S. Samuel
Just weeks before the release of his long-delayed third album, Grammy-winning rapper Lupe Fiasco has opened up about his Lasers disappointments.
For Lupe, the inability to create ample fresh and organic records following his recent Atlantic Records quarrel had a negative impact on him.
“One thing I try to stress about this project is, I love and hate this album,” Fiasco explained in an interview. “I listen to it and I’ll like some of the songs. But when I think about what it took to actually get the record together and everything that I went through on this record–which is something I can’t separate–I hate this album. A lot of the songs that are on the album, I’m kinda neutral to. Not that I don’t like them, or that I hate them, it’s just I know the process that went behind it. I know the sneaky business deal that went down behind this song, or the artist or singer or songwriter who wrote this hook and didn’t want to give me this song in the first place. So when I have that kind of knowledge behind it, I’m just kind of neutral to it like, ‘Another day, another dollar.’ As opposed something like The Cool, which is more of my own blood, sweat, and tears, and my own control. With this record, I’m little bit more neutral as to the love for the record.” (Complex)
The rapper also credited his loyal fan base for fighting to put Lasers out.
“For me, it’s the fans and for them to get a victory and for us to get a release date. That’s all we really wanted the whole time like, ‘Either give us a release date or let us go.’ And [Atlantic Records] were like, ‘No, we’re not giving you either one of those.’ So it was like, ‘Well, I guess I’ll just go back on tour, go climb a mountain, and busy myself with other things until this stuff gets situated.’ [The value of getting a release date] it depends on what level of education you have in the music business. For some people that’s amazing like, ‘Oh my God! My life is going to change and blah, blah, blah.’ For other people, it kind of means nothing. It’s like, ‘Another album out but the main root of the problem is still unsolved.’ And then there are records you literally had nothing to do with. That was a part of the compromise. Compromise doesn’t mean everybody is going to be happy, it’s just we’re going to do the best thing we can. The best thing for both parties is for this album to come out. Whether that means we’re homies or whether that means everything is cool now, that’s a different story.” (Complex)
Last month, Lupe revealed the album tracklisting via Twitter.
1. “Letting Go” feat. Sarah Green 2. “Words I Never Said” feat. Skylar Grey 3. “Till I Get There” 4. “I Don’t Wanna Care Right Now” feat. MDMA 5. “Out of My Head” feat. Trey Songz 6. “The Show Goes On” 7. “Beautiful Lasers, (Two Ways)” feat. MDMA 8. “Coming Up” feat. MDMA 9. “State Run Radio” feat. Matt Mahaffey 10. “Break the Chain” feat. Eric Turner & Sway 11. “All Black Everything” 12. “Never Forget You” feat. John Legend (Lasers)
In October 2010, after announcing a March 8th, 2011 release date, Fiasco explained how he squashed his beef with Atlantic.
“We just came to a reconciliation, saw both sides of the argument of what was going down, found a midway point that we can all agree on, and we’re rolling,” Fiasco said. “March 8:Lasers. Single drops in a couple weeks. It is what it is…I’m not a 360 artist, and I’ll never be a 360 artist. And you should never be a 360 artist. If that’s something that you need, then your situation is different. I’m not the type of artist that needs a 360 deal, but it’s probably some newer artists that need that kind of motivation or extra support to enhance their operations in the future. I don’t necessarily need that. If it comes along in the future, who knows? But, right now, I don’t need it. Thank you, but no thank you.” (MTV)
Lasers is set to drop Tuesday, March 8th
Check out some recent Lupe Fiasco footage down below:
