Never underestimate the hurt and the cheated. Lupe Fiasco, favored son of Chicago and dedicated son of Allah, received news in April that can make or break even the strongest of men. His debut album, a work in progress on Atlantic, had been leaked to the masses. The act was totally incomprehensible to Lupe and the future of the kick pusher was in limbo. But after a brief spell in no-man’s land, Lupe came back hard and to the point. Fans who were concerned that the Internet had taken Hip Hop’s breath of fresh air need not have worried.

His mixtape, Touch the Sky (hosted by DJ E Nyce), is an impressive display of why this rare talent was – and still is – so anticipated. With only two tracks from the leaked version on the album, I had expected to see more on there. But what I did hear definitely didn’t disappoint. Tracks like “Twilight Zone” and the Green Lantern-produced “Gorilla” have been available to the diehard fan base Lupe has accumulated through downloads of his previous mixtapes from the internet – but you certainly don’t mind hearing them again on this collection. It takes a true lyricist and an authentic emcee that has made his own lane on the Hip Hop highway to be able to take beats from his platinum contemporaries and equate their rhymes – and in some cases, surpass them. Lupe Fiasco does just that over Kanye’s beat for the controversial topic on “Conflict Diamonds” and it appears kind of ironic that straight after that track is his collaboration with Kanye on “Touch the Sky.” It’s like a case of “let me kill your track but you can have your shine with me on this.” But of course it really is all love between the Chi-Town boys.

There are just certain beats in Hip Hop that you feel should never be used for mixtapes for fear of the artist failing dismally to compete with the original. Yet, only a striving creative persona like Lupe would have the audacity to spit over “Lose Yourself” and then the legendary “Dead Presidents” beats and make you forget for a minute that they were Eminems and Jay-Zs to begin with.

The overall effect this mixtape has is you want to hear more and his album is still as anticipated as it was before the leak. He opts to pretty much ride the tape solo with the exception of Kanye, his Fort Minor collaboration with Linkin Park frontman Mike Shinoda and Ghostface. However, he does allow his 1st and 15th Family some shine on this project with solo joints from Gemini and Shayla G, although both tracks unfortunately mess with the flow of the mixtape. But of course, the operative word with mixtapes is ‘promotional’ and that is precisely what he is doing – promoting.

Although it would have been better to stay promoting himself, Lupe just isn’t about hogging the limelight. Lupe is more than talented and, really, this mixtape will just flirt with real Hip Hop fans and encourage increased sales when Food and Liquor hits shelves.