I'll say it again: Lupe Fiasco has fans that any artist would envy. Dan Winchester, a Fiasco supporter who organized a Chicago rally for the rapper last year, took issue with my blog entry last week on the rapper's new album, Lasers. Winchester was kind enough to e-mail me a 10-point response to that entry, correcting what he saw as inaccuracies and offering a fan's take on the album:
1st: The Great American Rap Album is his next album, was never a title for LASERS.
2nd: We fought hard for this album and got what we expected. Lupe fought for 3+ years, fighting against them forcing a 260 deal on him. (Where they get 25% of anything whether it's music, movies, or commercials...) Which is unheard of with established artists. Sure Atlantic watered this down, but There are true masterpieces on the album, Beautiful Lasers about his struggle with suicide after his dad died and Atlantic had blackballed him from the industry. All Black Everything, a look on what life and society would've been like had their been no slavery. Letting Go a sort of release song that let's go of the past and begins a trek towards the future. Worlds I Never said which critiques the many things going wrong in the world today. and so on...
3rd: He did not wholeheartedly accept the changes they wanted. They, like they can other do with any other artist, pushed songs at him and told him what he should do. You should realize that creativity in the hip-hop industry is frowned upon. So while some tracks are corporate, just to get the album released, The real fans know real Lupe tracks when we hear them.
4th: 9 of 11 songs are normal Lupe songs on the album, they are positive, uplifting, empowering, painful, radical, and truthful. A couple of club tracks seem to have been pushed onto the album and that is a problem, but 9 of 11 isn't bad.
5th: This is no Crossover album, This is Lupe meets Atlantic Records pressure. If you had followed this from the beginning you would no that.
6th: The fans feel no betrayal from Lupe, We understand that he has to wrestle with this company everyday to get his own music out. We are just counting the days until he can go independent again. Since Atlantic will not give him a reasonable buyout price, (where he would buyout his contract).
7th: "A mess of empty club songs"???? 2 tracks is not a mess.
8th: Lupe has been adding rock tendencies to his music since the beginning and also has a punk band, not controlled by Atlantic, called Japanese Cartoon.
9th: THIS IS THE WORST!! Any one who follows the slightest bit of conscious hip hop knows that Lupe and Lil Wayne are exact opposites of each other. So for you to mention both in the same sentence shows a severe lack of knowledge towards the topic you wrote about. And frankly your article is getting smashed in forums right now.
10th: What royalties? Lupe has stated for years he makes little to no money from the record company... but does from the concerts that he organizes. Thus the reason he fought the 360 deal, because Atlantic wanted a chunk of his concerts.
Please go and do more than 10 minutes of research, if you knew anything about Lupe fans it is that we do not use the media to generate our opinions about hi., Was the album a compromise,? yes. Is it the spawn of Satan as you wrote,? hell no. As a fan I am thoroughly offended by the article as are many others who I have sent the link to.
Stick to other genres or something because the conscious hip hop underground is up in arms right now.
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I'd still contend, though, that because of how the rapper brands himself as an anti-radio-rap insurgent, and because of his fans' role in getting his album released, those fans had a right to expect more from Fiasco. Music history is filled with examples of great records being released in spite of labels deeming them "not commercial enough." Rather than making his Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, though, Fiasco bowed to label pressure to record paint-by-numbers pop.
