S. Samuel
In light of the planned October 15th rally outside of Atlantic Records in support of Lupe Fiasco, one of the protest leaders has revealed that he has never purchased an actual album from the artist.
Despite having never paid for Lupe’s music, 17-year-old New Jersey high school senior Matthew La Corte believes protesting outside of the record label will send a political message to executives.
“So what idea is Atlantic Records putting out? That it’s okay to bring our children up with this music that’s all about me going out and partying tonight?” he asked. “Is that really what we’re all looking for? … I think there’s a lot of other things that rappers can be expressing, and the things that are on the radio are really do not reflect what this society is all about. …That’s why there’s so much push behind Lupe, because he’s really much more than just a rapper from Chicago. He represents a generation, and a movement…[Did I buy his albums?] No. I’ll be honest–I did not buy the records, I just listened to them over the internet.” (Village Voice)
Last month, protestor “SeanTheRobot” explained how the ends would justify the reason for the scheduled rally.
“We’ve been waiting so long for this [Lasers] album, and Atlantic Records has been holding it back for such a long time without releasing any info about it, that now it’s just time to do something and to go out on the streets and to protest,” Sean said in an interview. “Everyone can sit behind a PC and sign an online petition…That’s probably not really impressing anyone at the label; but having people going out on the streets, protesting for something they believe in, that’s a much bigger statement.” (XXL Mag)
In mid-September, the announcement was made on a Lupe Fiasco fan site.
2 months ago the WeWantLasers Petition was started and over 28k people signed it so far but the only reaction we got from Atlantic Records was a tweet saying “Lasers is coming” and that’s not enough! If you think the petition would be the only thing we’d be doing to get this album released – you’re wrong! On October 15th, Lupe Fiasco fans will gather in New York City to protest in front of the Atlantic Records Headquarters! So if you’re in New York or close – be there! Wear the Lasers Uniform and bring picket signs! – If you have friends in New York – tell them about it! And for all people who aren’t able to be there, spread the word online! (Twitter / Facebook, Blogs etc.) or if there’s an Atlantic Records building in your city, you can go there, too. (LupeE.N.D. Blog)
Last July, Lupe gave his reaction to the initial fan-launched online petition against Atlantic Records to put out his Lasers album.
“I love to see progression,” he said in an interview. “I love it. I love to see this petition. It brought me to tears a couple of times like, ‘these n—as really f— with me. All these kids and these fans f— with me and it’s some positive sh–. Go to Wearenotlosers.com and see what Lasers really is. … That’s what they’re petitioning for. Listen to ‘I’m Beamin,’ the song. It reaffirms what we’re doing…I don’t think the label cares about an album. I don’t think n—as care. People just want their number-one record. They don’t care about the rest of the album. I was talking to an engineer the other day and he said, ‘These n—as don’t even care about mixing an album no more.’ They just want the first three songs. Three singles. They get them, one, two, three, they don’t care what’s on the rest of the album. I know this for sure. I’ve seen it. You can’t blame them because of the attention span of the game and the attention span of music, how fast things are going. You only got them one, two, three shots. I’m not no fool. I’m looking at it like ‘Yeah, you’re right.'” (MTV)
Check out some past Lupe Fiasco footage down below:
