Lupe Fiasco has basically been to hell and back with his label, Atlantic Records, over the release of his new album, LASERS. Originally meant to be a triple disc LP, called LUP.END (probably to quickly fulfil his contractual obligations, and then be able to retire). The label obviously scoffed at this idea, and Lupe had to release albums the good old fashioned way - one at a time. Many release dates for LASERS came and went, frustrated fans set up a petition for Atlantic to release the album, protests were even organised in show of support for Fiasco, a week before the protest, Lupe posted this image on Twitter (below) with Atlantic President Julie Greenwald, in an attempt to show, the artist and label were on the same page, with the March 8th release date (7th over here) being given as final.
Then the the first single, Show Goes On dropped,. No talk, obviously in the lead time to an album release, artists have to do a lot of press.
(Atlantic supposedly gave Lupe many songs to record, this being one of them. Many songs, choruses and beats are shopped around before seeing the light of day. B.o.B was given this song, because Atlantic were not happy with the job the 1st & 15th representer did).
Lo and behold two weeks before the album drops, Lupe seemingly every other day has something to say, about he hates certain songs on the album, how he was feeling suicidal after his botched version of the song that became B.o.B's worldwide smash, you name it he said it. The general public responded, by turning out in their droves to purchase the album, I would have thought, publicly disowning your latest album was not the smartest move, however Lupe has been projected to sell well over 200,000 copies. This would be the biggest opening of the year so far (in the US) behind Adele's 21. It led me to start thinking, is Lupe really unhappy or wants people to feel sorry for him and rush out and buy the album?
The album in its final form.
Like think back to The Black Album, the reviews, all the hype, all the interviews were not about another rapper from in my opinion, The Greatest Rapper, they were all about his 'retirement'. Kingdom Come, American Gangster and Jay-Z Collections Vol.1 later, a major label accepting a succesfull rapper's resignation is like if Paramount allowed Steven Spielberg to retire in the middle of production Saving Private Ryan or something, the income that would come in, is too great too ignore on compassionate grounds.
I rate Lupe Fiasco very highly, although I cannot understand what he is on about sometimes, he is a top class lyricist and The Cool was a great album. However, every day I was waking up to quotes and soundbites from Fiasco, I am just wondering if it was from a disgruntled employee, or the ugly duckling who turned into the label's precious but problematic child, who was finally taking orders from upstairs.
Any thoughts?
Any thoughts?
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