After a fan initiated petition, and a feud with his label, Lupe Fiasco continues to move forward with the March 8 release of his third album, Lasers. In a post on Twitter last year, Lupe said he and Atlantic Records were in a standoff because he refused to make a more accessible Pop single. The Grammy winning emcee hasn’t been on Billboard magazine’s Hot 100 chart since 2009’s “Shining Down,” but Lupe said he’s making an effort to appeal to his core audience as well as mainstream fans.
“This is like the people’s album, because it was the fans who wanted it,” Lupe recently told KMEL’s Big Von. “They petitioned for it when there was a stall on the release date, so it’s something that I think is very controversial…there’s some very controversial records on the album. It’s that good, old-fashioned, Lupe Fiasco, ‘Food & Liquor’ flow that you’re used to. And then it’s me breaking barriers—there’s some club records on there. A lot of fans said, ‘Lupe Fiasco is underrated. Lupe don’t get the respect due he should get or the commercial respect that he’s due.’”
As previously reported, Lupe will work with The Neptunes as well as Alex Da Kid on Lasers. The latter is behind the boards for the album’s third single, “Words I Never Said.” The single, which also features Skylar Grey will be released February 1 in anticipation of Lasers’ March 1 release date. So far, the album’s two previous singles “I’m Beaming” and “The Show Goes On” have failed to chart domestically.
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“I don’t really look too deep into it,” Lupe added, when asked about his recent lack of crossover success. “But as an artist, that is the barometer in the commercial space. I’m a commercial artist, I put out commercial music for people to buy, play on the radio and shoot videos for. It still has some weight as an artist because that’s where art is being rated at.”
