Lasers (album)
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Lasers is the third studio album by American rapper Lupe Fiasco.[1]
Background
Fiasco was originally going to release his triple album, LupE.N.D. as his third and final record, but his contract with Atlantic Records prevented him from retiring with this agenda. He then postponed LupE.N.D. indefinitely and intended on releasing an album tentatively titled The Great American Rap Album in June 2009.[2] Instead, the album was also postponed and he announced a new album was in the works, originally titled We Are Lasers and then changed to Lasers. Lasers is a backronym for "Love Always Shines, Everytime Remember 2 Smile".[3]
Releases
During a concert at Boston College, Fiasco played the chorus of a song called "Shining Down", which eventually led to a snippet being leaked onto the internet.[4] On May 17, a low quality version of the single leaked onto the internet, possibly stemming from a rip from the "FNF TV Stream".[5] "Shining Down" was intended to be the first single off of Everywhere, the first of the three CDs that LupE.N.D. is composed of.[6] But because its release was withheld, there was speculation circulating that it may be the first single from Lasers. Lupe later confirmed that it is in fact the first single off of the album. The song is produced by Soundtrakk and features Matthew Santos, in the same collaborative manner that Lupe featured Santos on his hit lead single, "Superstar" for his sophomore album, Lupe Fiasco's The Cool. The full version was leaked onto the Internet on June 16, 2009.[7] Fiasco stated that he was angry at the leak; Matthew Santos confirmed that the leaked track is not the final mix.[8][9] The song was released on July 7, 2009.[10] However, "Shining Down" did not do as well as Fiasco hoped, charting at only #93 on the Billboard Hot 100 during its initial run.[11]
A previously leaked track titled "I'm Beamin" which is confirmed to be the intro for Lasers, was re-released on January 26, 2010 as the official single off of the album after a blowout from Lupe confirming that this was stolen material. Lupe stated that Atlantic decided to chase the leak and officially release the song for the public. Lupe also confirmed that both Neptunes are present on the track on the DJ GreenLantern radio show, claiming to be responsible for putting Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo together again on a track for the first time since Common's Universal Mind Control album.[12]
On February 10, a unfinished track titled "What U Want" was leaked which also features Kenna. It was later confirmed on Lupe's twitter feed that the song will be on the album.[13]
In an interview with Australian radio station Triple J, Lupe revealed that although the album had been submitted to his label, they still had no solid release date for it. He stated: "It's one of the sadder parts of being on a major record label. At a certain point it's out of your hands. About a date for Lasers, it's truly on them. I have no idea what they're going to do."[14]
To further promote the album, Lupe released a viral video onto the internet titled "Lasers Manifesto", which can be found on both YouTube and the official website of Lasers.[15]
Lupe performed 3 unreleased songs in Claremont, CA titled "Scream", "State Run Radio" and "Beautiful Lasers".[16] However, it has been stated that none of these new songs are singles, and none of the songs will be on the album according to Lupe Fiasco's road manager.[17] The music video for "I'm Beamin'" was released on to the internet.[18] Merchandise related to the Steppin' Lasers tour for the upcoming album was released.[19] Lupe Fiasco announced on Twitter that the album is complete and is waiting for Atlantic Records to release it. Fans waiting on the album have put together an online petition demanding that Atlantic Records release Lasers, due to the fact the album was announced last year and still doesn't have a release date. The petition garnered considerable attention on hip hop blog sites as well as attaining over 5,000 signatures on its first day. It has since reached over 25,000 signatures.[20] In response to the petition, Lupe Fiasco released a song titled "B.M.F-Building Minds Faster" as a gift for his fans. The story was featured on many sites, including CNN [21] and MTV [22], in which Lupe said 'I love to see this petition. It brought me to tears a couple of times'.
On July 24 Atlantic Records tweeted "Lasers is coming folks!"[23] On July 27 Atlantic Records tweeted "#WeWantLasers"[24]
References
- ^ http://www.rap-up.com/2009/11/26/new-music-lupe-fiasco-enemy-of-the-state-a-love-story-mixtape/
- ^ Lupe Fiasco to Release 'The Great American Rap Album'.
- ^ Trailer: Lupe Fiasco - 'Lasers'. Rap-Up.
- ^ Lupe Fiasco - Shining Down feat. Matthew Santos (Live Snippet)
- ^ Lupe Fiasco feat. Mathew Santos - Shining Down Full/Low Quality. Nah Right.
- ^ LupEND News - "Shining Down" Will Be The First Single.
- ^ http://yaheardhiphop.blogspot.com/2009/06/shining-down-cdq.html
- ^ Lupe Talks About The Shining Down Leak
- ^ Matthew Santos' Twitter.
- ^ Shining Down [Explicit. Amazon.
- ^ "The Billboard Hot 100 - Shining Down - Lupe Fiasco Featuring Mathew Santos". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
- ^ *UPDATE* - "I'm Beamin" Record. Lupe Fiasco.
- ^ LupeFiasco twitter
- ^ Lupe Fiasco interview with The Doctor. Triple J radio 2010-02-04. http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/media/s2815727.htm Retrieved 2010-02-10
- ^ LUPE FIASCO - THE L.A.S.E.R.S. MANIFESTO. YouTube.
- ^ [1] NahRight
- ^ [2] LupE.N.D. Blog
- ^ Lupe Fiasco - I'm Beamin on YouTube
- ^ [3] "@LupeFiasco"
- ^ http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.11771/title.dx-news-bits-kid-cudi-lupe-fiasco
- ^ http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2010/07/27/lupe-fiasco-fans-demand-more-music/
- ^ http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1644559/20100727/fiasco__lupe.jhtml/
- ^ http://twitter.com/AtlanticRecords/status/19435999525
- ^ http://twitter.com/AtlanticRecords/status/19676205570