music

Music Coming Soon

Lupe Fiasco - Lasers

'Lasers' has Lupe Fiasco reaching for new heights of lyrical and musical mastery, while aiming to reach even bigger audiences.

The album spawned the exuberant hit, 'The Show Goes On', which re-introduced Fiasco to fans after a four-year absence, as well as singles like the incendiary 'Words I Never Said' featuring Skylar Grey and produced by Alex Da Kid (Eminem's 'Love the Way You Lie'); the thought-provoking 'All Black Everything', and 'Out of My Head', a collaboration with labelmate Trey Songz.

'Lasers' is an acronym for "Love Always Shines Everytime: Remember to Smile", and the album is a reflection of a 14-point manifesto the Chicago-born MC composed to guide him on the project, including items like "We want substance in the place of popularity" and "We will not compromise who we are to be accepted by the crowd".

"I want to start a popular uprising," says Fiasco. "The music is the bait to get people to come in and listen to what I'm saying."

'Lasers' features some of the most thought-provoking rhymes and concepts Fiasco has ever conceived, combined with irresistible melodies, production by the likes of Jerry Wonder and The Neptunes, as well as collaborations with John Legend, Trey Songz, and others.

The album is filled with unvarnished truth, straight from the mind of the hyper-literate Muslim MC, who grew up in the projects, but read books constantly and learned martial arts from the age of three. The son of a Black Panther, his family didn't have cable TV, but did have a subscription to National Geographic.

On the bombastic 'Words I Never Said', the MC unloads his frustration with the media and politics, calling right-wing pundits Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck racists, and even taking aim at fellow Chicagoan Barack Obama, emphasising that he did not vote for him. Another track, 'State Run Radio', takes aim at the hyper-regulated, repetitive radio industry - don't hold your breath waiting to hear it on your local station, but it’s sure to become a viral hit.

If those songs are grounded in modern reality, 'All Black Everything' takes a fanciful look at the past, asking, What if black people got paid for slavery?

"I just started thinking: 'What if things had gotten off on a totally different foot? What if they just came over to Africa and said: 'We want you guys to work for us.'"

Of course, not every song on 'Lasers' is a political discourse or a historical construct. Some of them can be described as standard hit records. 'Never Forget You', with John Legend, is a soulful love song produced by Jerry Wonder. 'Out of My Head', with Trey Songz is a smooth synth-driven R&B cut.

'Lasers' then is a superior collection from top to bottom. It's an album with a mission, summed up in the conclusion to Lupe Fiasco's manifesto:

"Lasers are shining beams of light that burn through the darkness of ignorance. Lasers shed light on injustice and inequality. Lasers act and shape their own destinies. Lasers find meaning and direction in the mysteries all around them. Lasers stand for love and compassion. Lasers stand for peace. Lasers stand for progression. Lasers are revolutionary. Lasers are the future. We’re not losers... We are lasers!"