February Review/March Preview

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Let's Get Free 2.0? Lasers Honing in on Political Issues

11 years ago, a largely unheard of duo, consisting of M1 and stic.man released a little record that opened up a realm of rap that hadn't been touched since the days of Public Enemy.

That record ended up being Let's Get Free, which was extremely politically charged from the group now known to many as dead prez.  The album attacked a wide variety of issues that had plagued African Americans for years, including police brutality, education, nutrition, and prostitution.  The album was generally well received initially, but has since garnered much praise for its thought-provoking lyrics and messages.

To me, this is one of the most important albums that was released in the 2000's decade.  While there are conscious tracks on work from artists such as Common, Kanye, Talib Kweli, Nas, and The Roots, none of them made an album so focused on current problems existing in the world today.

So why am I bringing this up now?

After listening to yet another single from Lupe Fiasco's upcoming third studio album, Lasers, I've noticed a trend.  Lupe has always been credited for his intelligent rhymes and word play.  I even think it's safe to say that he's regarded today as one of the best lyricists out there.

However, Fiasco has never really released that much material on the same album that are so politically motivated.  The Chi-town MC has now come up with three singles, all of which have strong political messages in them.  They aren't just one line here or there either, they're the makeup of the entire track.

Take his latest single, "All Black Everything".  On first listen, I was confused at what Lupe was trying to get out.  Bill O'Reilly reading the Quran?  African Americans copying off of Eminem?  50 Cent as a white man?

On repeated listens after, however; I figured out what Lupe wanted us to think about.  The song begins with Lupe claiming he has a dream.  The dream is imagining a world where no racism or slavery ever existed.  In his first two verses, Fiasco creates a new spin on how things would have played out with this "All Black Everything" perspective.  It's on his third verse, though, where Fiasco really makes his point:

Uh, and I know it’s just a fantasy
I cordially invite you to ask why can’t it be?
Now we can do nothing bout the past
But we can do something about the future that we have
We can make fast or we can make it last
Every woman Queenin’ and every man a Kingin’
When those color lines come we can’t see between
We just close our eyes ’til it’s all black every-THING!

Not only is Fiasco addressing that there is a problem today, but he's also actually calling for action.  It's one thing to talk about a particular issue.  It takes some serious guts though to turn that into something that people can listen to for inspiration.  His third verse "inspryics" (my own creation of inspiration + lyrics, clever I know, right?) are also a trend that Fiasco has stuck to in his first three singles.  On "Words I Never Said", Fiasco urged listeners to speak their minds about how they feel and to get over the fear of public scrutiny for doing so.  He also used the third verse on "The Show Goes On" to motivate people to "raise their arms high" and to enjoy living, even with the problems we may face on a daily basis.

For argument's sake, this is only three tracks out of a confirmed 12.  Still, if this is the direction that Lasers is headed in, it has a great chance of being Fiasco's best work to date.  Lupe has also already leaked snippets of both his songs "Till I Get There" and "Beautiful Lasers", which both sound promising as well.

With Lasers, Lupe has a chance to achieve something that dead prez struggled to do, which is reach a mainstream audience.  If Let's Get Free was considered one of the most important albums of the past decade, Lupe's next project may be looked at as one of the most important albums in not just this decade, but in hip-hop history.

Here's the snippet from "Till I Get There":

And "Beautiful Lasers":

Lupe's Latest: All Black Everything

Lupe Fiasco came out with what he called his "favorite track of Lasers" today with "All Black Everything".  This is Lupe's third single he's leaked off of his upcoming third studio album, which is set to release on March 8th. 

It's another politically motivated track, but maybe a little less hard-hitting than the previous two.  I'm still looking for which sample that Producer Buchanans provides because it sounds a lot like something out of an old sixties movie.

Here's the link for your listening pleasure: All Black Everything.

And in case you didn't get to hear Lupe's previous two Lasers singles, here they are:
Words I Never Said
The Show Goes On