After three long years of waiting, Lasers is finally on shelves. The third release from hip-hop's so-called "vanguard" (according to Jay-Z at least), Lupe has gained a lot of hype for this one. He first released the single "Shining Down ft. Matthew Santos" (you know, the dude from "Superstar"), way back in June of 2009. While I think myself and most Lupe fans would agree that it sounded terrific, the rest of the mainstream fans didn't, and "Shining Down" failed to make any noise on the Billboard Hot 100.
This presented a problem to Lupe's label, Atlantic. Do we want to invest in something so heavily if the sales don't match what we put into it?
That's when things got interesting. For his first two albums, Lupe had complete control over what he put on it. It wasn't like Lupe couldn't succeed on the charts either, as his singles "Superstar" and "Kick Push" did relatively well. Atlantic, however, saw this as a fluke. The label labeled Lupe "lucky" after his first two albums and were hesitant to press their luck one more time. They also had seen the immense success of rappers such as Drake and B.o.B., where it was clear the label had something to say on how their albums were comprised (B.o.B.'s actually was Atlantic's product, and it was successful, peaking at #1 on the Billboard 200).
So this time, they told Lupe he'd have to make some more commercial friendly tracks in order for them to back his album. To no one's surprise, Lupe wasn't very cool with this. Lupe wanted Atlantic to have no part in Lasers, except to help promote it. A standoff ensued between the two, each refusing to blink before the other. And so this is how things went for days, then weeks, then months. Finally, after Lupe's fans protested on "Fiasco Fridays" and Atlantic realized they were beginning to actually lose money on the album, the tweet heard around the hip-hop world was made on October 10th, simply stating "Victory!".
Yet, it wasn't a complete victory for Lupe. Just months later, Lupe announced that his album would include some "club" tracks, which signaled that some sort of compromise had to have been made for Lasers to see the light of day. The biggest question now became, how much did Lupe have to give up in order to get his album released? The answers to that and more lie below in my review of Lupe Fiasco's Lasers.
Lasers
Release Date: March 8, 2011
Label: Atlantic
1. Letting Go ft. Sarah Green (Produced by the Future)
I heard rumor that Lupe had originally intended to have "I'm Beamin'" be the track to kick off this album. While that track is one of my all-time favorite Lupe tracks, I'm glad he chose to put this one in its place. For an intro, it's got a interesting theme. Lupe mostly raps about someone that's close to him and how he, well, needs to "let go". It's not a lyrically dense track, but it doesn't need to be because of the production behind it. The Future provides a spacey feel with a piano loop in the back that seems to fit the overall feel well. It's also very bass heavy, which is another plus because it gives it more of the "wow" factor to start an album. While the hook can get a little repetitive, it's still very catchy and Green finishes the track with some strong vocals. Overall, a terrific way for Lupe to get Lasers off and running.
2. Words I Never Said ft. Skylar Grey (Produced by Alex Da Kid)
Before I get to what Lupe does on this, let me talk briefly about his featured artist here. Lately, Grey has received a lot of attention from the hip-hop world, including her other major appearance on "I Need a Doctor" off of Dr. Dre's upcoming Detox album. So I did some research on who the hell this girl was. You know that ever popular "Love the Way You Lie" song Shady had blaring on nearly every top 100 station this past summer? While it was Rihanna who ended up singing the hook, the original one was actually Grey's. Not only that, but she's almost connected to producer, Alex Da Kid, at the hip. He's produced just about everything she's worked on so far and will be the featured producer on her upcoming solo album.
With that out of the way, thank God Lupe got a hold of the hook before anyone else did. Originally, this was supposed to be a love song, but Lupe wanted to add his own political spin on it instead. The result is a powerful set of verses that call out much of the problems Lupe sees in the world today (like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh being racists for one). His third verse is what really captures his audience, though:
I think that all the silence is worse than all violence
Fear is such a weak emotion, that's why I despise it
We're scared of almost everything, afraid to even tell the truth
So scared of what you think of me, I'm scared of even telling you
Sometimes I'm like the only person I feel safe to tell it to
I'm locked inside a cell in me, I know that there's a jail in you
Consider this your bailing out, so take a breath inhale a few
My screams is finally gettin free, my thoughts is finally yellin through!
I don't know if this is the best song of 2011, but it's up there for contention certainly. I give Lupe lots of credit for having the balls to put this on his album and making it a single as well.
3. Till I Get There (Produced by Needlz)
This track brought back such good memories from Food & Liquor. A track that resembles "I Gotcha" to me, it works beautifully. It's hard to find hip-hop tracks like this anymore, so thank you Lupe for sticking true to its best element, which is creativity (I personally loved the second verse about the therapy session). Needlz, who worked with Lupe on "Hurt Me Soul" found on Food & Liquor, does a terrific job with this. He creates a lighter, but fun beat for Lupe to go over with the four-key piano loop in the background. I also liked the additional piano loop used over the hook, which is extremely catchy. While "Words I Never Said" was great because of its message, this song is truly what Lupe is about. Best track on Lasers so far.
4. I Don't Wanna Care Right Now ft. MDMA (Produced by The Audibles)
Well, the title says it all. I'm praying Atlantic was 100% fully responsible for this track, because otherwise, I'm going to assume Lupe has a serious drug problem for thinking this should ever be on his album. Lupe's lyrics are pretty terrible, but so is The Audibles beat. I don't even know how Atlantic would have thought this would be popular. This sounds like something Jason Derulo or Ke$ha should be on, not Lupe (as I said in my last post). Note to self: skip this track at all costs in the future.
5. Out of My Head ft. Trey Songz (Produced by Miykal Snoddy)
Oh God this is getting embarrassing. It's one thing to have one awful track on your album, but two in a row? The production is just as bad as the previous track and Trey Songz gives a forgettable hook (what a surprise). Especially after it's blazing start, it's honestly a disgrace that Lupe would let Atlantic do this to his music. Sure, they need to sell records, but if Lupe cares so much about what he puts out for his fans, then this goes against everything he stands for. I need to get this album out of my head just so I can avoid slamming my headphones against my desk out of frustration.
6. The Show Goes On (Produced by Kane Beatz)
Everyone that even has heard of Lupe has listened to this one by now I'm sure. Not to worry though, since this track sounds as fresh as it did when it was released nearly five months ago. The messages here are great and Lupe proves you can make a single that actually has depth and can be popular (it did go gold after all). What's funny is that I hated the production behind this when I first listened to it. Initially, I thought using the "Float On" sample was pretty lame, but it's grown on me a lot since. The music video for this is also fantastic, so check it out if you get a chance. Favorite line had to be:
Tell em' look at me boy
I hope your son don't have a gun and never be a d-boy!
Another thing that I think needs to be said about this track is that this was not Lupe's personal work. From his interview with Complex, Lupe said that what happened was Atlantic just gave him the beat and hook and then told Lupe to make it into a track. In this rare occurrence, having Atlantic behind him gave Lupe an advantage.
7. Beautiful Lasers (2Ways) ft. MDMA (Produced by The Future)
I don't know how to really feel about this track right now, but initial reaction, is it's not all that special. Lupe's delivery sounds like this was a song he wanted to do and I think he does a decent job when on the mic. The Future nailed "Letting Go", but not so much on this. It's not necessarily a bad beat, but it can be hard to listen to. Lupe's raps are too fast for the beat to keep up, and that hurts this song. The worst part about this track though, absolutely has to be the hook. You can get away with a poor hook if it's catchy (see Wiz Khalifa's "Roll Up"), but unfortunately, there isn't one here. If it had added a few more words in between, it might be okay. The flow though, is just awful, making what could be a pretty good track, just average.
8. Coming Up ft. MDMA (Produced by the Future)
Clearly, this is Atlantic on the mic, not Lupe. I've heard Lupe do heartfelt love tracks (see "Sunshine"), so I know that he's not incapable of doing them. However, this is nothing like what you would expect from him. While The Future's beat here is an improvement over the previous song (the piano/guitar loop actually works well) and MDMA is a great fit for the hook (unlike "Beautiful Lasers"). To be honest, this really isn't a bad track. The reason I'm not crazy about it is because it's not genuine to who Lupe is. Sorry Atlantic, but you can't tell me that it's all Lupe when he spits the first lines:
This one goes out to the baby girls
In a rush to grow up in this crazy world
Now, if an artist like J.Cole were given this, I think it would sound much, much better because it fits with who he is. While Cole was able to make a song like "Higher" sound fantastic, Lupe couldn't.
9. State Run Radio ft. Matt Mahaffey (Produced by the Future)
A friend of mine, who also follows Lupe pretty closely, said that this was a song that Lupe performed a couple of years ago at a concert. What he also said was that it sounded a lot different then, and I think we all know why it sounds shitty on the album. The hook, again, is awful and it begs me to ask the question: Who the f-ck at Atlantic suggested this sounded good enough to worthy an album appearance?
10. Break the Chain ft. Eric Turner & Sway (Produced by iSHi)
I'm at a loss for words at this point. I don't know if it's more out of frustration or disappointment. Another bad hook, another couple of meaningless verses, another fail. Notice how as I've been writing less for each song as the album goes on. There's a reason for that: they are progressively getting worse.
11. All Black Everything (Produced by Wizzo Buchanan)
My thoughts on this song are explained in an earlier post (which can be found here), but to summarize, it's very good. It's clearly a song Lupe had complete control over because there's no pop elements contained here. Lupe said this was his favorite song on the album and after listening, I think it's not hard to realize why. The lyrics are some of the most creative on the album, even if I'm not as excited about Buchanan's beat (although it's still pretty good). At least there's something to salvage at the end of this train wreck of an album.
12. Never Forget You ft. John Legend (Produced by Wonda, Co-Produced by Arden Altino)
Lupe said that he had nothing to with this track, which is surprising because it's actually pretty good. John Legend provides the best hook of the entire album (kind of expected that, though) and I thought the beat here wasn't bad either. If this song suffers from anything however; it's Lupe's lack of motivation. He sounds bland and careless on his verses with really no emotion to be seen. While it's still a good track, and one of the better ones on Lasers, it could have been better with some actual heart put into it by its MC. Whatever, I'm just glad the album is over so I can go back to listening to The Cool again.
Closing Statement: There's not much to say that hasn't already been said at this point. My first thought when I finished Lasers was "I waited three years for this?!". Lupe, an MC that I had so heavily respected for his creativity and "nerdy" flow, sacrificed everything he stood for with this album. Is it all his fault? Of course not. Atlantic deserves much of the blame for this mess. As Lupe has already said, they forced him to make the album the way they wanted it, not Lupe. They took away Lupe's control over his album and made it their own commercial bullshit instead. This isn't Lupe Fiasco's Lasers, but Atlantic's Lasers ft. Lupe Fiasco.
Still, Lupe deserves criticism as well. I understand that you want your album to reach shelves asap Lu, but at what cost? What's even more frustrating is that Lupe showed he hasn't fallen off as an artist, but improved with tracks like "Words I Never Said" and "Till I Get There". Yet, there is so much on this album that isn't who Lu is, which overshadows the flashes of brilliance Lasers has. Not all is lost for the Chi-Town MC after this, as he claims his next album is already done. Artists like Nas and Jay-Z also had their so-called f-ck ups (see Blueprint 2 or Nastradamus), so I don't want to hear everyone claiming that Lu is falling off. However, as a fan, I can only hope Lu learns from his mistakes on Lasers and doesn't allow his label to release an album not true to who he is in the future. So what if you have to delay your album for four years instead of three? The product is what matters at the end of the day, not the release date.
The Verdict: Pray your one friend that doesn't know much about this album buys it because you won't want to waste your money on it. There are some great tracks on here, even some of Lupe's best ever. For the most part though, this is an album full of mainstream crap, rather than real music.
