Lasers (album)

Untitled

Lasers is the third studio album by American rapper Lupe Fiasco, set to be released on March 8, 2011 after many delays.

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. 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".

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. On May 17, a low quality version of the single leaked onto the internet, possibly stemming from a rip from the "FNF TV Stream". "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. 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. Fiasco stated that he was angry at the leak; Matthew Santos confirmed that the leaked track is not the final mix. The song was released on July 7, 2009. However, "Shining Down" did not do as well as Fiasco hoped, charting at only #93 on the Billboard Hot 100 during its initial run.

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.

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.

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."

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.

Lupe performed 3 unreleased songs in Claremont, CA titled "Scream", "State Run Radio" and "Beautiful Lasers". 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. The music video for "I'm Beamin'" was released on to the internet. Merchandise related to the Steppin' Lasers tour for the upcoming album was released.

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 30,000 signatures. 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 and MTV, in which Lupe said 'I love to see this petition. It brought me to tears a couple of times.'

To further on stress the petition to Atlantic Records, the fans have set up Fiasco Friday. It is when all of the people seeking this album will come together and protest in front of Atlantic Records headquarters in New York City on October 15, 2010. Lupe Fiasco announced on Twitter that he will be attending.

On October 2nd, 2010, whilst presenting a keynote speech at the Dayton Convention Center, Lupe made explicit the reasons why Atlantic Records have been so unresponsive towards the promotion and release of Lasers. LupE.N.D. Blog quotes him as saying, "Lupe said Atlantic wanted him to sign a contract that would give them 25% of anything he makes from shows or deals with other companies like Nike or whatever. (Sean's note: That's a 360 deal). He told them no so they threatened him by not pushing any of his new songs on the radio or giving him money to make the videos (the I'm Beamin' video came out of his own pocket). Also they basically don't like his music or the way Lupe put it 'They think I'm whack'. So Atlantic sent him hooks they wanted him to do. He recorded them and sent them back but they didn't like them anymore and tried to have him change the hooks like 60 different times. In the end he had enough."

On October 7th, 2010, Lupe Fiasco tweeted "Victory!" along with posting a picture of himself with an Atlantic rep. On October 8th, Atlantic Records tweeted the release date for Lasers would be March 8th, 2011.

External links

• Official album website