LUPE FIASCO : LASERS

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Feb 8, 2003
22,839
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#1
bout to listen to this and she if its worth that wait




01. Letting Go Ft. Sarah Green (Produced By The Future) 4:26
02. Words I Never Said Ft. Skylar Grey (Produced By Alex Da 4:17
Kid)
03. Till I Get There (Produced By Needlz) 3:24
04. I Don't Wanna Care Right Now Ft. MDMA (Produced By The 4:15
Audibles)
05. Out Of My Head Ft. Trey Songz (Produced By Miykal Snoddy) 3:24
06. The Show Goes On (Produced By Kane Beatz) 3:56
07. Beautiful Lasers (2Ways) Ft. MDMA (Produced By The Future) 4:01
08. Coming Up Ft. MDMA (Produced By The Future) 3:58
09. State Run Radio Ft. Matt Mahaffey (Produced By The Future) 3:57
10. Break The Chain Ft. Eric Turner And Sway (Produced By iSHi) 4:21
11. All Black Everything (Produced By Wizzo Buchanan) 3:40
12. Never Forget You Ft. John Legend (Produced By Wonda 4:04
Co-Produced By Arden Altino)
 
Sep 29, 2003
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#2
Just got through this one....initial thoughts:

-first track was the best on the album or the one with trey songz. worst track: state run radio or break the chain
-lots of auto-tune, way too much actually.
-production almost reminds me of the BOB album we saw last year, but this album was executed better
-lyrics are on point for sure, but its clear Atlantic played a huge role in the making of this album (we already knew they did, but you can tell by listening)
-all in all, this album is doomed to be underrated because of his first 2 albums were just sooo good. Lasers should earn him a boat load of new listeners..and if that leads to a demand for more Lupe, then I'm all for it as long as its quality Lupe



edit: found an interesting read





The last time we spoke with Lupe Fiasco, things were not looking good. His oft-delayed third album, Lasers, seemed destined for major label limbo and Lupe was busying himself with side projects like Japanese Cartoon—his post-punk rock band—and climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. Lupe’s fans fought back and took things into their own hands by protesting the delay of Lasers. And then a ray of hope: Lupe tweeted a picture of himself with Atlantic Records Chief Operating Officer, Julie Greenwald, and the long-standing feud between him and the label seemed resolved. Shortly thereafter Lasers was given a release date, and it looked like everything was going to be alright.

But pictures can be deceiving. Despite having a legitimate hit on his hands with “The Show Goes On,” and having a solid release date of March 8 for his album, things between Lupe and Atlantic Records haven’t really been resolved. We got on the phone with Lupe and he went off about how he was pressured into doing “The Show Goes On,” why he’s still not cool with Atlantic Records, and why he (sometimes) hates his own album.


On "The Show Goes On"

“There’s nothing really to tell about that record, to be honest. I didn’t have nothing to do with that record. That was the label’s record. That wasn’t like I knew the producer or knew the writer or anything like that. That was one of those records the record company gave me, [they even gave me] stuff they wanted me to rap about. It wasn’t like, ‘Hey I did this and I went to a mountain and found inspiration and it was this.’ [Last April] I was backstage at a show at the House of Blues in L.A. and the president of [Atlantic Records] came to me and said, ‘Hey check this out, I got this song.’ He played ‘Show Goes On’ for me on the iPod. I was used to it because they presented me like ten other songs in the same fashion or via email. So for me, at that point, it was just another record like, ‘Is this a song you want me to do?’ There was nothing special about it for me at that point. It was like, ‘You know we still want off the label, right?’ That was the conversations we were having.

“I did the record maybe a couple weeks after I initially heard it. We were on tour and I didn’t have the schedule to go record it, so the first instance that I had to actually go do it, I went and knocked it out. I knocked out ‘Never Forget You’ that same day. Then we had ‘Show Goes On’ for two, three months completed in some fashion. It was never a record like, ‘Hey! Lupe is super excited about ‘Show Goes On.’’ At that point, I was just drained. I was like, ‘Whatever. Another song, another day, another dollar.’

I had to do ['The Show Goes On'] and it had to be the first single if the record was going to come out.

“I had to do ‘Show Goes On,’ that was like the big chip on the table. I had to do it and it had to be the first single if the record was going to come out. And then there’s ‘Never Forget You’ [featuring John Legend]—which is another record I had nothing to do with—which became another bargaining chip, like, ‘Yo, after ‘Show Goes On’ there’s going to be this other record that you had nothing to do with.’ And I know John Legend, he’s a cool dude. But it was just a record he had sitting around and Exec A or Exec B heard it, and they were like, ‘Oh yeah! We’re going to put this on Lupe.’ And it wasn’t like, ‘Hey Lupe, do you like this song?’ it was like, ‘You got to do this record.’ At that point, I had already done ten records [the same way]. It was like I’d fly out from whatever spot I’m vacationing in, cut these records, and fly back.”

Why He Hates Lasers

“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 and everything that I went through on this record—which is something I can’t separate—I hate this album. A lot of the songs that are on the album, I’m kinda neutral to. Not that I don’t like them, or that I hate them, it’s just I know the process that went behind it. I know the sneaky business deal that went down behind this song, or the artist or singer or songwriter who wrote this hook and didn’t want to give me this song in the first place. So when I have that kind of knowledge behind it, I’m just kind of neutral to it like, ‘Another day, another dollar.’ As opposed something like The Cool, which is more of my own blood, sweat, and tears, and my own control. With this record, I’m little bit more neutral as to the love for the record.

When I think about everything that I went through on this record, I hate this album.

“I don’t like the process behind Lasers. The music is dope but I just don’t like the process. We were literally at the point where all this music was done except for a couple songs that we did after the protest. So the bulk of the album was done. And we were talking about shelving the album and going to another label, that’s where we were like, ‘If you put the record out, put it out. Either move on to another album or can it and we’ll do other records at another label.’ The business of it got solved. I’m happy for the fans, this is their album. This is the album that they fought for and that’s what made me do songs like ‘Words I Never Said’ and ‘All Black Everything.’

”The [fans] came and put their lives on the line in some instances—because you never know what could happen, it could have been a stampede. I look at that as very inspiring and motivational. That was one of the only reasons the label got on the phone and wanted to have that meeting, they seen the outpouring of support and the critique that was beginning to mobilize via the Internet. CNN, MTV, and Village Voice was picking up the story of the protest and actually interviewing the kids and the kids was speaking their piece. And it wasn’t the most glorifying things that they were saying. I think that, as well as the pressure of the business itself, where it was at a point like, ‘Look, Lupe is not going to come into the building at all.’ It was periods of stalemate where I wasn’t going into Atlantic Records. I had nothing against the average employees—a lot of those people are my friends—but the executive attitude was something I did not like.

“We were literally going on tour and a lot of the records that are on the album [are songs] that the record company was saying, ‘Hey we don’t like this record, it’s not up to par,’ and we already been performing them for two years. And you got kids who know all the words to a lot of the records that are going to come out because our thing was, ‘Alright, if you’re not going to put it out, we’ll perform it and go on tour.’ For me, there’s always another outlet that can be more meaningful than having a release date. Especially, if an album is coming out and you’re not making no money off of it then what’s the point? How excited can you possibly be? My excitement comes from being on the stage.

The best thing for both parties is for this album to come out. Whether that means everything is cool now, that’s a different story.

“For me, it’s the fans and for them to get a victory and for us to get a release date. That’s all we really wanted the whole time like, ‘Either give us a release date or let us go.’ And they were like, ‘No, we’re not giving you either one of those.’ So it was like, ‘Well, I guess I’ll just go back on tour, go climb a mountain, and busy myself with other things until this stuff gets situated.’ [The value of getting a release date] it depends on what level of education you have in the music business. For some people that’s amazing like, ‘Oh my God! My life is going to change and blah, blah, blah.’ For other people, it kind of means nothing. It’s like, ‘Another album out but the main root of the problem is still unsolved.’ And then there are records you literally had nothing to do with. That was a part of the compromise. Compromise doesn’t mean everybody is going to be happy, it’s just we’re going to do the best thing we can. The best thing for both parties is for this album to come out. Whether that means we’re homies or whether that means everything is cool now, that’s a different story.

On “Words I Never Said”



“Alex Da Kid was trying to work with me for a couple years, as far back as The Cool. He was submitting tracks and different things. And that was the one record that really caught my attention. The hook was already on it with Skylar. The first day I heard it, I went into the studio and recorded it. The song had a bridge we took out because initially, the song was supposed to be about a relationship, like a boyfriend/girlfriend, Drake song or something. And I’m like, ‘Nah, I’m going to talk about world affairs.’ I’ve been talking about [terrorism] since back on Food and Liquor. It’s weird to me that people forget that I had songs called ‘American Terrorist.’ And I’ve been kind of toeing that line whether it be on freestyles or what have you. I’ve always been talking about the same thing, so when people ask me what’s different with this album, I just say the music. The messages on the album, whether they’re little more or less lyrical than their predecessors, I’m basically saying the same things I’ve said on other mixtapes and albums. [The song] is not a big step for me. It’s not me striving to do anything different.”
 
Feb 8, 2003
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#5
to me thsi album sounds like a shorter version of the cool(which is good bc i liked taht album)


"12. Never Forget You Ft. John Legend" that song reminds me of supestar
__________________
 
Nov 7, 2006
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#10
my comp is being a bitch and wont let me put this or any new music on my ipod as of right now. how do you compare this to his cool and food and liquor album? i did love that word i never said joint but wasnt feeling that one with the music video. is it more on the poppy side or more on the cool type feel?
 
Sep 29, 2003
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#12
i've listened 5 or 6 times through now, and its growing on me. I dont think he cusses once on this whole record....its motivational, positive music. You can pop this in around your kids..check it out

to above posters:

-this album is worth copping
-it is not like his previous work
 
Nov 7, 2006
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#15
kinda sucks when an artist is forced to make some songs and doesn't fully support some of them.
well from what i read it was mainly the fans that forced him. he was gonna hold out but the fans kept demanding. so in a way it's bittersweet. he did have to sellout on a couple of songs just to get the album out but he also did what he had to do to mmake his fans happy.
 
Sep 29, 2003
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#16
you guys have to remember to take what Lupe says with a grain of salt; after all, he is a whiner at the best of times

another note on Lasers, does anyone else think "Till I Get There" sounds like a Kid Cudi throwaway song?


another good read:



The Cool" was released Dec. 18, 2007, and by Jan. 9, 2008, it had sold 198,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It eventually went gold. The album debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's rap chart and stayed there for nine weeks. At the next Grammys, "The Cool" won best rap album, along with best rap/sung collaboration and best rap song ("Superstar" with local singer Matthew Santos) and best rap solo performance ("Paris, Tokyo").

The successes capped a steady crescendo of acclaim. Fiasco -- born Wasalu Muhammad Jaco, raised around the South Side's Madison Terrace housing projects, a devout Muslim who abstains from alcohol and drugs -- had been signed to another major (Epic Records) at age 19 as a member of a gangsta rap group called Da Pak. With the assistance of Jay-Z (who calls Fiasco a "genius writer"), Fiasco moved to Atlantic, debuting with "Food & Liquor" in 2006, which featured production by friend and champion Kanye West and received critical raves for its bold sounds and intelligent wordplay.

So when Fiasco met with Atlantic to talk terms for his third album, he felt he was on pretty great footing.

"If 'The Cool' was a success, I was supposed to get a bump in the budget for my next record," Fiasco said. "When I went in to cash in on that, I was told 'The Cool' wasn't a success. I said, 'Well, how do you gauge that? Even if you leave off the multiple Grammys, the accolades up the ass, the platinum singles, take out the subjective stuff. How many records actually sold?' They said it wasn't a success and we're changing the game, we don't go by that anymore. So I said, 'Let's not have any more meetings until we figure out what rules we're playing by.'"

A stalemate began, and Fiasco started to squirm. At a 2008 performance in Chicago, he suggested he would retire, promising one final record to be titled "LupE.N.D." -- a three-CD concept album, with discs representing "everywhere," "nowhere" and "down here." He told Billboard that year: "My next record might be my last one." By June 2009, he promised an audience at the Chicago Theatre that a single disc, now called "The Great American Rap Album," would be out by December.

Meanwhile, Atlantic had frozen his budget, and Fiasco was asking to be let go. The label refused. Jay-Z was offering to mediate negotiations. Darrale Jones, Fiasco's A&R rep at Atlantic and the man who'd signed him, has told other publications that the music Fiasco continued to deliver "wasn't commercial enough." (Jones and other label execs were asked to comment for this story. After much deliberation, Atlantic Records on Wednesday released a prepared statement instead. It reads, in its entirety: "We fully support Lupe and the release of 'Lasers.'")

"I was specifically told" -- Fiasco chuckled -- "'Don't rap too deep on this record.'" He laughed some more. "That was a specific order from the top. 'You're rapping too fast or too slow, or it's too complex.' ... There are consequences and combat that comes from that process and the eventual compromise. With me, though, I'm not writing about someone else. I'm writing about me. This is my life. It's very personal for me. So for somebody to kind of put their fingers in that and play with that, it becomes more damaging."

Fiasco said he spiraled into real depression, even contemplating suicide -- but he kept writing. He documents his struggles, in a general way, throughout the song "Beautiful Lasers": "Sometimes livin' in a word like this / it's pretty hard not to go insane," he raps, later considering bailing back to the South Side ("Go home, sh--'s far too gone") and then peering into the abyss while hearing contradicting internal voices:

All you see is all my rights
All I see is all my wrongs
Door keep telling me to fight
Gun on my table telling me to come home
Telling me to to put him inside my hand
Then put it up right next to my dome
Door keep telling me to find a reason
Anything to keep me from squeezing
Simplest things, yeah, you really like summer
You really like music, you really like reading, love
I can't win if it's me against me
One of us ain't gonna survive

"He started doing that record on stage, and I was shocked," said Jason Evans, a k a JROC, Fiasco's cousin who works A&R for Fiasco's Chicago-based independent label, First & 15th Productions. "He would introduce it, he'd say, 'I wrote this record when I was at a real down point in my life.' It was like a confession. That's how I found out, and we talked throughout that tour. It was shocking that he'd come so low because he's so mentally strong. ... He's 100 percent Muslim, very religious, and his father instilled all kinds of moral strength into his upbringing. It had to be bad if it came to that."


Doing his duty

Fiasco's fans tried to have his back. When summer of 2010 rolled around and still no news of the new album, two protest marches were scheduled in New York and Chicago. Dan Winchester, a local video producer, organized the Oct. 15 ("Fiasco Friday") event here. Even though the release date was announced a few days before, about 200 fans still showed up at Buckingham Fountain that afternoon and marched north along Michigan Avenue, carrying signs of support.

"Instead of an outright protest, it became a statement march," Winchester said. "We definitely made a statement -- that we support positive music, that we're not going to stand for corporations watering down music to be all pop and all sound the same. Once you sign a contract like that, they control everything about it. That's what they've been doing with Lupe, and we wanted to stand with him and against that corporate meddling."

Fiasco heard about the planned protest online. "Somebody kept spamming my Twitter page about it, the same guy, over and over," he said. "I was like, all right, chill out. But they really meant it. It was a full-on, full-blown angry protest. Then we had the meeting with Atlantic and they set a date, so it became a celebration. They still had 250 kids out there [in New York]. ... I went. I had to see it with my own two eyes."

Fiasco said the confluence of collective action and movement at Atlantic helped bring him around.

"I'm OK now. I'm happy, I'm stable," he said. "I've distanced myself from the situation emotionally and spiritually. It doesn't affect me. I found a nice balance to navigate through it without it leading to me killing myself, literally."

The process of finishing "Lasers" he described with words one hates to hear from a creative artist. He "hunkered down" and "got through it." He "went along," he "acquiesced." He "found some emotional distance from the music." He "lost those aspirations."

"I am a hostage," Fiasco said. "I gave them what they wanted. If I didn't, at the end of the day the album wasn't coming out."

"The Great American Rap Album" was recorded simultaneously with "Lasers." It's a "different sound" and should be released by the end of this year, he said. After that, maybe a greatest hits.

Meanwhile, Fiasco talks like a bored cubicle worker watching the clock, waiting for quitting time.

"There are certain expectations I don't have anymore. There are certain things I'll keep for myself now until they can be received the way I want them to be received. You'll still get albums, and they'll be good."
 
Nov 7, 2006
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#18
Remove Lupe Fiasco and listen to the instrumentals and I don't see how you can know it's not a Lady Gaga album.

How did we come to that???
read the article on the 1st page. his label made him do things he didnt want to in order for this to come out. and only reason he even folded to the label was cause his fans were demanding it regardless. kinda sucks that his label would take away his artistry when his 1st 2 albums did so well and there amazing. you can easily tell the songs that were his ideas from the ones that arent in this album. i really hope knowone cops this album so the the label learns there lesson not to fuck with the artistry of a great artist.
 

ThaG

Sicc OG
Jun 30, 2005
9,597
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#19
I've read the interviews with him. In them he say that there were 2 songs that the label forced him to do and that he likes the music on that album but he doesn't like "the process" of making it.

So, if he was forced to do 2 songs, or even if it was more than 2, who forced him to go for the techno-gay-pop sound on the others? And if he doesn't like that sound, why does he say he likes the album?


And why should I listen to and have respect for someone who went in the boot and recorded the songs and then says he likes them just because supposedly he didn't really want to do them when those songs are among the gayest shit ever put on record and labeled "hip-hop"? Again, I challenge anyone to tell me what the difference between a Lady Gaga track and the tracks on this album is. There is not a single song here that doesn't make my ears hurt...
 

Meta4iCAL

Raider Nation
Feb 21, 2005
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#20
I've read the interviews with him. In them he say that there were 2 songs that the label forced him to do and that he likes the music on that album but he doesn't like "the process" of making it.

So, if he was forced to do 2 songs, or even if it was more than 2, who forced him to go for the techno-gay-pop sound on the others? And if he doesn't like that sound, why does he say he likes the album?


And why should I listen to and have respect for someone who went in the boot and recorded the songs and then says he likes them just because supposedly he didn't really want to do them when those songs are among the gayest shit ever put on record and labeled "hip-hop"? Again, I challenge anyone to tell me what the difference between a Lady Gaga track and the tracks on this album is. There is not a single song here that doesn't make my ears hurt...
you're making it sound like your opinion is a fact

if you don't like it, don't listen to it

some of the beats sound too much like "pop music"

but some of them sound really similar to beats on his last album

I'm not an expert on Lady Gaga's music... but I don't think most of the beats sound like they're from a Lady Gaga album... and if they ALL sound like that... then I guess I must like some wack ass music