³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

See, the problem is as soon as you make a rap record which is a) warm and happy and b) utilises a rapper who is not audibly scowling while he dispenses his rhymes, people are going to dismiss it as lightweight. It's something Lupe himself hinted at when he put out last year. Rappers are supposed to behave in a certain way, dress a certain way, make records that sound a certain way, with videos to match, and for all their bravado and claims of individuality, often, that's exactly what they do.

Now, the strange thing is, they only do it because that's largely what people want them to do. I mean, successful indie bands all look broadly similar, dress in a similar way and write similar sorts of songs. Rock and metal bands wear a lot of cap-sleeved T-shirts, get tattooed and boast about drinking, singer-songwriters behave as if a strong gust of wind would blow them off to Narnia, and pop singers hint and moan about being sexy all day long, without ever using any strong words to describe sexual acts.

These are the things everyone is comfortable with. So when a rapper comes out with a pretty love song about traversing the globe with his girl - and proves that he knows the names of some of the places in it - with a video in which he is wearing a suit and doesn't look like a night club bouncer, well, it's hard to find the right words to praise the song without sounding like you don't fully understand the genre he's working within.

But stuff it. Lupe is good enough and clever enough to weather any amount of flak for not being street enough. That's for everyone else to worry about, right?

Download: Out now
CD Released: April 21st

(Fraser McAlpine)

PS: There's a nice ...by fans for fans, that kinda thing.