Lasers
3.5 out of 5 Pitchforks
Lupe Fiasco
Atlantic Records
Lupe Fiasco has been many things in his career, from a Grammy-award winner to GQ's Breakout Man of the Year. However, one thing that has separated Lupe from the rest of the flow-spitting, beat-hitting hip-hop nation is that he has never sold out.
He raps about what he wants to rap about, and with great cause: He has been considered by many to be a lyrical genius, with rap mogul Jay-Z calling him a “genius writer” and a “breath of fresh air.” It is this lyrical honesty that, after just two albums, catapulted Lupe to the top of the rap game.
However, with “Lasers,” Lupe has admittedly gone in a more mainstream direction — on his own terms. Prior to the release of “Lasers,” he had submitted an album that was turned down by Atlantic Records, with the label rejecting it as not being commercial enough.
In the ensuing months after the initial rejection, things could not have gone in a more opposite direction from the album being released. Atlantic Records froze Lupe's project budget, which led to Lupe asking to nullify his contract. Not surprisingly, Atlantic refused.
However, in the wake of the corporate nightmare spawned new hope.
The Fiasco fan base had put together an Internet petition, demanding Atlantic Records release “Lasers.” The petition accrued more than 5,000 signatures on the first day and has since reached over 32,000 names. Fans protested outside the Atlantic offices and eventually an accord was reached — with Lupe posting the single word “Victory!” on his Twitter. The very next day, Atlantic Records announced that “Lasers” would be released on March 8, 2011.
It has been one of the most painstaking record-making processes of the rapper's promising career, with Lupe revealing that “the creation of 'Lasers' was a very painful, dark, [f—ed-up] process” in a recent interview with Details magazine.
Knowing the turmoil it took to simply obtain a release date for this record, it is impossible to believe that every song is exactly what Lupe Fiasco had in mind. However, even with any strict parameters given by the label, the Chicago rapper has turned in what is yet another solid release.
With each song, we find more of a fine-tuned sound, with more singable choruses intermingled within Lupe's lyrical dexterity. We still find Lupe's classic hard-hitting lines, calling out Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh and — wait for it — even President Barack Obama on “Words I Never Said.”
On the somber “Beautiful Lasers (2Ways),” we find a perfect illustration of the incredibly polarizing process it took to make “Lasers” happen. In a track that finds some of the most beautiful lyrics on the album, we find the words “No winners when it's me against me/One of us just ain't gonna survive/My heart been broke for a while/Your's been the one keeping me alive.”
In a vociferous statement from Lupe in a February 2011 interview with Complex magazine, we find the true sentiments of the artist at work. “One thing I try to stress about this project is, I love and hate this album. I listen to it and I'll like some of the songs. But when I think about what it took to actually get the record together … I hate this album.”
However, he then continued with what was possibly the most important statement he could have made about the album, “I'm happy for the fans, this is their album. This is the album that they fought for.”
While “Lasers” may not be the long-awaited album everyone wanted it to be, at least it happened. And in today's unstable corporate music environment, even the smallest victories can be considered great successes. Especially for the fans.
Reach the reporter at tpaxton@asu.edu
