Lasers

AlbumMar 07 / 201112 songs, 47m 49s
Pop Rap Conscious Hip Hop
Popular

Back in the mid-\'00s, Lupe Fiasco struck a nerve with his fashion-forward style, matched with cheeky verses and ear-tickling, loop-driven productions. *Lasers* (an acronym for Love Always Shines Everytime Remember 2 Smile) marks his 2011 return. The best joints here are the string-laced, Afro-centric anthem \"All Black Everything,\" ridiculously catchy \"Coming Up\" featuring MDMA, and \"Words I Never Said\" with Skylar Grey.

3.0 / 10

A huge misstep, Lupe Fiasco's new LP simply sounds bad, playing against every single one of his strengths and creating new weaknesses.

D+

After Chicago rapper Lupe Fiasco went gold and scored a hit single, “Superstar,” with his 2007 album The Cool, the stage seemed set for his long-delayed follow-up, Lasers. But to hear Fiasco tell it, his label dismissed The Cool and pressured him to go bigger and blander. Weary from fighting and just hoping to get Lase…

3 / 10

6.0 / 10

A confounding mix of confrontation and polish For an album four years in the making, delayed by often-public struggles with…

Check out our album review of Artist's Lasers on Rolling Stone.com.

Despite the achievements and momentum, Lupe Fiasco -- a reluctant industry cog from the beginning -- encountered several snags and had to make substantial artistic compromises prior to having Atlantic allow the long-delayed release of his third album.

Let's just hope he returns to 'The Cool'...Lupe Fiasco is as much an intricate wordsmith as he is stylish.

Lupe’s half-assed, club-ready radicalism is ultimately the most frustrating thing about Lasers.

1 / 10

There are glimpses of brilliance on Lupe Fiasco's new album, but too few, reckons <strong>Alex Macpherson</strong>

66 %

49 %

1.0 / 5

Lupe Fiasco - Lasers review: A soulless, automated, corporate record