Lupe’s Fiasco
March 3rd, 2011 • Uncategorized
Lupe Fiasco’s 3rd studio album entitled Lasers, is set to be released next tuesday, March 8th. Lupe, has made a name for himself through is lyrical abilities, his candidness, his socially conscience approach to music and essentially by marching to the beat of his own drum. In an era where hip-hop music has been inundated with made for radio singles, Lupe Fiasco’s style has differentiated him from the rest of the competition and garnered him an almost cult like following. However, as Lupe and his fans have found, being different in an industry where popularity is everything, is not easy. Lasers has supposedly been, in some way shape or form, completed since 2009. The reason for it not being released earlier, according to Lupe, was that he needed to dumb it down. Atlantic, his record label, wanted him to produce something that would be picked up by the masses, and Lupe’s signature style of wirtting lyrics that take the average person a few replays of the track to get the full meaning of, did not cut it. Lupe, being the true artist he is, resisted Atlantics pressures to alter his work and a very long and public conflict ensued. Being a business student, I can see where Atlantic is coming from. In a time where music sales are being killed by illegal online downloads, maximizing what ever profit they can does make sense. However, at the same time, in looking at Lupe and his fan base, Atlantic should have realized that yielding to corporate pressures and making mainstream music is exactly what they are against. In the end , Lupe Atlantic reached a compromise, Lasers is essentially a hybird album combining some mainstream beats with anything but mainstream lyrics.