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Album Review – Lupe Fiasco’s Lasers

Ed note: You can also read this over at Members Only today if you so please…

Lupe told MTV (yeah, the same MTV that he said was “Illuminati’s Favorite Network”) that, “for [Lasers], being a more popular record and being the goal of this record from its inception…it was always about, ‘Let’s take it to another level.’ If we’re gonna go and try to get on radio, trying to capture that bigger audience, there’s a certain format that you have to fit to do that. That’s the growth that the fans want, the underrated things that the critics say.”

I adore Lupe Fiasco, but I’m certainly not at stan status, so you better believe I’m not letting my bias taint my review of Lasers. That being said, I really enjoyed the album and I was fully prepared to hate it after reading lots of negative reviews. Knowing that he struggled so much with the project, his label, and himself, I almost feel a little guilty liking Lasers as much as I do. Yes, it’s different than The Cool and Food & Liquor, but all artists change and evolve.

While I knew that Lasers would sound more mainstream, and that Lupe would “dumb it down” at times, I was still surprised at how clubby it sounded. It was a pleasant surprise for me, since my tastes tend to pander to the mainstream. Honestly, I never would have guessed that the more cerebral Lupe would team up with the beautiful crooner Trey Songz, but I guess stranger things have happened. I mean, I just think it’s weird to hear Lupe rapping on a track with Trey singing “girl I can’t get you out of my head,” something that I can’t ever imagine Lupe saying in reality.

But don’t you worry and cause premature wrinkles, because Lupe Fiasco, the social commentator, is still present on Lasers, and in full effect. In “Words I Never Said,” he manages to sound like a fringe right and left-winger at the same time, criticizing Obama for his stance on Israel and wondering if 9/11 was a conspiracy and if building 7 fell from an implosion. He even goes after the banking system for good measure. “State Run Radio” is another interesting track, which can either be ironic or clever, depending on your interpretation of the album as a whole. He criticizes radio stations for being so stringent in their musical choices, yet he’s trying to make more radio-friendly tracks on this record.

Keep reading…because there’s more, including some exemplary lyricism!

And then there’s “All Black Everything,” which deserves its own paragraph. Lupe billed it as a “personal masterpiece,” his “favorite record ever.” It’s poignant, provocative, and not the least bit preachy. The song focuses on a dream he has where racism, exploitation, and slavery never existed, and I am forced to include the lyrics.

[Hook]

You would never know
If you could ever be
If you never try
You would never see
Stayed in Africa
We ain’t never leave
So there were no slaves in our history
Were no slave ships, were no misery, call me crazy, or isn’t he
See I fell asleep and I had a dream, it was all black everything

[Verse 1]

Uh, and we ain’t get exploited
White man ain’t feared it so he did not destroy it
We ain’t work for free, see they had to employ it
Built it up together so we equally appointed
First 400 years, see we actually enjoyed it
Constitution written by W.E.B. Du Bois
Were no reconstructions, civil war got avoided
Little black sambo grows up to be a lawyer
Extra extra on the news stands
Black woman voted head of Ku Klux Klan
Malcolm Little dies as an old man
Martin Luther King read the eulogy for him
Followed by Bill O’Reilly who read from the Quran
President Bush sends condolences from Iran
Where Fox News reports live
That Ahmadinejad wins Mandela peace prize

[Hook]

[Verse 2]

Uh, and it ain’t no projects
Keepin it real is not an understood concept
Yea, complexion’s not a contest
Cause racism has no context
Hip-hop ain’t got a section called conscious
Everybody rappin like crack never happened
Crips never occurred nor bloods to attack them
Matter of fact no hood to attack in
Somalia is a great place to relax in
Fred Astaire was the first to do a backspin
The rat pack was cool group of black men
That inspired the five white guys called the Jacksons
Eminem fitted in but then again he inspired a black rapper tryin to mimic him
And thats what really rose up out of Michigan, the sign of white rapper by the name of 50 cent

[Hook]

[Verse 3]

Uh, and I know it’s just a fantasy
I cordially invite you to ask why can’t it be
Now we can do nothing bout the past
But we can do something about the future that we have
We can make it fast or we can make it last
Every woman queen and every man a king and
When those color lines come we can’t see between
We just close our eyes till its all black everything

[Hook]

I like how, as an afterthought almost, he wonders why his dream can’t be the future, but that is all overshadowed by his masterful and clever lyricism. I challenge you to read those lyrics and not be impressed. In an interview with The Guardian, he explained that “there’s a duality in everything – there’s two sides to every story. Sometimes they compliment each other, and sometimes they conflict.” Honestly, I am in awe at how subtly he is able to flip these dualities. A black woman voted head of Ku Klux Klan? Ahmadinejad wins a peace prize? The rat pack was cool group of black men that inspired the five white guys called the Jacksons? Wordplay doesn’t get any better than this, folks.

And, it’s true, not every song is as deep as “All Black Everything,” but I don’t mind, especially if I can dance to them. On another note, MDMA, formerly known as Pooh Bear, makes three appearances on the album singing the hook on “I Don’t Want To Care Right Now,” “Beautiful Lasers (2 Ways),” and “Coming Up.” Between the synthy sounds and Lupe’s angst-ridden-borderline-emo lyrics, MDMA does an excellent job tying together Lupe’s heavier lyrics with the more upbeat, mainstream sounding instrumentals.

Despite the fact that Lasers was met with overwhelming negative critical reviews, I still enjoyed the project. Even though Lupe probably doesn’t like the new direction he took with the album, I like it, and I can still take solace in the fact that the clever, outspoken Lupe that we all know and love (well, some of us), is still evident on the project.

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