Drogas Wave

“It's hard being a Lupe fan, go to Harvard to be a Lupe stan.”

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Category

Drogas Wave
Studio album by Lupe Fiasco
Released	September 21, 2018
Recorded	2013–16
Studio	FNF Studios
Genre	Hip hop
Length	98:25
Label	1st & 15th Thirty Tigers
Producer(s)	Lupe Fiasco (also exec.) Chilly (exec.) Abel Garibaldi Cardiak Christian Sager ChristopherKillumbus DJ Dahi Dylan James Floss & Fame Freeway Tjay Ian Valentine Johnny "JT" Thomas, Jr. Oren Yoel shndō Simon Sayz Soundtrakk S1 T3K Vohn Beatz
Lupe Fiasco chronology
Previous	Drogas Light (2017)
Current	Drogas Wave (2018)
Next	House (2020)

Drogas Wave (stylized in all caps) is the seventh studio album by Lupe Fiasco, released on September 21, 2018; his first as an independent artist and the sequel to Drogas Light. It debuted at number 60 on the US Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 11,099 copies in the United States. Guest appearances include Nikki Jean, Crystal Torres, Troi Irons, Damian Marley, and Simon Sayz. The song, "Haile Selassie," preceded the album from his 2014 mixtape, Lost in the Atlantic.

Divided into two parts ("meant to be listened to as separate bodies of work"), Drogas Wave is based around the manilla, and narrates the story of the LongChains, a fictional group of former slaves who escaped the ships and "spent the rest of their underwater existence sinking slave ships." The Spanish word 'drogas' means drugs, which is used as an acronym for 'Don't Ruin Us God Said.' This concept is being adapted into a novel called Wave, where Fiasco shared an excerpt in September 2020, accompanied with artwork. He also announced of a screenplay in the works.

Synopsis

On his seventh album, Lupe Fiasco seeks to enlighten, constructing a fable about a group of African slaves who are thrown off a ship and perish. Some spirits return to Africa while others form an armada to patrol the sea against future slave ships. With this weighty backdrop, Lupe examines how the past affects the present and future. DROGAS WAVE is both a creative peak for the Chicago MC and a novel of an album, its first five songs some of Lupe's most diverse and ambitious yet. They are, in order: an opening lament, a Spanish-language rap, a consciousness-raising banger, a grime track, and a tender string movement. "Alan Forever," "Mural Jr.," and "Imagine" are prime Lupe—revelatory bars over inspired beats, sparked by a desire to connect. He also includes the acclaimed 2013 track "Jonylah Forever," which memorializes a six-month-old girl struck down by bullets. It's a sobering moment during a time when senseless violence can feel so normal.

Background

Number 7... I remember holding number 1. Such a wild ride since way back then. And the saga continues. As I look back through all my work I think I've deciphered my purpose. The main idea of my art...It is to resurrect! When I'm doing the work of the "resurrective" is when I'm in my flow state. It is the best thing I know how to do. Walking between worlds and being the medium. Bringing things back to life. On "Don't Ruin Us God Said, Wave" I resurrect many things, one being my autonomy and freedom from the clutches of an industry that tried to and did destroy me. It destroyed my joy and my innocence. It made me mean and inconsiderate. With this that joy of creation returns from the netherworld. I return to myself. No pressures & no expectations. Independence earned, the hardest way. "From the depths of the sea...back on the block..."

Lupe Fiasco on Instagram

Initially the record was scheduled to be released on September 28, though Fiasco dropped it a week earlier supposedly because of a leak. Lyrics were also posted to the Genius website beforehand, and Fiasco requested for their removal. He considered Drogas Wave to be for "core fans" due to its conceptual material, and not for charts, radio, or new, casual listeners. Some of the tracks were scrapped due to sample clearance issues, where he addressed, "Some of the terms that people want to clear their samples can be a little too overboard [...] we made the decision to pull the samples out and begin reworking the records cuz the upfront costs plus the rights they want on the back end are just unacceptable." He elaborated that three uncleared tracks were integral to the second half of the album, though he was unable to recreate them and had to start over again. Despite this delayal, the album was released earlier than expected, and he remarked, "I don't know how the album got out, but it did. It's my label and I can do what I want with the music so I'm making it available to my fans now."

He made exclusive updates about the album on Reddit. He explained this decision, "To the chagrin of Twitter, and Instagram, and all the publicity folks, I kind of save it for the fans. You know, I think that one of the reactions, outside of music, has just been: focus on the fans. Let them be the first to crack things, or get the exclusive or the insight. And I've made a deal with them that I wouldn't talk about the album except on Reddit."

On September 22, he gave acknowledgment to Charley "Max B" Wingate, where "Wave is first & foremost all yours." He added that while his concept wasn't inspired by Wingate's work, but deemed it "only right" to give his respect and assure the fans and the movement that he held pure intentions. He wanted to "add another layer to what it means to be Wave for our community."

In 2019, Fiasco made note of how the album could connect to the action video game Death Stranding: "I always wanted to make an album how Kojima makes games...and that kinda happened really mysteriously..."

Concept and themes

He told Billboard that it was "about a group of slaves on a slave ship on their way to Africa to the West Indies and they are thrown off the boat." Rather than dying, they lived in the ocean and "dedicated their lives to sinking slave ships," becoming a supernatural force against slavery. He continued that it was a "super-deep story" he was building, but that was the central idea for creating the record. He added on the television station, h Live!, "My ancestors in America were slaves, who came from Africa. This album is kind of speaking to that, talking about that experience. But in a mythological way. I don't want to give it up now... but it's talking about it with a supernatural spin." Along with this, Fiasco memorializes several deaths, including Alan Kurdi, Ronald "Baba Kwesi" Harris, Jonylah Watkins, and Timothy "Timbuck2" Jones, who either died by drowning, cancer, or gun violence.

Over Reddit, he expanded on the storyline:

When they were submerged in the water their earthly lives expired and they began a new life under and on the water. Some walked back to Africa while others stayed in the sea to help fight slavery by attacking and sinking slaveships. The LongChains disbanded after the end of the transatlantic slave trade however a few were chosen to stay behind to keep watch and as guides for decedents of slaves that found freedom and wanted to return home.

On September 30, he tweeted: "The lyrics on the album are not that difficult 2 understand. What may confuse some listeners is the overall setting in which I frame certain lyrics. I unapologetically consider myself an Expressionist as opposed 2 a hyperrealist. I dont necessarily aim 2 achieve concrete settings."

Mail & Guardian observed, "the entire album can be seen as thematically interrelated, unfolding as a document of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and its contemporary setting." Writing for AAIHS, Tyler Parry analyzed, "he unveils how the historic legacies of transatlantic slavery connect with contemporary Black American culture, specifically highlighting the role of the Middle Passage as a critical point in the Black diasporan's bodily destruction. Fiasco even reimagines how the enslaved resisted their bondage [...] Multiple tracks on Drogas Wave revisit slavery as a defining component of Black identity in the western hemisphere, connecting aspects of contemporary African American culture to the horrors of an enslaved past." The Witness comments themes of "past and present" and "justice and a re-imagined reality."

Fiasco supplied, "The first 3 songs of part 2 deal explicitly with drugs. From the political & social impacts to addiction & the psychological, emotional and physical effects etc." He went on, "Tracks 14-22 speak to the Drugs as “Dont Ruin Us God Said” thesis within the album. Stories of personal ruin, resilience & redemption and the philosophies & methodologies one might use to achieve those goals. The album [ends thematically] on track 22. Tracks 23-24 are credits."

Artwork

The album packaging and design was done by Bonnie Chan Woo, directed by Fiasco, with additional album photography and logo design by Tonia Calderon. The cover artwork features a manilla, which was the currency used by slave traders in West Africa during the Atlantic slave trade. The track "Manilla" brings attention to this symbol and historical use. The item was presented during his keynote speech for Source at the annual Consumer Electronics Show. Fiasco told Vibe:

The manilla became for me this talisman for how I kind of view my life and how I approach things, and I always keep it with me and tell a story to people as much as I can. I've done it at MIT, and I've done it now at CES, and I've done it on stage. We need to be careful about the things that we invest in, and the cost and consequences of the things that we do. The manilla is kind of an example of that: the complicity, and endurance, and commandeering something negative and pulling it into something positive, etc. I want to be a part of things that make the world a better place, and here is physical motivation and a physical reminder of what the world's expectations were of my ancestors. And then how that reverberates through time because we don't understand our place in the world.

We constantly let people tell us where our place in the world is. Whether it be this mythical history of Africa that informs us or this very racist segregational third class citizen mentality that exists in the U.S. We as the diaspora, when do we decide to map out our own futures and write our own destinations? That is what the manilla represents to me, this past, and then when you see the talk you see that I have a new one, a flashy new one that's remolded off of the old one. You take this old one and we buy back our past, and with this new one, we buy back our future. We buy our future, we define who we are.

Drogas Wave album artwork included on physical formats

Meanwhile, the album artwork in the physical copies has an image of Fiasco standing in front of a collage, which depicts historical events. He explained in a series of tweets their meaning, where "All dealing with either drugs, slavery or the water in some way." The newspaper article covers the 1919 Chicago riots, with "the death of a black boy who wandered into whites only waters from a black south side beach." He concluded, "Reports are he was stoned to death from the shore and drowned." In a similar message, the silhouette of the dog, "Strand en See Net blanke," and the permissible water sign symbolizes black people being segregated from white spaces. This was a sign used during the South African apartheid. He explained, "the allusion of Black people being slyly referred to as dogs very striking. At a point in time I was going to make a distilled version of the signage the cover of the album. The meditation that blacks could be sold from beaches but not play on them was profound to me." Another image to his right is JMW Turner's famous painting entitled "Slavers Throwing overboard the Dead and Dying—Typhoon coming on," which was "created as a protest to the atrocities of the slave trade." This also aligns with the first track from the album, "In the Event of Typhoon," where Turner's poem is narrated by Leila Z. Braimah-Mahamah. In the top left-hand corner displays a cartoon, where "a British naval person [pours] opium down the throat of a Chinese person. The opium trade into imperial China by the British during the 1800's is a fascinating subject. The British waged a war FOR drugs into China on a massive scale." On the opposite to the top right-hand corner shows "the drawing of slave pearl divers." He stated that this was "fascinating while also tragic," like the fact that "the slave masters kept the slave pearl divers from having sex because it was believed that sex would make them too floaty to deep dive." Finally, Lupe alludes himself to "the bust of a black man" he saw at the Getty in Los Angeles. The jacket he wears is a Hikeshibanten, worn by Japanese fireman, which in turn references to "a Quotation from Chairman Fred Hampton who says '...you best put out the fire with water.'" Fiasco's astrological sign is Aquarius, the water bearer.

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	73/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
HipHopDX	3.8/5
HotNewHipHop	85%
Pitchfork	6.2/10
PopMatters	7/10
Tom Hull – on the Web	A−
Vice (Expert Witness)	A−
XXL	3/5

Drogas Wave received generally favorable reviews. On Metacritic, the album was assigned an average score of 73 out of 100, based on five critic reviews. Vibe named it his most "ambitious" work thus far, and praised, "well-crafted and laden with thought-provoking, research-worthy bars examining the scourges that plunder black and brown communities." While they found that the many producers let down the album in a few certain compositions, they conceded, "But even on those tracks, the invigoration and dedication that Lupe rhymes with make them worthwhile listens." Pitchfork wrote, "makes little effort to hide how superfluous so much of this material is [...] What makes Drogas Wave especially frustrating is the way you can squint and see the shape of his possible masterpiece inside."

Chris Holmes from XXL criticized its lack of cohesiveness and added, "Lupe spends so much time telling the story of everything, he leaves little room for the listener's reflection on anything." HipHopDX's Aaron McKrell wrote in similar sentiments, "Had Lupe channeled the bottomless depth of details into a cohesive listening effort, he very well may have crafted one of the most avant-garde rap albums this decade. Yet, DROGAS Wave is all over the place." PopMatters described it as "disjointed" but "persists as a portrait of pain, evocatively painted by Fiasco in harmonious hues of hope and despair." Matt Wilhite of DJBooth described it as "beautiful and complicated" and "conceptually ambitious," highlighting the three tracks "Alan Forever," "Stack That Cheese," and "Cripple". The Needle Drop called it "a surprisingly solid addition" to the rapper's discography, while RapReviews.com retrospectively wrote, "Fiasco remains untainted in his artistic vision, going down a lane he created just for himself to travel. Drogas Wave is by its very nature proof of that."

Joe Budden gave a mention on his podcast, "I'm appreciative that there are two percent of artists out there willing to (be this complex). You've got to fear that mind."

Track listing

Part 1: WAVE
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"In the Event of Typhoon" (Leila Z. Braimah-Mahamah)		Abel Garibaldi Simon Sayz	0:18
2.	"Drogas"	Davin Boykin Rudolph Lopez Wasalu Jaco	ChristopherKillumbus Dylan James Soundtrakk Lupe Fiasco	2:16
3.	"Manilla"	TJay Walker Jaco	Freeway Tjay	5:27
4.	"Gold vs. the Right Things to Do"	Larry Griffin, Jr. Luis Manuel Martinez Jr. Jaco	Symbolyc One shndō Lupe Fiasco	3:42
5.	"Slave Ship (Interlude)" (Performed by Rosy Timms)	Rosy Timms	Timms	3:31
6.	"WAV Files"	Lopez Jaco	Soundtrakk Lupe Fiasco	6:38
7.	"Down" (featuring Nikki Jean)	Jake West Tayor Lopez Jaco	Jake West Soundtrakk Lupe Fiasco	6:17
8.	"Haile Selassie" (featuring Nikki Jean)	Jaco Lopez	Soundtrakk Lupe Fiasco	4:49
9.	"Alan Forever" (featuring Crystal "Røvél" Torres)	Boykin Jaco	ChristopherKillumbus Lupe Fiasco	4:44
Total length:				37:42

Part 2: DROGAS
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
10.	"Helter Skelter (Interlude)" (Performed by Brother Nate)			0:16
11.	"Stronger" (featuring Nikki Jean)	Dylan Jame Nicholle Leary Lopez Jaco	Dylan James Soundtrakk T3K Lupe Fiasco	4:05
12.	"Sun God Sam & the California Drug Deals" (featuring Nikki Jean)	Carl McCormick Christian Sager Javohn Griffin Leary Jaco	Cardiak Sager Vohn Beatz Lupe Fiasco	4:44
13.	"XO" (featuring Troi Irons)	Ian Valentine Troi Irons Simon Morel Jaco	Valentine Simon Sayz Lupe Fiasco	4:31
14.	"Don't Mess Up the Children (Interlude)" (Performed by Dr. Nolan Shaw)			0:45
15.	"Jonylah Forever"	Jaco Lopez	Soundtrakk Lupe Fiasco	3:45
16.	"Kingdom" (featuring Damian Marley)	Damian Marley Dacoury Natche Oren Yoel Jaco	DJ Dahi Oren Yoel Lupe Fiasco	4:45
17.	"Baba Kwesi (Interlude)"			0:35
18.	"Imagine" (featuring Simon Sayz and Crystal "Røvél" Torres)	Valentine Morel Jaco	Valentine Simon Sayz Lupe Fiasco	4:07
19.	"Stack That Cheese" (featuring Nikki Jean)	Derrick Disu James Fatora Jaco	Floss & Fame Lupe Fiasco	4:13
20.	"Cripple" (featuring Elena Pinderhughes)	Lopez Jaco	Soundtrakk Lupe Fiasco	4:51
21.	"King Nas"	Lopez Jaco	Jon Content Soundtrakk Lupe Fiasco	5:57
22.	"Quotations from Chairman Fred" (featuring Nikki Jean and Bishop Edgar Jackson)	JaVohn Griffin Leary R. Boyce Jaco	Vohn Beatz Lupe Fiasco	7:09
23.	"Happy Timbuck2 Day"	Morel Jaco	Valentine Simon Sayz Lupe Fiasco	5:48
24.	"Mural Jr."	Johnny "JT" Thomas, Jr. Jaco	JT Lupe Fiasco	5:12
Total length:				60:43

Personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal and the album's digital booklet.

Musicians

• Wasalu "Lupe Fiasco" Jaco – vocals (tracks 2-4, 6-9, 11-13, 15-16, 18-24)
• Leila Z. Braimah-Mahamah – vocals (track 1)
• Letty – additional vocals (track 2)
• Dylan James – guitars, bass guitar, bongos, whistle (track 2); additional vocals (track 9); additional vocals, guitars, bass guitar (track 11)
• Davin "ChristopherKillumbus" Boykin – drum programming (track 2)
• Greg McDonald – shaker & auxiliary percussion (track 2)
• Derrick Hodge – additional instrumentation & bass (track 3)
• Reginald "Lil Reggie" Strong – additional vocals (track 3)
• Nigel Rivers – additional live bass (track 4)
• Caleb Sean – additional keys (track 4)
• Rosy Timms – violin (track 5)
• Nicholle "Nikki Jean" Leary – vocals (tracks 7, 8, 11, 12, 19, 22)
• Jake West – electric guitar (track 7)
• Kwayland Smith – additional vocals (track 8)
• Crystal "Røvél" Torres – vocals (tracks 9, 18); trumpet (track 2); additional trumpet (tracks 20-22)
• Brother Nate – vocals (track 10)
• Troi Irons – vocals (track 13)
• Dr. Nolan Shaw – vocals (track 14)
• Damian Marley – vocals (track 16)
• Dacoury "DJ Dahi" Natche – programming & keyboards (track 16)
• Oren Yoel – programming & keyboards (track 16)
• Ronald "Baba Kwesi" Harris – vocals (track 17)
• Simon "Simon Sayz" Morel – vocals (track 18)
• Elena Pinderhughes – flute (track 20)
• Runere Brooks – upright bass (tracks 20-21)
• Anthony Perkin – piano (tracks 20-21)
• Jon Content – keyboards (track 21)
• Bishop Edgar Jackson – vocals (track 22)
• Parthenia & Eric Thomas – additional vocals (track 22)

Technical

• Lupe Fiasco – writer (tracks 2-4, 6-9, 11-13, 15-16, 18-24); executive production (all tracks)
• Charles "Chill" Patton – executive production (all tracks)
• Simon Sayz – engineer (tracks 1-4, 6-7, 9, 11-13, 15, 18-24); production (tracks 13, 18, 23); writer (tracks 18, 23)
• Davin "ChristopherKillumbus" Boykin – writer (tracks 2, 9); production (tracks 2, 9)
• Rudolph "Soundtrakk" Lopez – writer (tracks 2, 6, 7-8, 11, 15, 20-21); producer (tracks 2, 6, 7-8, 15, 20-21); additional production (track 11)
• Dylan James – production (track 2); writer & additional production (track 11)
• Tjay Walker – writer & production (track 3)
• Larry Griffin, Jr. – writer (track 4)
• Luis Manuel Martinez Jr. – writer (track 4)
• Jake West Taylor – writer & additional production (track 7)
• Jhair Lazo – engineer (track 8)
• Nikki Jean – writer (tracks 11, 22)
• D. Laing – writer (track 11)
• T3K – production (track 11)
• JaVohn "Vohn Beatz" Griffin – writer & production (tracks 12, 22)
• Christian Sager – writer & production (track 12)
• Carl "Cardiak" McCormick – writer & additional production (track 12)
• Troi Irons – writer (track 13)
• Ian Valentine – writer & production (tracks 13, 18, 23)
• Damian Marley – writer (track 16)
• Dacoury "DJ Dahi" Natche – writer & production (track 16)
• Oren Yoel – writer & production (track 16)
• Greg "G-Ball" Magers – engineer (track 16)
• Graham Burris – engineer (track 16)
• Abel Garibaldi – mixing (all tracks except 16)
• Bob Horn – mixing (16)
• Derrick Disu – writer (19)
• James Fatorma – writer (19)
• Floss & Fame – production (19)
• J. Adams – writer (19)
• R. Boyce – writer (22)
• Johnny "JT" Thomas, Jr – writer & production (24)
• Brian "Busy" Dackowski - A&R
• Chris Athens – mastering (all tracks)

Tour

Drogas Wave Tour
Location	North America
Start date	September 16, 2018
End date	October 10, 2018
Legs	1
No. of shows	5

Fiasco embarked on a mini promotional tour that began at The Surf Lodge on September 16, 2018 in Montauk, New York, and concluded at Delmar Hall on October 10, 2018, in St. Louis, Missouri. Nikki Jean was a special guest for all dates except Montauk. The St. Louis show also featured Billy Blue, Lil Chris, MVSTERMIND, and Yung Fly.

Set list

The following set list is obtained from the October 10, 2018 show in St. Louis, Missouri. It is not intended to represent all dates throughout the tour.

1. "Stronger"
2. "Sun God Sam & the California Drug Deals"
3. "Dopamine Lit (Intro)"
4. "Jump"
5. "Go Go Gadget Flow"
6. "Deliver"
7. "Chopper"
8. "Fundamentals"
9. "Kick, Push"
10. "Hip-Hop Saved My Life"
11. "Stack That Cheese"
12. "Around My Way (Freedom Ain't Free)"
13. "Superstar"
14. "Out of My Head"
15. "Paris, Tokyo"
16. "Daydreamin'"
17. "Mural"
18. "The Show Goes On"
19. "Cripple"

Tour dates

North America
Date	City	Country	Venue
North America
September 16, 2018	Montauk, NY	United States	The Surf Lodge
October 5, 2018	Washington, DC		9:30 Club
October 7, 2018	New York, NY		Sony Hall
October 9, 2018	Chicago, IL		House of Blues
October 10, 2018	St. Louis, MO		Delmar Hall

Gallery

• CD
• $20.00

• CD
• $20.00

• CD
• $20.00

Drogas Wave - White Cap.jpg

• White Cap
• $20.00

Drogas Wave - White Cap (2).jpg

• White Cap
• $20.00

Drogas Wave - White Cap (3).jpg

• White Cap
• $20.00

• Black Hoodie
• $50.00

• Black T-Shirt
• $30.00

Wavy Incense

• September 12, 2018
• Instagram