Soundcheck: Comeback Kid: Lupe Fiasco

posted in: Music News

After years of delays, title changes and rumored retirement plans, Lupe Fiasco is ready to release his third album, Lasers, on March 4. The controversial single, “Words I Never Said” hits airwaves today, thrusting the conflicted artist back into the spotlight.  To call this a highly-anticipated project would be quite the understatement considering the tumultuous road it, and its creator, has endured.

It was just five years ago that Jay-Z himself helped the lyricist ink his deal with Atlantic Records, and Kanye West featured the fellow Chicagoan on his hit single, Touch The Sky in 2005. Lupe’s first single Kick Push earned the novice two GRAMMY nominations, and his debut album Food & Liquor scored high marks with critics, earning him a nomination for Best Rap Album. The effortlessly cool, surprisingly conscious rapper seemed to fill a long-held void in the hip hop community, and birthed a legion of loyal fans who would prove pertinent to his career. His sophomore album, The Cool, was released in 2007 and delivered his Top 10 single, Superstar.

Despite his successes, by 2008 the Chicago emcee (who lost his father to diabetes in 2007) had already begun plotting the end of his rap career, telling fans at a hometown concert that he would deliver a three-part album, entitled LupE.N.D., for his final farewell. The following year, he changed his tune, announcing that his next project, The Great American Rap Album would be released that June. When June rolled around, with no album in sight, he made yet another announcement (and title change) promising fans at a Chicago concert that he would release We Are All Lasers by late 2009. The album’s supposed first single, Shining Down was released that summer, but no album followed. Fans got restless and so did Lupe.

At first, Lupe kept busy working on the release of his post-punk band, Japanese Cartoon‘s first album, The Jaws Of The Lords of Death, offering it as a free digital download to fans. He also formed the All City Chess Club, a hip hop collective of sorts that includes Diggy Simmons, Asher Roth, B.o.B., J. Cole, Wale and Blu among others. By the end of the summer, a frustrated Lupe admitted the album was complete, but had lackluster support from the label.

When Atlantic Records decided to push back the long-awaited project, fans fired back with an online petition that garnered over 5,000 signatures on its first day. In mid-October, “Fiasco Friday” ensued when Lupe led a protest of fans outside the label’s New York headquarters demanding a firm release date. The label got the message and green-lit Lasers for its March release.

The first official single, The Show Goes On samples Modest Mouse’s Float On and presents Lupe as the inspired intellectual that captivated fans five years ago. Lasers”which boasts production from Alex Da Kid, Soudtrakk and The Neptunes, and collabos from John Legend, Trey Songz and Pooh Bear”has the potential for mainstream success; but will it be enough to keep Lupe behind the mic a little longer?