleted tweets, "KDot is not a top tier lyricist to me and my standards when it comes to punchlines and bars. His overall lyrics are good his stories phenomenal BUT punchline entrendre lyrically I don't see it."

On February 5, 2018, he shared the omitted song from the record, "Harold's," in celebration of his friend Harold "Huggy Bear" Perkin's birthday.

Release and promotion

The album was preceded by the singles "Pick Up the Phone," "Made in the USA," and "Jump". The former was originally recorded for Tetsuo & Youth. The track "It's Not Design" was originally recorded for Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Pt. 1, where he wanted Nicki Minaj on it.

On February 15, 2016, Fiasco participated in a Street Fighter exhibition match against Daigo Umehara, which was also in promotion of his album.

On February 9, 2017, Drogas Light streamed exclusively to Billboard a day ahead of its official release. A representative said, "While Drogas Light signifies the beginning of the end for Fiasco, it represents how far he's come since he first entered the game and merely accents the intellectual breadth of the discography he'll leave behind."

Singles

Title		Date
	"Law (LoveAllWays)"	August 6, 2015
	"Pick Up the Phone"	July 20, 2016
	"Made in the USA"	November 17, 2016
	"Jump"	January 9, 2017

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Album of the Year	53/100
AnyDecentMusic?	5.1/10
Metacritic	56/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Chicago Tribune	5/10
Drowned in Sound	4/10
Exclaim!	6/10
Pitchfork	7.4/10
Rolling Stone	5/10
The 405	3/10
The Guardian
The Observer	4/10
The Skinny
XXL

Drogas Light received mixed reception from contemporary music critics, generally criticizing its sound. At Metacritic, the album received a score of 56 out of 100, based on reviews from 11 critics. It became his lowest-scoring album according on the aggregator website, one point below Lasers. The album was rated 5.1 out of 10 on the aggregator AnyDecentMusic?.

Andy Kellman from AllMusic assessed, "The range in quality here indicates that superior work is in reserve." Greg Kot of Chicago Tribune wrote, "It falters beneath its own cynicism. Rather than continuing to forge his own sound in tandem with longtime producer Soundtrakk, he chooses to co-opt mainstream currency—the gangsta tropes of trap music, the club rhythms of EDM—and delivers a mix of parody and second-rate would-be radio singles." Exclaim! said it wasn't "quite memorable," though added how the album still exhibited the rapper's skillset, enough to save the record from "total obscurity." Pitchfork's Edwin Houghton named Drogas Light to be Fiasco's "most subversive album yet," where he continued to keep his position "in the rap pantheon," while The Skinny's Nadia Younes contrarily described it as "too rushed and confused." Rolling Stone editor Christopher Weingarten praised the first eight tracks under "a killer concept EP of hard beats and hard politics for hard times," though criticized the genre experiments for the rest. The Guardian wrote "lack of direction" though conceded, "there are enough moments of quality to remind the listener why this MC deserves to finish his career on his own terms," while Drowned in Sound opined, "quite the mess all told." The 405 expressed extreme disappointment in their review: "Lupe is the moralizing old veteran, wagging his finger at mainstream hip-hop, while at the same time trying to show that he can fit in with the youth by making the very same music he's attacking. It's heavy-handed at best and embarrassing at worst. As far as I can tell, there isn't a single good track on the record—the few songs that aren't abysmal are barely passable." They added, "It was Atlantic who wanted him to 'dumb it down' in the past, so it's unclear why he felt the need do so on this album, especially considering how every time he's done so throughout his career he's gotten harsh and immediate backlash."

Fiasco gave a review of the album himself, rating 7/10. He wrote:

"Where do we go from here?" This is the question that takes center stage in the mind of controversially brilliant rapper Lupe Fiasco on the heels of his masterpiece 5th album, "Tetsuo & Youth" which was also signaled the end of his industrial recording career. Looking over a career which has spanned more than a decade in the Chicago Born MC reflects on his highs and lows.

"I mean what is there more to prove?" He says rather ambivalently, "and more importantly to whom? When I was young I had one goal in mind. To be one of the best MC's in the world and I crossed that threshold almost 15 years ago when Jay-Z, one of my lyrical heroes, gave me his seal of approval. My initial mission was complete so to speak."

The fastidious MC does make a pretty good case for himself. Lupe has been able to navigate a very rapidly changing landscape of cultural trends and technologies in the commercial music space while still hold down a solid reputation of being one of the premier "rapper's rappers." His latest effort "DROGAS Light" is somewhat of a mixed bag. It hosts a wide range of musical themes. From trap to disco to gospel with light touches of lyrical and technical skill from the MC. But while some may think the album is supposed to express his value as a rapper Lupe had something more "Live" in mind.

"DROGAS Light" is a refinement of LASERS. Period. I think it's pretty clear. Over my commercial career there naturally started to develop two Lupes. A very conceptually and lyrical dense Lupe and a "light" Lupe. Champagne versus Moonshine is probably the best analogy. And they each had a rather good output of material albeit for two very different audiences. And when I say audience I literally mean the audiences at live concerts which has always been the main focus. Straight up Moonshine Lupe live performances are decent at best. At worst they become too heady and un-entertaining. However Champagne Lupe performances are super lit! So it's finding a balance between the two but sometimes it's not about trying to balance at all but letting one just takeover completely. And since I don't have the label or personal pressures to "please everyone repeatedly" on my back I felt it's best to distill the best works from each side separately as opposed trying to clumsily blend them."

In regards to constructing the album the loquacious Luddite took a very "hands off" approach.

"I kinda just let the pieces fall where they may. "Light" is more of a curation of pre-existing material which shared similar properties. The majority of the album is from the vaults and only a few new pieces were actually put down to fill out the vision. Anything that challenged the "Light" feel of the album overall was rejected immediately. Anything that felt too jazzy or too lyrical or conceptually dense was not used so as to preserve the quality and tone of the next album "DROGAS" which is coming in a few months after "DROGAS Light". So it's a method to the madness as we wind down to the next phase of my career which is no albums at all. Which I'm very excited about because I feel there is really nothing more of value or interest I can do under the album format without repeating myself or setting unrealistic expectations."

With knocking beats and playful brushstrokes from a master "taking it easy" "Drogas Light" still possesses the classic Lupe direct social commentary and imaginative storytelling which solidified his place in the game so many years ago and looking forward potentially for so many years to come.

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Dopamine Lit (Intro)"	Rudolph Lopez Wasalu Jaco	Soundtrakk	2:49
2.	"NGL" (featuring Ty Dolla $ign)	Sam Gumbley Tyrone Griffin Jaco	S-X	4:03
3.	"Promise"	Jaco Lopez	Soundtrakk	4:32
4.	"Made in the USA" (featuring Bianca Sings)	Clemm Rishad Nicholas Warwar Tarik Azzouz Jaco	Azzouz StreetRunner	3:30
5.	"Jump" (featuring Gizzle)	Glenda Proby Lopez Jaco	Soundtrakk	4:34
6.	"City of the Year" (featuring Rondo)	Brendan Long Clint Massey Jaco	B-Sides	3:52
7.	"High (Interlude)" (featuring Simon Sayz)	Simon Morel Jaco	Simon Sayz	3:58
8.	"Tranquillo" (featuring Big K.R.I.T. and Rick Ross)	Derrick Disu James Fatora Justin Scott William Roberts II Jaco	Floss & Fame	5:10
9.	"Kill" (featuring Ty Dolla $ign and Victoria Monét)	Dernst Emile II Griffin Victoria McCants Jaco	D'Mile Ty Dolla $ign	7:10
10.	"Law" (featuring Simon Sayz)	Disu Fatora Morel Jaco	Floss & Fame	5:26
11.	"Pick Up the Phone"	Eshraque Mughal Sebastian Lundberg Jaco	iSHi	4:39
12.	"It's Not Design" (featuring Salim)	Long Morel Jaco	Simon Sayz B-Sides	3:50
13.	"Wild Child" (featuring Jake Torrey)	Jacob Torrey Morel Tara Colleen Vachon Jaco	Torrey Simon Sayz	3:28
14.	"More Than My Heart" (featuring Rxmn & Salim)	Brandon Hamlin Cyshae Strachan Nathaniel Caserta Jaco	B Ham Cy Fyre Purps	3:56
Total length:				60:57

Notes

• "Pick Up the Phone" features uncredited vocals by Sebastian Lundberg.
• "Law" had the working title of "Drizzy's Law," originally released for Tetsuo & Youth.

Sample credits

• "Jump" contains a sample of "Bla Bla Bla" by Gigi D'Agostino.
• "Kill" contains a sample of "Where There is Love" by Patrice Rushen.

Charts

Chart (2017)	Peak position
Canadian Albums (Billboard)	46
New Zealand Heatseekers Albums (RMNZ)	5
US Billboard 200	28
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)	11