Lupe Fiasco-Lasers

Lyrically, the album is fine, but damn this is hella poppy. Over half the tracks have cheesy R&B hooks, and the production is so sugary sweet it felt like leftovers from Katy Perry's last album. I honestly think i got diabetes by just listening to it. The album does have some really good songs, but there is absolutely no variety at all. Anyone else heard this yet besides KJ? I'd give the album about 3 stars.

I give this a 2.5, maybe it deserves a 3? who knows, but this is just lupe doing his little kid cudi, BOB, pop impression. At least Cudi and BOB put effort and are into their music, Lupe just seems to be going through the motions. His lyrics are uninspired and what's with the distortion bullshit on most of his vocals?

Definitely his worst CD easily. The funny thing is I'm a cudi and BOB fan so if maybe he had put his heart into this shit and cut down the all out cheesy pop factor it could have been a better CD.

Southern Rap Pro wrote:

I give this a 2.5, maybe it deserves a 3? who knows, but this is just lupe doing his little kid cudi, BOB, pop impression. At least Cudi and BOB put effort and are into their music, Lupe just seems to be going through the motions. His lyrics are uninspired and what's with the distortion bullshit on most of his vocals?

Definitely his worst CD easily. The funny thing is I'm a cudi and BOB fan so if maybe he had put his heart into this shit and cut down the all out cheesy pop factor it could have been a better CD.

I pretty much cosign this. 3 stars is the most I can give this. His weakest album easily. Nothing really memorable on here.

Lasers will take a back seat to the Raekwon but I will spin this by the end of the week

Just look at that cover art. It just screams pop rap. The anarchy symbol couldn't be gayer. Cause that's what Lupe stands for, right? Anarchy and rebellion. Yeah...ok Lupe....

I pretty much co-sign what has been said here. I'm disappointed for the fact that this album contradicts the "Laser Manifesto, but Atlantic made him compromise his album. This album gets 3 - 3.25 stars for me. I'll listen to it again and see if my opinion differs.

That is the gayest cover ever created. It looks like some band's album cover.

I'm not the least bit surprised with the response to this forum regarding this album. But it's whatever. I give it about 3.75 stars. As I mentioned before, if you didn't like F&L and The Cool, you're not gonna like Lasers.

Everyone here seems to like F&L and The Cool so I don't see why you keep trying to drive an inapplicable point home.

Southern Rap Pro wrote:

Everyone here seems to like F&L and The Cool so I don't see why you keep trying to drive an inapplicable point home.

Really??? I've heard almost universal bashing of The Cool here. I think me and Kev are the only people here that gave it a 4 star or better rating, and I've heard mixed responses to F&L. Some people here like it, and some don't.

It's whatever though, my opinion of Lasers stands even if nobody else in here cares for it.

Shaun wrote:

That is the gayest cover ever created. It looks like some band's album cover.

It does. In fact, I swear I have seen this exact same cover before. Especially at thumbnail size - it looks like some other random pseudo-indie pop group's cover...the frickin' Anarchy symbol though....smh...

I'm pretty sure most people who bothered to peep Lasers are Lupe fans and like F&L and The Cool.

You are entitled to your own opinion, but I do think that anything close to a 4 star rating for this CD is an insult to Lupe's catalog because the gap between this and his other two CDs should be greater.

F&L is like 4.75 to me, and The Cool is like 3.75-4, and I have no desire to hear this.

"The Cool" is all I own. I'd give it about 3.75 stars. It just never really grabbed me despite sounding plenty solid. F&L is one I should probably buy, but I never quite felt the need/want...

Southern Rap Pro wrote:

I'm pretty sure most people who bothered to peep Lasers are Lupe fans and like F&L and The Cool.

You are entitled to your own opinion, but I do think that anything close to a 4 star rating for this CD is an insult to Lupe's catalog because the gap between this and his other two CDs should be greater.

Well I have F&L at 5 stars and The Cool at 4.25-4.5 so I'd say that's a sizable gap.

The Cool isn't a bad album IMO. I just think it's overrated and felt he could have done a lot more with the concept. I give it 3. 5 - 3.75 stars...

There's a sizeable gap between F&L and The Cool

This album is The Cool on ex pills our some shit. I agree with Terry and even the deleting people's account SRP. Lupe should be ashamed of this one fa real. While I will not say its whack its not to far from below average. I only heard it once so who knows how I may feel after some of the hype of this album dies down. But as of now i'll say a 3.25-3.5 is a real fair rating.

This cat sounds like this was his best impersonation of BOB, Kanye, Jay-Z, and Eminem rolled in one production and hook wise. The sound that worked for a good part of Recovery does not work for Lasers.

Holy shit this album is craptastic at best. I just downloaded it this morning and bumped it. Too pop for me. 1.75/5 after one listen.

Shaun wrote:

There's a sizeable gap between F&L and The Cool

I have only half a star between the two of them, but even objectively I can't see more than a star.

The reviews aren't hurting his sales. He's number one on both iTunes and Amazon.

KJ Styles wrote:

The reviews aren't hurting his sales. He's number one on both iTunes and Amazon.

With regard to hip hop, high sales used to indicate that an album was good, but nowadays it indicates how pop a hip hop album is, how much appeal it has to people that don't normally listen to hip hop. So I'm not surprised by those sales.

Of course he's number one. What else has dropped that could compete?

After three full spins, I dig most of the songs on the album. Easily his worst of the three, but it's not totally wack. Letting Go is dope intro song, I like Sarah Green. Words I Never Said feels like an actual Lupe song, would easily fit perfectly on his first two albums. Til I Get There is cool, sounds a lot like a Kid Cudi song. I can still dig it. The next two songs are wack to these ears. The pop stuff doesn't really bother me as long as it's good music. Those two are not good music. The Show Must Go On is really dope, probably my second favorite off the album. Inspirational, smooth shit, I like the poppy hook. Next song is Beautiful Lasers, it's cool, very poppy. Lupe's lyrics are sharp on here. Coming Up is the next song. Eh, this MDMA dude is starting to get annoying. All the songs he's featured in (except Beautiful Lasers) are boring. State Run Radio sucks (Lupe's verses are solid, chorus is repetitive and annoying as hell). Break The Chain is probably my third favorite song off the album, I like the techno-ish beat. Chorus is cool, and as usual, Lupe's lyrics are on point. All Black Everything is solid, Lupe dropping some knowledge. This is what you come to expect when bumping a Lupe album. The final song is easily my favorite song on the album. Never Forget You is that jam. I'm a John Legend stan, and dude is mad smooth on this joint.

Overall, I find this album to have more of a Blueprint 3 feel to it. Most of the songs on here has that poppy beats, poppy chorus, Young Forever type feel to it. I honestly can't see how one who dug Blueprint 3 would hate this album. Lupe's lyrics are still on point, he's still dropping inspirational lyrics. The beats and chorus are pretty much the deal breaker here. I can see why one would hate it and think it's wack.

Yeah Tran the beats and hooks are the down points of this album. I can see the BP3 comparisions but Jay sounded much better over most of those type of trks. Jay is a hybrid though so can't expect every rapper to have that talent. Lasers sounds similar to Recovery to me.

Upbeat, feel good, lounge music. That's the feeling I get from LASERS. It's pretty much the same feeling I get with Blueprint 3.

TicNitty706 wrote:

Yeah Tran the beats and hooks are the down points of this album. I can see the BP3 comparisions but Jay sounded much better over most of those type of trks. Jay is a hybrid though so can't expect every rapper to have that talent. Lasers sounds similar to Recovery to me.

I mainly talking about the vibe of the album.

I gotta switch things up and say Beautiful Lasers is a really dope song. Lupe finest lyrical moment on LASERS. Chorus is what holds the song back from being excellent.

I'm almost done with one spin and I am definitely not impressed with this. I have Food & Liquor at 4.5 stars and The Cool at 4 stars but Lasers will be lucky to get a 3 from me. I hate to give out early ratings but I'm not sure where Lupe was going with this effort and I can see why the label wanted to shelf this project. I am on Track 11 and the first 10 tracks sounded like one long ass song. Whoever this MDMA clown is also needs to go immediately. These thoughts are subject to change but so far, not so good.

Having finally gotten around to this album here's my thoughts...

I am pleasantly surprised by this album after reading all these poor reviews. This is obviously not hip hop as its hip pop so I'm not treating it as if its supposed to be a lyrical masterpiece of groundbreaking proportions. While this album can't see F & L with xenon headlights I did enjoy it. Normally I NEVER check any mainstream albums out but since its Lupe I figured I might as well give it a listen.

Initial impression is a 4.25 or so. Is it a dumb'd down album for the masses of hipsters and pop-boppers to salivate over? Yes but it really is catchy. Some people might not like the electronic aspects of the album but being a fan of that genre I really appreciate it.

The Cool was rather disappointing and to be perfectly blunt I can't even remember that album save a few songs. I'll revisit it eventually.

So like always I'll go against the grain of the consensus and give it the seal of approval.

Is it a dumb'd down album for the masses of hipsters and pop-boppers to salivate over? Yes but it really is catchy. Some people might not like the electronic aspects of the album but being a fan of that genre I really appreciate it.

....and that Cise my friend is the whole problem that I have with "Lasers". The same guy who made it a point to have a song called "Dumb It Down" be his first single for "The Cool" and how much he was against such a concept, shouldn't release his next album performing the same concepts that he was supposedly against.

All Black Everything >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Quote :

....and that Cise my friend is the whole problem that I have with "Lasers". The same guy who made it a point to have a song called "Dumb It Down" be his first single for "The Cool" and how much he was against such a concept, shouldn't release his next album performing the same concepts that he was supposedly against.

< on his part
You raise a very good point man. He certainly went against the message he said in his song.

Quote :

All Black Everything >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Yeah that song reminds me a lot of American terrorist in that its a dicey topic that was nicely handled. I put it on repeat several times.

Highsmith wrote:

Is it a dumb'd down album for the masses of hipsters and pop-boppers to salivate over? Yes but it really is catchy. Some people might not like the electronic aspects of the album but being a fan of that genre I really appreciate it.

....and that Cise my friend is the whole problem that I have with "Lasers". The same guy who made it a point to have a song called "Dumb It Down" be his first single for "The Cool" and how much he was against such a concept, shouldn't release his next album performing the same concepts that he was supposedly against.

A lot of mc's directly contradict themselves, and they haven't received half the backlash as Lupe. The fact is if the music was actually good people would be more forgiving of the contradictions.

I think the label had more to do with the contradictions than Lupe himself. You mentioned that he wanted Dumb It Down as his first single for The Cool, but the label chose Superstar. That coupled with this album originally being shelved and pushed back tells me that Lupe intended something different and the label has it's own agenda.

Dope emcees are able to make dope CDs regardless of the label. If Nas was able to put out poppy singles, but still make dope album cuts, Lupe has no excuse to not do the same. He didn't do that and instead every song is a horrible poppy piece of shit. Blaming the label is just a cheap excuse and makes him look like a bitch. Plus he always said shit like he would never compromise for the label, so where did all that go?

Southern Rap Pro wrote:

Dope emcees are able to make dope CDs regardless of the label. If Nas was able to put out poppy singles, but still make dope album cuts, Lupe has no excuse to not do the same. He didn't do that and instead every song is a horrible poppy piece of shit. Blaming the label is just a cheap excuse and makes him look like a bitch. Plus he always said shit like he would never compromise for the label, so where did all that go?

The fact of the matter is that unless you own a label yourself, they're the boss. You either do what they say or you get released. What you said is false because if he had control over the situation then TGARA would have been released instead of Lasers which was his original idea, but it was shelved by the label.

KJ Styles wrote:

Southern Rap Pro wrote:

Dope emcees are able to make dope CDs regardless of the label. If Nas was able to put out poppy singles, but still make dope album cuts, Lupe has no excuse to not do the same. He didn't do that and instead every song is a horrible poppy piece of shit. Blaming the label is just a cheap excuse and makes him look like a bitch. Plus he always said shit like he would never compromise for the label, so where did all that go?

The fact of the matter is that unless you own a label yourself, they're the boss. You either do what they say or you get released. What you said is false because if he had control over the situation then TGARA would have been released instead of Lasers which was his original idea, but it was shelved by the label.

No, what I said is perfectly valid. Under your theory the artist has absolutely no control and just do what the label tells them. Under your theory NO RAPPER has ever released an album on a major label where they had input.

Jay Z is able to make pop songs and redeem himself by having dope album tracks. Nas is able to do the same. You haven't answered my question, why can't Lupe do the same?

Jay Z and Nas are both on major labels. Also, if Atlantic fucked his album up so bad, why didn't they do the same to his first two albums? It makes no sense. Lupe fucked this one up himself and he needs to man up, take the blame, and rectify it on the next album.

I'm not sure what single was first. Sometimes they have a street single and a single that is released as the mainstream single. I just know that I saw a video for Dumb It Down before I saw a video for Superstar. I agree Terry. If Lupe didn't have the pop beats and poppish sound he wouldn't be receiving the backlash. However, he fought to have this CD released. After listening to it, I have no idea why.