Music Review: Lupe Fiasco & Ed Sheeran "Old School Love"

Lupe Fiasco & Ed Sheeran

Old School Love

Album: Tetsuo & Youth

Year: 2013

               Congrats to Criminal Minds on episode 200! May it bring many scares and a reason for Garcia and Morgan to share a flirty moment and possibly contemplate a future together. Ok, I realize that last part may never happen. I usually watch dramas with ongoing storylines. Criminal Minds, for me, is a break from that. IT's one of those shows if I see a rerun, I will watch it.

              A 80s record brings back childhood memories for Lupe Fiasco in the analytical   “Old School Love.”

            A shy synth opens the single, setting an innocent tone. In intro, Ed Sheeran turns off the radio. Rap music is not what it used to be. He can relate to it. (“Give me that old school love right now/You know that only you and me alone.”

       In the chorus, Sheeran runs upstairs to dig through the vinyl records to play them for his son. (“As long as I'm here/As long as you love me/Give me that old school love right now/As long as I'm here/As long as you love me/Give me that old school love right now.”)

         Fiasco combs through the records, brushing the album covers off. He comes across the second album he ever bought. It was at the local record store near his house. He had saved up his allowance for several weeks to buy it. He played it all day. He opens his mouth to tell a story about hearing the music but decides to stop himself. He would prefer his son discover it himself. Together, they sit back and listen. He remembers riding his bike around town. The boombox would be outside on the basketball court, blasting hit after hit as they played. One day, his son will be a father. Like him, he will have a fondness for the music surrounding him as he grew up. However, it’ll be for the recent stuff out now and from the early 2000s like Mystikal, Nelly and Ja Rule. He’ll say how great music was when he was a kid. While the young person will tell him it’s irrelevant. Turning 40 to his son may seem overwhelming now. However, the years will go by quickly once he’s out of his teens. (“Give me that late 80s early 90s old school/Feeling like my second album, so cool/Chiraq summer looking so cruel/Look shorty in the eye, told me it was no rules/Went to speak but was like never mind/Let my mind just sneak back to a better time/When I was his age and if he's ever mine/Thinking he would only think back to this and never find/Better times to think back to when it comes/And he's older in the presence of somebody young/Telling him the same things that he told me/And he reacts the same way as that OG/But it's old school, it's like '03/And this old man is my old me/Takes a long time to happen so fast/To realize that your future is somebody else's past/Wassup.”)

          Sheeran sings the chorus again.

          MP3’s do not have the same quality. It’s a compressed file. With a record, it’s as though a person is the room and it’s a private concert. On rotation, was Ice-T (“Who?,” his son says, “the guy with reality show, really?”) LL Cool J (“The guy from the NCIS commercials?,” his son adds). He tells his son he used to carry the albums underneath his arm. They were large and if he ran, he would drop them and they could break. He explains production was simpler. It may have taken longer but the quality was better. (“Analog black vinyl spinning sounding so good/Top down, can't be a classic if it's no wood/If you don't know what, then you new school/Floor model is the foundation for your YouTubes/Model flows off of Fat Boys and Juice Crews/Melle Mel's, Ice-T's, and the 2 Cools/Add a Moe Dee and a Double L/Had to walk cause it's hard to run in those unbuckled shells/One microphone and a couple 12s/Six drum sounds and a couple bells/Is all you had to make a couple rails/And that's a track, and if you want it/You have to make it like that/Now what's one turtle to a couple snails?/Takes a long time to happen so fast/And realize your future is somebody else's past/Wassup.”)

          Sheeran sings the chorus again.

         Whenever he hears the electronic flourishes to improve the current rapper’s voices today, he shakes his head. To him, the vocals are cold and unemotional despite whatever anger they are supposed to be feeling. It’s all hook. Everything in the verses is about cars, money and girls. The social message is lost. It’s when they get older and realize they are getting phased out by the next geneeration that they attempt to rap about serious issues. He knows music changes over the years. There is plenty of competition and label pressure. However, there is no mention of their predecessors on the current rapper’s albums. It’s as though they didn’t exist. He thinks they need to give them credit. They wouldn’t be on the radio if it weren’t for them. (“Chiraq summer looking so cruel/How can I reel-to-reel when there's Pro Tool?/I can't dig it at all because there's no tube/Fire when you speak but ain't no warmth in your vocals/Might have been a better rhyme then just never mind/If it's better with time then think in line/That you're going to be your nicest 'round your midlife crisis/If your life like Christ live your midlife like it's... Christ-like/***** I ain't psychic/I know it's all a cycle and everybody bike it/And France is enormous you're Lance with endorsements/But you might need a hand to enhance your performance/Consider this a kilogram of encouragement/Teach you how to sneak it past the enforcement/And when you get it through in a manner so cool/Remember to give a little nod to the old school/Wassup.”)

           In the bridge, Sheeran listens to the records and closes his eyes, letting the voices take him back to when he was young. (“Give me your old school love right now/I'm leaving it all up to you darling, giving you everything you want/And give me that old school love right now/You know that only you and me alone.”)

        Sheeran sings the chorus again to end the single.

      Fiasco’s somber rap reminisce, sharing stories of his youth with his son and how music played into it. Somehow, things seemed to be better then both in music and life. Today, everything is overproduced and a person’s vocals are made on purpose to be robotic and unnatural. He makes excellent points. Like J Cole, he’s trying to get rap to make positive changes.

      Sheeran’s tender vocals pick up the record by the tips of his fingers. It’s fragile and rare. Once he’s finished playing it, he cleans it and searches for any scratches. The record, like a person, is something he cherishes and holds onto during the dark times.

        The  bright “Old School Love”  remembers what the genre has long forgotten.