As many of you know, Lupe Fiasco is one of my favorite artists, along with the likes of Shad and Kanye West. Lupe Fiasco's 3rd studio Album entitled LASERS will be releasing through Atlantic Records March 8,2011. However for people like me that pre-ordered the album off of Lupefiasco.com; we got the delight of receiving the album on Friday March 4th.
Lupe Fiasco has been fighting for 3 years to release this album, after his critically acclaimed success of "The Cool" in 2007. He was going to create the L.U.P.END series, of 3 albums starting in 2008 and the third one being released in the end of 2009, however Atlantic Records has different Ideas. Lupe's contract required him to make 3 more records under Atlantic, and they didn't approve of the L.U.P.END idea. The project was set aside and he was now going to pursue the album Food And Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album. However, once again Atlantic halted his progress, and it was back to the drawing board. He came up with "We are Lasers" later shortened to "Lasers". Lasers was an acronym for Love Always Shines, Everytime Remember to Smile. In 2009 Lupe released a L.A.S.E.R.S Manifesto that stated the following:
"To every man, woman & child... We want an end to the glamorization of negativity in the media. We want an end to status symbols dictating our worth as individuals. We want a meaningful and universal education system. We want substance in the place of popularity. We will not compromise who we are to be accepted by the crowd. We want the invisible walls that separate by wealth, race & class to be torn down. We want to think our own thoughts. We will be responsible for our environment. We want clarity & truth from our elected officials or they should move aside. We want love not lies. We want an end to all wars foreign & domestic violence. We want an end to the processed culture of exploitation, over-consumption & waste. We want knowledge, understanding & peace. We will not lose because we are not losers, we are lasers! Lasers are revolutionary. Lasers are the future."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This was the Point of Lasers, and how we all needed to realize that we deserve much better from our media, our government and everything that is being preached to us. So now its up to us to follow this manifesto, because at least in my opinion its true. We take blogs and gossip columns as real news now. We look to fit some image that we can't such as girls acting as their favorite girl role model, guys looking to be "cool" in order to get the girls. We listen to the Radio and the media to tell us what we should listen to and what we should do, the point is don't give in to what others think about you, and especially don't change yourself, your are who you are, and by doing this you won't be a loser like society, you will start a movement and be a Laser.
LASERS Album Review: Love Always Shines Everytime Remember to Smile
First Impression: I absolutely thought this was garbage when I first listened to this album. Features from people like Trey songz, john legend, and crappy beats from AlexDaKid (produced B.oB's "Airplanes", Eminem's "Love the way you lie" Diddy Dirty Money's late 2010 hit "Coming Home" etc...) On Lupe's first two albums Food and Liquor and The Cool, he had one noticeable name in Jay-z, who is actually a good artist, well at least fits the type of artist I'd want to see as a feature. Atlantic demanded that Lasers was their album, they placed catchy choruses and up tempo beats to drown out the message that Lupe is trying to deliver and used auto tuney hooks in order to give the album a mainstream appeal and radio play. So at first, that's all I paid attention to, however, after I put some of those annoying hooks and features, into the back of my mind and paid attention to the lyrical content of the album, I'd say its a little behind F&L, and The Cool. It definitely is a lot more straight forward.
Letting Go featuring Sarah Green: The opening song of the album, starts with a hook that goes
" Things are gettin out of control, Feels Like i'm running out of soul, you are gettin to heavy to hold, think i'll be letting you go" this hook pretty much describes the album, Lupe says "It’s my declaration of independence from the clutches of the record industry, the blogs, the fans, the press, the lifestyle. It’s me hanging over the side of a building." He of course knows better then I do. This song reminded me of "Gorgeous" by Kanye West at first with the distortion, but after a few listens this became one of my favorite songs on the album. At the end you can feel the emotion in the song during Sarah Green's strong vocal performance, it was chilling. 4.5/5.0
Words I Never Said Feat Skylar Grey: This song was Lupe's second single off the album and could easily be the most controversial song of this year, and possibly the 2000's. The downfall of this song is the beat produced by AlexDaKid, sounds so similar to other beats like the "I need a Doctor" by Dr. Dre. Once you get past that and they semi-annoying hook by Skylar Green, and get to Lupe's lyrics, he fufills conveying part of his lasers manifesto in this song. He attacks government and media, in it by stating "Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh are racists, then Blaming Obama and stating how he won't vote for him. To accusing the news being like a crappy episode of Jersey Shore, to attacking the banks around the world, to attacking the thoughts of people and how they won't get out what they want to say, this song really stood out to me when it released on February 7th as a single. This song might seem like Lupe is just complaining about everything, however he puts it into a beautiful message, and made me think, wow, there are many problems in our world, that need to be fixed.4.0/5.0
Till I Get There: At first listen I hated this song, thought it was all about how he's gonna do him, and just be like some other rap/pop bullshit that'll be played out on the radio, that all the non-fans will like and will be playing from their cars and thinking "Oh Lupe, I love him" (GAG!!!) However the beat makes it seem so mainstream and the hook seems very radio played, the lyrics are incredible since its a metaphor for the record company, and it ain't about someone just being a flawed individual. It attacks the music industry in general and how in lines like:
"Rendered unconscious they rushed me to a concert
Instead of green jello, and maybe chicken soup
They fed me magazine covers, and video shoots"
About how the companies only care about their promotion and getting their money, and how Lupe honestly doesn't want that stardom that comes with the covers and music videos, like Atlantic is forcing him into. Yes, this song will be played by non-fans not understanding the meaning of it, and just singing along to the chorus, but I just want to inform you to look deeper into these songs. 4.0/5.0
I Don't Wanna Care Right Now Feat. MDMA: The 4th song on the album featuring Lupe's friend MDMA aka Pooh Bear, is that club banger that people will love, and that they'll enjoy because it has that mainstream appeal, upbeat tune, with a very catchy hook about rebellion. However once again this song delivers a positive message to the fans about how you need to live your life to the fullest, and not care what the others say about you. The first verse of the song, may seem stupid, until you look into what its saying. He's talking about how he's a superior rapper in the choo choo line, he's then going on to talk about how you can be good at rap without doing drugs, and in the second verse he's talking about how he won't change for anyone, which seems contradictory but overall his lyrics actually haven't changed he's kept the clean image, that his religion requires, and with this song he's exclaiming how he's like a laser and he's beaming over all the other rappers of today, and how he will change the music industry. 3.6/5.0
Out of My Head Feat. Trey Songz- this is guaranteed to be some song that girls fall in love with, I mean what girl doesn't like Trey Songz. Anyway the song Out of my Head is about how he can't get the past 3 years of crap out of his head, very sublimenal there, but he discusses how he started off with Atlantic and how artists are falling in love with the wrong glamorous things of hip hop. Lupe is also addressing his loyal fan base. This song could easily be among those radio hits that Atlantic wanted off this album, I mean once again it features Trey Songz and sounds like the song is about some girl, which its not, its all metaphorical. Still one of the weakest songs on the album in my opinion. 2.5/5.0
The Show Goes On- The Show Goes On features modest Mouse's "Float On" sample. This song was the first single released off of Lasers. The song has a semi-annoying chorus that gets very old, very quick, yet most non listeners will love this song along with the two before it. It involves some catchy radio rap sounding flow, with a radio beat. The good thing about this song is the positive message conveyed in it. The first verse is all about how lupe is chained into this album by Atlantic, and how all his creativity is sucked out of him due to Atlantic. However the second and the 3rd verses really scream out the lasers message, how no matter where you are, you can change the world, no matter how bleak your situation is you will be able to overcome it if you stick to yourself. The song, really is a great message and I hope that people gather that from this song, and lupe himself says that this song is about him and Atlantic hopefully ending the controversy between each other, and that he'll be able to move on writing music... aka "the Show goes on." 3.7/5.0
Beautiful Lasers(2ways) feat. MDMA- This song when performed live was a very depressing almost acoustic performance. Leaving the fans ready to hear a very emotional, pour out your soul lupe song. However, in the end the song was put to a more upbeat beat, and MDMA using autotune in the chorus. This song is very powerful though, the chorus stands out.
"There's only 2 ways out of here, You'll be too late, you'll be trapped here forever, there's only 2 ways out of here, one's through the door, the other's through me." This describes how Lupe feels while creating this album, there's two ways out, one is by complying, the other is by ending himself. He references the gun later on about how he's gonna put it to his head. He later goes on to discuss how he needs to find some reason to stay alive, he mentions all the things keeping him alive, but then he really shouts out to his fans and how they are the ones keeping him sane. Lupe mentioned in a few interviews how he was contemplating suicide sometimes hardly, but other times way more severe. This is the most powerful song on the Album, and is done very well, It would be better if it was slowed down and more acoustic but for what Atlantic was going for, Lupe did very well with this one. 4.6/5.0
Coming Up Feat MDMA: This song is another very powerful one, about women in general, but it seems like he references his sisters in this song and that its a tribute to both of them that passed away in 2007. MDMA's voice isn't auto-tuned on this one and sounds amazing, so it makes you wonder why they auto tuned Beautiful lasers. This song was originally called "Ladies and Gentlemen" in the second verse is about people in general and how we need to forget our flaws and move on, don't dwell on the past, in the final verse he tributes to his sisters, once again, about how they deserved the best, and how they are resting in heaven. This song is a good, one kind of uptempo but MDMA sounds amazing on this one and that's why this song gets a better rating. 4.1/5.0
State Run Radio feat Matt Mahaffey: When us fans first heard this song Lupe was singing the chorus, however on this version its sung by Matt Mahaffey a singer/producer. He just doesn't seem to bring the energy that Lupe brings in the live version us fans were spoiled with. However, once you look past Mahaffey's typical chorus, and you here lupe's lyrics, they are very good. However, it just doesn't seem like lupe is as passionate about this song as he should be. This is his stick it to the man kind of song where he finally gets to attack the radio stations and the government due to the crappy #1 hits that they constantly play, and how underground music and non-popular music is actually better, then the crap they repeat over and over again on the radio stations. This song would be my favorite due to its message if either of them put in some intensity, lupe almost sounds bored throughout the song. 3.8/5.0
Break the Chain feat Eric Turner & Sway: If you've been watching Sportscenter for the past month then you would hear the hook to this song. I can't get a great read off of this one, if I like it or find it extremely annoying. Eric turner's hook is decent, its not good by any means, its overly too repetitive and played out way too many times towards the end of the song. Sway (British Rapper) offers a decent verse about him working with lupe and about how he's not MIA like he mentions in his first line. He also throws in references to prison break and the biblical story about Sampson and Delilah. Lupe has the last verse and i can't really figure out his verse yet, I probably will find out soon, after researching more but for now the verse doesn't offer anything to me, except the line about A-Team member B.A. Baracus aka Mr. T. Overall, this song doesn't offer much to me and i'm not a big fan of it at all. 3.4/5.0
All Black Everything: To start off this song is amazing, It's all about Lupe's fantasy, What if slaves didn't exist? from that thesis on you get the feel for the song. He makes so many interesting comparisons and twists in the past. He references Bill O'Reilly reading the Quran, since he seems to have a destest for muslims. He has W.E.B. Dubois being the writer of the constitution, he makes the Rat pack be five black men, and the Jackson's being 5 white men. Followed by eminem being a black rapper, that mentored a white rapper 50 Cent from Detroit, and made him who he is. There's so many other references in this song that I don't understand yet, and it will take a while to understand. This song though is such a creative inspiration, and kind of makes you wonder. Although the replay value isn't great on this song, the twisting of history Lupe takes you through makes this one of my top 3 on the album, the real problem though is that the song doesnt seem to fit the album, but is still a work of genius. 4.6/5.0
Never Forget you feat John Legend- The final song on the album is a very powerful one, once you figure out that it is about Lupe Fiasco's father. John Legend's hook in this one, can bring you to tears if you've ever lost someone in your life, or after a tough situation. The hook is a very chilling one that really sets the tone for the song. Lupe then comes in with his first verse talking about his coming up, and with his father. How his father taught him to defend himself in the tough neighborhoods of south chicago, he also talks about how his father taught him not to change for anyone, and that this song isn't a remembrance of his father, its a moving on, and how with his father's spirit, he will move on. In the second verse he's talking about how no matter how disadvantaged he was, he was living a great life thanks to his dad. Finally, in the third verse he comes out and says its about his dad, and how his dad is up in the stars, looking down upon him and how all the lessons he taught him and all the memories he has with him, will always lie in lupe's heart forever. He loves his dad, and this song is his tribute to him. This song to me is a very touching very emotional great song and a great way to end the album. He really ends it on that emotional real that easily connects with his fans. If you've ever lost a loved one remember this song, and remember all the times with them. Move on though, carry their spirit through your life, don't dwell on the past, they want you to move on, so do it. L.A.S.E.R.S 4.5/5.0
OVERALL: 3.94/5.0There it is, my full album review, for Lupe stating that he only really put effort into 5 songs on this album, it did pretty well. Although, the album is very poppy sounding and radio friendly, you need to look past the catchy hooks and crappy beats, and look deep into what he's saying. A 3.94 is a very good grade considering that this isn't Lupe's best work, The Cool, and Food and Liquor were much better in my opinion, so if the worse Atlantic can do to him is this, then Im looking for great things in the future. Rumor is that Lupe was recording Food and Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album at the same time, so we might be fortunate to get that later this year. Also, the rumor of the Friend of the People mixtape is still up in the air, so look for that also.
Thanks to these sources for helping me write my review:
Here's a sneak peak to FNL II:
Intro:
Go To Sleep-
HE'S BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I hope you enjoyed this review and story, please let me know your comments after you hear the album on March 8th or whenever, I would love to hear what other's have to say about this album.
Love. Always. Shines. Everytime. Remember, to Smile.
