With the release of his 3rd album on Tues. March 8, Lupe Fiasco has done it again with his newest album, L.A.S.E.R.S The LP appeals to both the critics and the masses with billboard appeal. L.A.S.E.R.S features the up tempo and electronic beats that are popular on the radio right now. Though Lupe is known to throw in a fist-pumping beat or two, he has also added a bit of a twist to his usual lyrics. The album features a couple of songs that are darker and expose a much more angry and politically charged Lupe, especially in songs like “All Black Everything.”
Although the album’s first single, “The Show Goes On” has reached Gold status, it has not been all fun and games. Lupe states that the album was so tough to assemble at times that sometimes he felt like quitting altogether. He told the Chicago Sun Times, “The climate of this record was very weird, in some instances surreal.”
He addresses the music industry’s changing atmosphere and said that he “[had to] become very abstract. I had to create this commercial art that appeases the corporate side. I had to acquiesce to certain forces. Hopefully within that I snuck in some things I actually wanted to say any way I can.”
The acronym L.A.S.E.R.S. actually stands for “Love Always Shines Every Time, Remember 2 Smile.” Lupe states that he chose this anagram in part because he likes to think with words but also that he wants to “give it [L.A.S.E.R.S] a new mold, a new understanding, but still playing off the idea that it’s bringing light to different circumstances which is what I try and do – bringing understanding and light and awareness to different projects that are going on in the world.”
In 2010, to promote the message of the album, Fiasco released a viral video onto the internet titled “The L.A.S.E.R.S. Manifesto;” which can be found on his website or on youtube.com. The video features strong political messages and articulates some of the core ideas behind the dense album.
Lupe Fiasco has been working on L.A.S.E.R.S since 2009 and features a few special guests. Appearing on the album are music stars, Trey Songz in “Out of my Head” as well as John Legend featured in the more emotional pop song, “Never Forget You,” among others.
Lupe Fiasco is set to tour the US beginning later this month. He will be touring with fellow rap artist, B.o.B. and the groups will be appearing in the New England area at the House of Blues in Boston on Weds. April 7. Fiasco will be coming back around, this time solo, to Worchester Polytechnic Institute in Worchester, MA on April 24.