Album title: ‘Lasers’

Artist: Lupe Fiasco

Genre: Hip-hop/Rap

Sounds like: A mediocre Lupe Fiasco mash-up

Soundwaves: 3/5

Release date: March 8, 2011

Lupe Fiasco told Complex magazine he both loves and hates his new album, ‘Lasers.’ The hip-hop artist’s third album stems from controversy and conflict between him and his record label, Atlantic Records. The achievement of getting it released — which at one point looked doubtful, considering its numerous delays — is something to behold in itself.

Fiasco told the magazine, ‘I love and hate this album … when I think about what it took to actually get the record together and everything that I went through — which is something I can’t separate — I hate this album.’

Fiasco’s internal conflict about his album resonates in the music. At times —in ‘Words I Never Said’ and ‘Beautiful Lasers’ —his genius shines with creative and politically sound verses, followed by clever and catchy beats. But with the dance club beat ‘I Don’t Wanna Care Right Now’ and the inclusion of Trey Songz in ‘Out Of My Head,’ the collision of his words with hooks from supporting acts fails to sound like vintage Lupe.

The album begins with ‘Letting Go,’ a song featuring a hook from Sarah Green. Green, a regular on his albums, has been featured in ‘Real’ and ‘Intruder Alert,’ and she does good work. The song itself is a declaration of Fiasco releasing himself from the record industry. He raps, ‘Burden on my shoulders now, burning all my motors down, inspiration drying up, motivation slowing down.’

‘Words I Never Said’ is classic Fiasco, as far as his lyrics taking a critical grip on current events is concerned. Skylar Grey, from Dr. Dre’s ‘I Need A Doctor,’ provides a catchy hook that will make the song an instant hit. His third verse is one of the most powerful on the album. ‘I think that all the silence is worse than all the violence, fear is such a weak emotion, that’s why I despise it,’ he raps.

In ‘Till I Get There,’ Fiasco continues the album’s underlying theme of the struggle to get his album out. But ‘I Don’t Wanna Care Right Now’ is a dance club song with an auto-tuned hook about being at a party all night. Quite frankly, it isn’t a Lupe song, and the beat and hook sound better suited for N.E.R.D. Same goes for ‘Out Of My Head,’ where he sounds like the guest act on a Trey Songz track. For the first time in Fiasco’s career, he’s overpowered on his own tracks.

Fiasco said ‘The Show Goes On,’ the first single on the album, was the Atlantic Records chip he had to take to put his album out. The beat and hook descend from Modest Mouse’s ‘Float On,’ providing the poppy hit the record company demanded out of Fiasco. His verses are an anthem for those in the ghetto to stick to their dreams. He tells listeners, ‘Yeah, yeah, the world is yours, I was once that little boy. Terrified of the world, now I’m on a world tour.’

Fiasco told the Chicago Tribune that ‘Beautiful Lasers’ is about him coming to grips with his depression and suicidal thoughts. The strife with Atlantic Records drove him to the edge but led to this track, perhaps one that will please listeners the most. ‘If you feel you don’t wanna be alive, you feel just how I am,’ Fiasco says. He thanks his fans for motivation, saying, ‘My heart been broke for a while, your’s been the one keeping me alive.’

But the power of ‘Beautiful Lasers’ isn’t consistent throughout the album. The hook on ‘Coming Up’ sounds poppy, cheap and irritable. The hook for ‘State Run Radio,’ sung by Matt Mahaffey, sounds like a pop-punk band’s chorus, which is a shame because it overshadows some of Fiasco’s strongest verses.

The best beat comes from ‘All Black Everything.’ Fiasco raps about an alternate world in which African-Americans were never brought to America, and slaves and racism never existed. The beat really brings Fiasco back to the level of his first two albums, in the echelon of some of the best beats he’s rapped on, such as ‘Hip-Hop Saved My Life.’

The album’s conclusion, ‘Never Forget You,’ featuring John Legend, is certainly a closing song. But Legend overpowers Fiasco because he’s the bigger voice and maybe the bigger star.

Fiasco wasn’t overpowered by any acts, even ones bigger than him, on previous albums. On ‘Pressure,’ off his first album, Fiasco didn’t let Jay-Z overshadow his verses. On ‘Fighters,’ Maroon 5’s Adam Levine sang the hook but complemented Fiasco’s lyrics perfectly.

‘Lasers’ is a conflicted album. A broken album from a broken rapper. Fiasco disperses inspirational words throughout, but his words fail to come together with guest artists and beats, creating an album that had potential but failed to reach it.

mcooperj@syr.edu

Published on March 6, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Mark: mcooperj@syr.edu | @mark_cooperjr