If you know anything about Lupe Fiasco, then you know he’s a man who doesn’t avoid controversy, and often times he stands on the opposite side of popular opinion.
Like the many times he’s criticized President Barack Obama, or when he said Kendrick Lamar wasn’t a “top tier lyricist,” despite the Compton rapper being praised by the lyrical greats.
Lupe even caused a stir at the very beginning of his career when he suggested that “A Tribe Called Quest” wasn’t important to him as a kid because he preferred gangsta rap. The whole thing was dubbed “Fiascogate,” and a lot of folks still haven’t forgotten about it.
This time around, Lupe gave his review of “Black Panther” and despite the film being praised by critics, celebs and everyday movie-goers, he said it was average at best — at least when you look at it as a piece of art.
“I’ve had conversations with people, like the super political, to kind of, you know, not so much on the artistic but close to the artistic as a pure film conversation,” he explained. “How does it stand up as a film?”
“I mean, I like ‘Black Panther.’ I don’t necessarily like film too much these days simply because I think I’m of a generation, I’m 36, so I was born in 82, and I’ve been able to see films be redone like entire genres or themes. The films be redone, so I was there for like the original ‘Ghostbusters’ and then the ‘Ghostbusters’ reboot, right? And then you get to see like all the whole cycle take place,” he added.
Lupe also said that Black folks may be overly excited about the film because it’s the first time they’ve seen an all Black cast in a movie of that size and budget. On top of that, he said some Black folks may not be judging the film objectively, simply because they’re so proud of it.
“So [Black Panther] still falls in the category of being an okay film,” he stated. “I don’t think that the acting was like super amazing. Because one, I don’t think we’re used to seeing Black people on screen that much, and so when you do see a movie that’s all Black folks, this for me specifically, there’s a bias.”
You can hear what else Lupe had to say about “Black Panther” below.
https://youtu.be/VIjZ2GS7qdU
