Lupe Fiasco's new 2009 album Lasers breaks away from the mold of today's Rap

[ManOnTheMoon]

After the follow up success of Chicago native Wasalu Muhammad Jaco (better known as Lupe Fiasco)’s self titled album Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool, the artist’s coming album this December titled Lasers draws the attention of the Hip-hop community around the country. Originally planned as the final closing album of the rapper’s career with Atlantic Records (titled LupE.N.D.), the Hip-hop sensation fortuitously extended his stay with Atlantic due to contract restrictions. Willfully or not, Lupe’s new album has undergone extensive reconstruction since its initial conception as a follow up album in late 2008. Originally conceived as We Are Lasers, the album went on to become an acronym, properly spelled Love Always Shines Everytime Remember 2 Smile. Quite poetic, if I might say myself.

 

Perhaps more important of a discussion than the album’s title, however, is what can be said about Lupe Fiasco’s influence on the Hip-hop and Rap communities, and how his music has come to shape the genre as we know it today. Claiming influences from one of Hip-hop’s original flow artists, Nas, what we hear in Lupe’s style of rapping takes a sharp contrast from the otherwise more vulgar, more angry, and more coarse rhythmic style and lyrics of the majority of today’s Rap artists (50 Cent, Eminem, and the entire Dr. Dre camp epitomize this style of rapping). Although such vulgarity has its own aesthetic merits (I speak with all due respect to the Dre camp), it is no wonder that Lupe’s style of “polite” rapping has become so popular amongst today’s Hip-hop and Rap communities. Alluding back to the style of Rapping which early and mid ninties kids might associate with the all time greats like A Tribe Called Quest, People Under the Stairs, or the aformentioned Nas, Lupe’s music is no doubt a surprising relief from Hip-hop and Rap’s excensive tour into vulgarity over the last decade. Although many hard Rap fans might find distain with Lupe’s style of Rapping (calling it overly influence by Hip-hop), I for one find the rapper’s music a refreshing contrast against these more harsh styles.

 

Lasers in itself, of course, deserves some discussion as well. With a pre-released single titled “Shining Down” featuring Matt Santos (whose collabrative contribution of his Rock-Folk style may be remembered from his work with Lupe’s 2007 hit single “Superstar”), anticipation for the new album is surely building. The album, it seems, will continue to merge opposing genres in the same fashion that the Rapper’s entire career has been about. With Hip-hop, Rap, and Folk all contributing to the same aesthetic vision, one can only imagine the possibilities. Throw in the unique ear for flows and rhymes that Lupe Fiasco has perfected, and Lasers seems prepared to contribute to this old style of Rap that seems to be reemerging. Thus although I won’t tell you to bring out your Super Nintendos and Pokemon Cards, I will dare to hint at a 90s Hip-hop revival, and perhaps a new revolution in the genre’s aesthetic?

 

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Link: http://www.examiner.com/x-14894-Oakland-Music-Examiner~y2009m8d27-Lupe-Fiascos-new-2009-album-Lasers-breaks-away-from-the-mold-of-todays-style-of-vulgar-and-Rap

[xx.]

Lasers is going to be a sick album cant wait, the first single Shining Down is real dope

[ManOnTheMoon]

Hell ya, Shining Down is sick.

[kadillak]

Yeah, Shining Down is my ringtone. haha. Isn't "Fire" another song that's been leaked from his upcoming album?

[billt chamberlain]

i hate when they pair lupe fiasco music with the softer more jazzy stuff like atcq. i mean its not a bad thing, but i just think he is so much better. if you listen to his older stuff with people like gemstones and stack b he was on his violent hardcore rap and it worked for him, but no one ever sees that(good and bad thing) they just see him as another run of the mill soft backpack rapper. anyways, i can't wait until this album. i still play the cool on a regular basis, and i remember when i first bought the cool the only songs i used to play with regularity were the normal(or most normal) soudning ones like hip hop saved my life, coolest [expletive]a, put you on game,the die, paris, tokyo, but i love the different songs like intruder alert, and streets on fire.

 

when someone like wayne or kanye or eminem experiments with different styles it comes out less desirable, but i have faith that if lupe wants to experiment he can make it work.