Tetsuo & Youth (T&Y) is the fifth studio album by American rapper Lupe Fiasco, released on January 20, 2015, by 1st & 15th Entertainment and Atlantic Records. The album features guest appearances from Guy Sebastian, Ayesha Jaco, Troi Irons, Terrace Martin, Nikki Jean, Billy Blue, Trae tha Truth, Ty Dolla $ign, Crystal Torres, and Ab-Soul, among others. Production was handled by a variety of record producers, including Blood Diamonds, DJ Dahi, MoeZart, S1, Simon Sayz, VohnBeatz, Wiz Buchanan, and others. It was preceded by the single "Deliver" on November 10, 2014.
Being his final contractual album with Atlantic, Tetsuo & Youth debuted at number 14 on the US Billboard 200, and sold 42,000 copies in its first week. It was observed of listening to the album's track listing in reverse order. Several hints to this include "Blur My Hands" ('So you starting at the end, that's the part where you begin'), "They.Resurrect.Over.New." ('We're going up, we're going up'), and the final track "Spring," where the word means "upward." Notable themes on the record are reincarnation, resurrection, and Christianity. The album is regarded by fans as one of his most complex, abstract works.
Acknowledgements[]
To everyone involved we love you. To my family and friends and fans, thank you for the support & love over the years. Thanks to Erik Reicher & Bob Horn for treating this project with respect and giving me the environment to create without fear or hesitation. Special love to Nikki Jean, Troi & Crystal "Rovel" Grant-Torres you ladies took something that was just ok and turned it into something magical and beautiful with your talents and time. Much love to you Rosy Timms for creating those beautiful interludes for me you are such a terrific talent! And to my brother Simon Morel who has been there through this entire project without fail day in and night out. Much love to S1, DJ Dahi, Moezart, VohnBeats, The Buchanans, Gizzle. My bro Ty$, PJ and the whole LA Squad! Shout to my big bro Rob Wang for being there when I didn't known I needed it and my whole #PML Family George & Jack, Ab-Soul, DoeBurger and the whole TDE family. Shoutout my big bro Bishop G. Much love to my brothers Sky Gellatly and Nikle "Gatzby" Guzijan.
Special thanks to the Henry Crown Fellowship for your guidance and support. And to my B+E brothers and sisters, The Sun Never Sets On The Bones & Elephants Empire
Much love to Busy, Big Baby Ant and D-Boy
Love to my sister Sarah Green and my brother Soundtrakk
FREE CHILL!!!
Momma we got another one
To Anonymous Thank You.
Peace and much love to ya!
Description[]
Lupe Fiasco is an underground rapper with a mainstream career, and vice versa. From his label dust-ups to his shifting musical ambitions, he's an iconoclast who happens to be a hitmaker. He revels in this duality on Tetsuo & Youth. Dig the second track, "Mural," which is nine minutes of dizzying raps with no guests and no hook. "Chopper" is similarly maximalist, featuring seven rappers and stretching nearly 10 minutes. Everything from banjo samples to '80s metal guitars to classic boom-bap beats dot the productions. The smorgasbord of textures complements Lupe's seemingly endless verses, adding up to a quixotic album that's also one of his best. – Apple Music
Background[]
On February 10, 2013, whilst attending the red carpet for the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, Fiasco announced his forthcoming album Tetsuo & Youth. He noted of how the project "won't be as open for interpretation," where "I've always been conceptually progressive, but at the same time, too, making it simple enough for you to understand exactly what I'm talking about from the time that you hear it."[1]
Fiasco revealed to Rolling Stone in October 2013, "For some people it's gonna be a shock, because there are no politics on the record. Consciously, there are no politics on the record. If you want to hear my political spiel or some psuedo-intellectual Lupe, go listen to [2012's] Food & Liquor II. From here on out, I'm just making music."[2] Meanwhile, he told Houston's radio station, 97.9 The Box, "It ain't gonna be a party album… I did like the first interview for the album I think it was either with Rolling Stone or Billboard and just told them like, you know, on purpose there's no politics on the record. I feel like people—I've said what I had to say and people replied how they had to reply. So, now it's just music." He continued, "You get tired of trying to like get people to see things from a different way or a different perspective. And it's kinda like the lack of response what was more like 'Oh well, forget it. Let's just go get money then.'"[3]
Release and promotion[]
Fiasco embarked on a 33-date promotional tour ahead of the album's release, called the Tetsuo & Youth Preview Tour, where he performed songs from the record and his previous projects. Despite its name, the only newest offerings were "Crack" and "Law".[4]
With the delayed album release, Fiasco dropped several loosies compiled into the project known as Lost in the Atlantic. The Chicago native shared, "Atlantic Records won't release the album until they get a 'pop' single. [S]o putting together a mini-project while they find one for me. It's called 'Lost in the Atlantic Ocean' with a bunch of my friends to stay active and happy..." The post contained a snippet of the song, "Lilies," though was deleted fifteen minutes after.[5] The hacktivist group Anonymous (@TheAnonMessage) caught wind of Fiasco's label troubles, and took to Twitter on October 15, 2014, to threaten Atlantic; within less than 24 hours, the record label revealed the project's date. While it is uncertain if Anonymous influenced this decision entirely, the group released the following statement:
24 hours ago we released a short Twitter ultimatum. We called upon record label Atlantic Records, responsible for releasing conscious rap artist Lupe Fiasco's long awaited Album. We demanded a statement from the label within 24 hours to release a date or we would unleash the complete and utter fury of our collective on their company and executives. 21 hours later they released a short Tweet citing the album and it's release date.
At this time it can be concluded that we have proved our point. We wish music that is educating the masses to keep being released. We will fight for that. Lupe Fiasco, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Common and others are the moving force behind conscious rap. This is music we will fight for.
Operation Atlantic, Operation Free Lupe; disengaged.[6]
In response, Fiasco subliminally tweeted out "V" for vendetta in acknowledgment to the group's public disguise of Guy Fawkes masks.
Fiasco collaborated with Youth Fair to create a T&Y shirt.[7]
On February 21, 2015, YOUth launched the 100-piece limited edition t-shirt in collaboration with Fiasco. The front of the shirt reads 'YOUth' with Fiasco's painting superimposed over the letters. Underneath is the parental advisory label. On the back of the shirt, it reads 'Tetsuo + Youth Parental Advisory Explicit Content.'
In a 2019 retrospective interview with Vibe, Fiasco said he'd stopped caring about "linearity" with Tetsuo & Youth. He elaborated on how Atlantic refused to put out the album until he pushed out more commercial singles, "You got to have a 'Show Goes On.' You gotta have an 'Old School Love.' I'm like 'all right, it's gonna ruin the album because it doesn't fit.' But then it became, 'oh wow they're not gonna promote this album anyway.' That was one of the guarantees Lyor Cohen gave me when I didn't sign my 360 deal." At that point, he chose to "make the album that I want to make, that people can't understand, because linearity is not gonna work. If I do all these records I'm going to sacrifice my creative intentions. I'm 34, I don't know how many years more I can do this, being the guinea pig for your pop-crossover rap whatever and get no publishing from it. So nah, I'm just going to make this record. Then it became abandon that linearity, they are not going to put the album out, in walks Anonymous and threatens to hack the label. […] But it's completely nonlinear. And then it was like it's okay, I'm comfortable doing that. Now I am completely comfortable as an artist putting out whatever the fuck I want to put out. Whoever gets it, they get it. Whoever don't, don't."[8]
In November 2024, the album was released on vinyl for the very first time. The translucent purple vinyl edition quotes Justin Hunte of HipHopDX on the sticker: "Tetsuo & Youth glistens with imagination. Where the Judo Master of Juxtaposition has grown more challenging lyrically, he's also grown more naturally emotive."
Singles[]
On August 24, 2013, Fiasco performed the first verse of his song entitled "Crack," which features guest vocals from Chris Brown. It was advertised as the lead single from Tetsuo & Youth, though was never officially released. The song is about smoking crack cocaine,[9] and Fiasco confirmed in a September 2020 tweet it was "never coming out."[10] Another song, "Drizzy's Law," did not make the final track listing. It was instead added to Drogas Light as simply "Law," noted for its pop rap sound.
On October 14, 2013, he released the standalone single "Old School Love" featuring Ed Sheeran. Guy Sebastian, who happened to be in the studio at the time, encouraged Fiasco to release it, though the record was merely created to satisfy his label's demands.[11] The song peaked at number 93 on the US Billboard Hot 100, with its music video premiering on December 9, 2013.
On May 19, 2014, the first promotional single, "Mission," was released as part of the Stand Up to Cancer campaign. It serves as an anthem to those living with cancer. The song's intro contains vocals from American singer-songwriter Charlie Wilson and other cancer survivors who detail their type of cancer and when they were diagnosed.
On June 24, 2014, the second promotional single, "Next to It," was released. Featuring Ty Dolla $ign, it failed to enter the Billboard Hot 100 but peaked at number 52 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The accompanying music video was directed by Alex Nazari, premiering to MTV on August 11, 2014.[12] When asked why it was left off the album, Fiasco replied, "Love my brother @tydollasign but once it was clear Atlantic wasn't going to promote the album at all. I stripped it of everything 'radio/club/pop' friendly, threw Mural on there and was just like I'm just gonna make an undeniable overly conceptual mind fuck of an album."[13]
On November 10, 2014, the album's first official single, "Deliver," was released. It features background vocals from Ty$. The music video premiered the same day to WorldStarHipHop, directed by Nazari.
On December 14, 2014, "Madonna (And Other Mothers in the Hood)" was released to those who pre-ordered the album. It features guest vocals from his frequent collaborator, Nikki Jean.[14] The music video was uploaded to Fiasco's YouTube channel on March 14, 2015, directed by Alex Nazari. On January 5, 2015, "Adoration of the Magi" was the next track fans could instantly receive if they pre-ordered Tetsuo & Youth. It features Crystal Torres on the chorus, and was named to be Fiasco's favorite song from the record.[15] The official music video premiered on April 14, 2015, also directed by Nazari.
| Title | Date | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
"Crack" | August 24, 2013 | Unreleased |
|
"Drizzy's Law" | November 3, 2013 | Appears on Drogas Light instead |
 |
"Old School Love" | October 14, 2013 | Standalone single |
 |
"Mission" | May 19, 2014 | |
 |
"Next to It" (featuring Ty Dolla $ign) |
June 24, 2014 | |
 |
"Deliver" (featuring Ty Dolla $ign) |
November 10, 2014 | Single |
 |
"Madonna (And Other Mothers in the Hood)" (featuring Nikki Jean) |
December 14, 2014 | Promotional single |
 |
"Adoration of the Magi" (featuring Crystal Torres) |
January 5, 2015 | |
Title and artwork[]
For the title of the record, Fiasco did not name it after the Akira character Tetsuo Shima, though was slightly inspired by Tetsuo. He added, "You can hate him for what he's done, but it's not just him being an asshole. How that relates to me as a person—you can take that however you want, but it was more like, let me get to the emotion of that misguided anger and make this sound like a song."[2]
The cover artwork is one of his paintings, "Uomo Mangiato Tigre" (Man Eating Tiger), which was also featured in his art exhibition Beta and at the Soho House. It includes his signature mori skull symbol, and has multiplicity of meaning: the "Idea of where we sit in the natural order of things;" "a tiger descending into the body of a man, being consumed. You see the inside of man;" and "a tiger in the process of ripping a man to pieces. A very chaotic scene of violence." He concluded, "The meaning of this painting is constantly shifting and changing. I see death and life and a constant pursuit of these two goals."[16] As part of his #PhilosophySunday series on Twitter, he gave a deeper exploration behind the painting. The grey part in the bottom right-hand corner represents the brain (grey matter);[17] he mentioned "there is a man, a tiger, flesh, blood, bone and my two favorites..a soul & technology!"[18] (technology being "the Silver color field in the upper left").[19]
Critical reception[]
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Album of the Year | 75/100 |
| AnyDecentMusic? | 6.9/10 |
| Metacritic | 80/100 |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| The A.V. Club | B+ |
| Consequence of Sound | B |
| Cuepoint (Expert Witness) | A− |
| Exclaim! | 8/10 |
| HipHopDX | 4.5/5 |
| Pitchfork | 7.2/10 |
| PopMatters | 8/10 |
| Rolling Stone | |
| XXL | 4/5 |
Tetsuo & Youth widely met with favorable reviews from critics and fans, achieving an average score of 80 based on 12 reviews at Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100.[20] The album was rated a 6.9 out of 10 on the aggregator website AnyDecentMusic?[21] and 75 out of 100 on Album of the Year (AOTY).[22]
Sheldon Pearce from The A.V. Club opined, "a tapestry of experimental ideas and sounds that avoids delivering heavy-handed sermons by putting on an apolitical front and letting the commentary play in the margins. The album is the best Lupe Fiasco has been in years, mostly because it forgoes the previously self-imposed mandates of his savior complex in favor of a balanced view from both intrapersonal and interpersonal lenses."[23] AllMusic's David Jeffries commented, "strolls its way into greatness after a couple listens and wipes out all the bitter aftertaste of Lasers as if that misstep never happened."[24] AllHipHop applauded the rapper's lyricism, adding, "attempts to show layers even metaphorically in ways he never has before. There are a few points in this album that leaves one to think that Lupe could have been a star in the 90's Golden Era of lyrical MCs."[25]
Complex gave similar praise for its sound and lyricism, where there were no "throwaway tracks," while RapReviews penned of "cinematic moments" that will "likely to be better appreciated by future generations."[26][27] XXL's Kellan Miller wrote, "has arguably released his most thematically layered and engaging album to date," while Jayson Greene of Pitchfork agreed, "Tetsuo & Youth is the most generous gulp he's managed in years."[28][29] Christopher R. Weingarten of Rolling Stone assessed, "Lupe Fiasco's fifth album is a swirl of double meanings, extended metaphors about yoga and math, and increasingly labyrinthine ways to say 'I'm dope.'"[30] Justin Hunte of HipHopDX warmly praised, "glistens with maturity and imagination" and felt the rapper to have "also grown more naturally emotive."[31] Paste Magazine's Stephen Kearse was less enthused, stating, "lyrics are frequently abstract, almost to the point of opacity," which made some of the tracks "feel under-realized."[32]
Accolades[]
Year-end lists[]
| Publication | List | Rank | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Complex | "The Best Albums of 2015" | 11
|
|
| HipHopDX | "The Top 25 Albums of 2015" | Not ranked | |
| PopMatters | "The 80 Best Albums of 2015" | 31
|
|
| Rolling Stone | "40 Best Rap Albums of 2015" | 27
|
|
| XXL | "20 of the Best Albums of 2015" | Not ranked |
Listicles[]
| Publisher | Listicle | Year | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albumism | "The 110 Best Albums of the 2010s" | 2019 | Not ranked |
Track listing[]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Summer" | 1:26 | ||
| 2. | "Mural" |
|
| 8:48 |
| 3. | "Blur My Hands" (featuring Guy Sebastian) |
|
| 5:27 |
| 4. | "Dots & Lines" |
|
| 6:32 |
| 5. | "Fall" | 1:13 | ||
| 6. | "Prisoner 1 & 2" (featuring Ayesha Jaco) |
| MoeZart | 8:36 |
| 7. | "Body of Work" (featuring Troi Irons and Terrace Martin) |
|
| 5:53 |
| 8. | "Little Death" (featuring Nikki Jean) |
|
| 4:29 |
| 9. | "No Scratches" (featuring Nikki Jean) |
| Simon Sayz | 4:22 |
| 10. | "Winter" | 1:31 | ||
| 11. | "Chopper" (featuring Billy Blue, Buk of Psychodrama, Trouble, Trae tha Truth, Fam-Lay and Glasses Malone) |
| 9:32 | |
| 12. | "Deliver" (featuring Ty Dolla $ign) |
| MoeZart | 3:52 |
| 13. | "Madonna (And Other Mothers in the Hood)" (featuring Nikki Jean) |
| DJ Dahi | 4:43 |
| 14. | "Adoration of the Magi" (featuring Crystal Torres) |
| DJ Dahi | 5:06 |
| 15. | "They.Resurrect.Over.New." (featuring Ab-Soul and Troi Irons) |
|
| 5:38 |
| 16. | "Spring" | 1:35 | ||
| Total length: | 78:43 | |||
Notes
- ^[a] signifies a co-producer.
- All interludes performed by Rosy Timms.
- "Dots & Lines" features background vocals by Nikki Jean.
- "Prisoner 1 & 2" contains additional vocals by Nikki Jean.
- "Body of Work" features additional vocals by Marisol.
- "Deliver" features additional vocals by PJ and Ty Dolla $ign.
Sample credits
- ^[b] "Mural" contains elements of "Chanson d'Un Jour d'Hiver," performed by Alain Mion and Cortex.
- ^[c] "No Scratches" contains a sample of "You Remind Me of Something," performed by R. Kelly.
Charts[]
References[]
- ↑ Muhammad, Latifah (November 18, 2013). "Lupe Fiasco Talks Yeezus, 'Crack' and Kendrick Lamar". BET.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lee, Christina (October 25, 2013). "Lupe Fiasco Is Avoiding Politics on 'Tetsuo & Youth'". Rolling Stone.
- ↑ Lilah, Rose (November 11, 2013). "Lupe Fiasco Speaks on Sound of 'Tetsuo & Youth,' Calls It 'Ratchet'". HotNewHipHop.
- ↑ Tardio, Andres (October 3, 2013). "Lupe Fiasco 'Tetsuo & Youth Preview Tour' Dates". HipHopDX.
- ↑ Harling, Danielle (October 15, 2014). "Lupe Fiasco Announces 'Lost in the Atlantic Ocean' Mixtape; Cover Art Released". HipHopDX.
- ↑ Kyles, Yohance (October 16, 2014). "Anonymous Claims They Forced Atlantic Records to Give Lupe Fiasco's Album a Release Date". AllHipHop.
- ↑ "Lupe Fiasco (@lupefiasco)". Instagram. February 21, 2015.
- ↑ Ketchum III, William (February 22, 2019). "Lupe Fiasco on New World Water and Changing the World with His Bars Before Leaving Rap Behind". Vibe.
- ↑ "Lupe Fiasco Talks About Kendrick, Yeezus and Falling Off". YouTube. November 15, 2013.
- ↑ "Lupe Fiasco (@LupeFiasco)". Twitter. September 3, 2020.
- ↑ "Lupe Fiasco's Last Interview: Opens Up About New & Best Album, Kid Cudi & President Obama". YouTube. January 22, 2015.
- ↑ "Lupe Fiasco (@LupeFiasco)". Twitter. August 8, 2014.
- ↑ "Lupe Fiasco (@LupeFiasco)". Twitter. January 20, 2022.
- ↑ Smith, Trevor (December 14, 2014). "Madonna (And Other Mothers in the Hood)". HotNewHipHop.
- ↑ "Lupe Fiasco (@LupeFiasco)". Twitter. January 5, 2015.
- ↑ "Lupe Fiasco (@LupeFiasco)". Twitter. January 11, 2015.
- ↑ "Lupe Fiasco (@LupeFiasco)". Twitter. January 11, 2015.
- ↑ "Lupe Fiasco (@LupeFiasco)". Twitter. January 11, 2015.
- ↑ "Lupe Fiasco (@LupeFiasco)". Twitter. January 11, 2015.
- ↑ "Tetsuo & Youth by Lupe Fiasco" | Metacritic
- ↑ "Tetsuo & Youth by Lupe Fiasco Reviews" | AnyDecentMusic?
- ↑ "Lupe Fiasco - Tetsuo & Youth" | Album of the Year
- ↑ Pearce, Sheldon (January 20, 2015). "Lupe Fiasco Puts Off Being Rap's Conscious Voice and Rediscovers His Own". The A.V. Club.
- ↑ "Tetsuo & Youth Review by David Jeffries". AllMusic. January 20, 2015
- ↑ "Review: Lupe Fiasco's Tetsuo & Youth". AllHipHop. January 27, 2015.
- ↑ Diaz, Angel (January 20, 2015). "Lupe Fiasco Is Back to Rapping His Ass Off on 'Tetsuo & Youth'". Complex.
- ↑ Juon, Steve (January 21, 2015). "RapReviews.com Feature for January 20, 2015 – Lupe Fiasco's 'Tetsuo & Youth'". RapReviews.
- ↑ Miller, Kellan (January 22, 2015). "Lupe Fiasco's 'Tetsuo & Youth' Is a Return to Form". XXL.
- ↑ Greene, Jayson (January 22, 2015). "Lupe Fiasco: Tetsuo & Youth". Pitchfork.
- ↑ Weingarten, Christopher (February 12, 2015). "Tetsuo & Youth". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on February 14, 2015.
- ↑ Hunte, Justin (January 20, 2015). "Lupe Fiasco - Tetsuo & Youth". HipHopDX.
- ↑ Kearse, Stephen (February 3, 2015). "Lupe Fiasco: Tetsuo and Youth". Paste.
- ↑ Werthman, Christine et al. (December 1, 2015). "The Best Albums of 2015". Complex.
- ↑ "The Top 25 Albums of 2015". HipHopDX.
- ↑ "The 80 Best Albums of 2015". PopMatters. December 7, 2015. Archived from the original on December 10, 2015.
- ↑ Aku, Timmhotep et al. (December 23, 2015). "40 Best Rap Albums of 2015". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on December 26, 2015.
- ↑ "20 of the Best Albums of 2015". XXL. December 24, 2015.
- ↑ "Albumism Selects: The 110 Best Albums of the 2010s". Albumism. November 3, 2019.
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Credits | Editions | Promotion | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Category | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||