Album Reviews: Lasers by Lupe Fiasco

Let's go back to 2006.  Lupe Fiasco had been trying to get an album released for a few years and finally landed with Atlantic and made a big splash.  The album got into the top 10 and got him three Grammy nominations.  Next year he releases his second album, again goes Gold and gets four Grammy nominations.  Now four years later he's back. 

Why four years?  Well because he's been fighting with Atlantic over the latest album.  They wanted to control his sound and content and he's been resisting, so much so that when the album was released he made comments like, "I gave them what they wanted. If I didn't, at the end of the day the album wasn't coming out."

It's hard to know then what to think of this album.  He's out heavily promoting it and it did debut at number 1 on the charts, but you still have to wonder what the album would have sounded like had the executives not been involved and if you know this stuff it does effect the way you listen to the album. 

OK that's a long way to get to this.  Where his first album was more lyrically focused with a stripped down sound, this album is more groove and beat focused with a dance oriented production.  A quick first listen to this album and you would equate it as a dance album more than a rap album in part because there are so many featured singers here and too because his lyrics are so buried by the sound.  That doesn't mean it's a horrible album, it just means it's quite different than what he's done before. 

The biggest problem with the album is that what he's rapping about and the dance beats that it's paired with often don't blend and so you get this odd dance/rap album with some pretty serious lyrical content.  It's an odd feel.  He's said that while he was recording Lasers he was also working on his next album, I'm assuming for an independent label, and so it will be interesting to see what he does without the execs pushing. 

If you're getting ready to go clubbing, this would be a good one to throw on while getting ready.

Following the Rhapsody rating method I give it 2 out of 5 stars for Not Bad.