• Record Label: Atlantic
  • Release Date: Mar 8, 2011
User Score
6.0

Mixed or average reviews- based on 152 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 74 out of 152
  2. Negative: 35 out of 152
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  1. Mar 9, 2011
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. As a longtime Lupe fan, it's difficult to express just how disappointed I am with this album. Let's start with the most obvious; the production is utter crap. These beats are god awful. Waiting for this album for 3 and 1/2 years, I expected an album that would outshine even the transcendent The Cool from 2007, not an uninspired mix of generic electro beats and shallow lyrics, by Lupe's standards.
    Atlantic tried to make a billboard rap star with this album. Fortunately, it will never work. Not with this formula. Lupe tells in all his interview about how he was pressured to Dumb it Down on this album. Atlantic didn't want the unconventional, beautiful beats, or the deep, inspiring lyricism from Food & Liquor and The Cool that melted the rap scene like golden tears from the sun.
    I read a review that describes the majority of the songs as Lupe being a guest on his own album. This is spot on. Longtime fans can see that Lupe still has the gift, but its clear that for some reason he is holding back from digging too deep. Whereas The Cool had entire songs devoted to issues like child soldiers, afterlife, even healthy eating, we see the "conscious" songs on Lasers tiptoe over controversial subjects, one line at a time, never getting too sophisticated for radio rap fans to understand, never forcing you to think critically or to sit down and analyze his words.
    The hypocrisy of course is Lupe's own dogma under fire. Read the Lasers maxim, and try to pretend like this album adheres to it.
    There are a few redeeming, bittersweet moments on Lasers, namely All Black Everything, Till I Get There, and Beautiful Lasers. And in fact, if this were Lupe's first album, I probably would have given it 2.5 stars, but Lupe can do so much better. He WILL do better, if he works out his problems with Atlantic.
    Instead of copping Lasers, my advice would be to listen to the awesome material Lupe has dropped since The Cool, such as the Enemy of the State mixtape, SLR, Shining Down, Fire, & What U Want, and just wait until Lupe's next album. After all, he claims he has enough material to release another album, and hopes to do so by the end of the year. That's highly believable having absorbed this pile.

    FNF UP
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  2. Mar 12, 2011
    1
    This album is in no way comparable to his first two albums. As well as his beats sounding like they belong on a Ke$ha album, his once lyrical genius has been dumbed-down to the same standard as Taio Cruz.
    Perhaps the only chance at redemption is All Black Everything, commanding the same respect as any song off his last two albums, but it is not enough to stop this album and possibly Lupe
    This album is in no way comparable to his first two albums. As well as his beats sounding like they belong on a Ke$ha album, his once lyrical genius has been dumbed-down to the same standard as Taio Cruz.
    Perhaps the only chance at redemption is All Black Everything, commanding the same respect as any song off his last two albums, but it is not enough to stop this album and possibly Lupe himself dropping out of the league of hip-hop's greats and into that of any other over produced, under educated rapper.
    At one point in this album Lupe says "Failure's my last name, Never's my first one." We now know that as well as a sell out he is a liar.
    Expand
  3. Mar 8, 2011
    1
    Lupe's latest effort is not even in the same realm as his previous two LPs. The production is pop-y, mainstream, wrought with auto-tune. Lupe's notable lyrical genius is also lacking on most tracks. Soundtrakk (who produced most of Food and Liqueur, as well as The Cool) is sorely missed. Atlantic and Lupe really screwed this one up with delays and the tracks they picked to be on the record.
  4. Mar 14, 2011
    0
    I've never been able to skip a single Lupe track before, but now that's changed. Where do I even begin? This third LP is full of lazy, generic sounding dial-it-in electro production. "Break the Chain" sounds like throw away trance music slowed down. Where is Soundtrakk!? Where is Matthew Santos? These guests are awful. I don't know who Skylar Grey is but her voice makes me want to breakI've never been able to skip a single Lupe track before, but now that's changed. Where do I even begin? This third LP is full of lazy, generic sounding dial-it-in electro production. "Break the Chain" sounds like throw away trance music slowed down. Where is Soundtrakk!? Where is Matthew Santos? These guests are awful. I don't know who Skylar Grey is but her voice makes me want to break things....so I did just that and snapped the CD in half and threw it in the garbage where it belongs. e p i c fail Expand
  5. Mar 14, 2011
    3
    Lupe Fiascos Lasers really hard to judge when what Lupe can do. If you have heard" Food and Liquor" or "The Cool" you would expect much more than what Lasers is. If you know who Lupe Fiasco is (who haven't after "Touch the Sky") then you would think that Lasers i a HUUUUUUGE letdown. But if you never heard of him it's a album that's worthy of 8-9-10 maybe, but when the label ties his handsLupe Fiascos Lasers really hard to judge when what Lupe can do. If you have heard" Food and Liquor" or "The Cool" you would expect much more than what Lasers is. If you know who Lupe Fiasco is (who haven't after "Touch the Sky") then you would think that Lasers i a HUUUUUUGE letdown. But if you never heard of him it's a album that's worthy of 8-9-10 maybe, but when the label ties his hands as much as they have, (They even told him not to get to lyrical on "The Show Goes On", a song they gave him themselves) it pulls him down. 5.0 stars overall, 1 to the label but 10 to Lupes lyric Expand
  6. Mar 8, 2011
    3
    Lupe Fiasco's LASERS is a long step down from his previous works. In his interviews he spoke of how Atlantic had a large hand in the direction and sound of this album. Gone are the producers he built a great rapport with like Soundtrakk and instead we get a crew of no name producers that don't mesh with Lupe Fiasco's style or message. Rife with excessive auto-tune use and generic pop rockLupe Fiasco's LASERS is a long step down from his previous works. In his interviews he spoke of how Atlantic had a large hand in the direction and sound of this album. Gone are the producers he built a great rapport with like Soundtrakk and instead we get a crew of no name producers that don't mesh with Lupe Fiasco's style or message. Rife with excessive auto-tune use and generic pop rock and electro production, this album sounds like a dime a dozen top 40 record with no identity. The hooks that Lupe is backed with are obnoxious, mindless and overbearing and diminish any serious message Lupe may have been trying to send. Even lyrically, Lupe Fiasco does not shine, his word play and poetic elements are usually very basic and uncreative. Clearly he acquiesced when he was asked by Atlantic to dumb down his lyrics and style. There are a few tracks that are not hampered by overproduction and blaring hooks that desperately scream "play me on the radio". All Black Everything and Till I Get There have a more classic sound that sounds more compatible to Lupe Fiasco's style. Often however, Lupe sounds disinterested in his role and is not at all engaging. Lupe Fiasco in his interviews stated that he didn't enjoy making the album, why would he expect us to enjoy listening to it? Expand
  7. Mar 17, 2011
    0
    Lupe's latest effort is not even in the same realm as his previous two LPs. The production is pop-y, mainstream, wrought with auto-tune. Lupe's notable lyrical genius is also lacking on most tracks. Soundtrakk (who produced most of Food and Liqueur, as well as The Cool) is sorely missed. Atlantic and Lupe really screwed this one up with delays and the tracks they picked to be on the record.
  8. Mar 17, 2011
    0
    Lupe Fiasco's LASERS is a long step down from his previous works. In his interviews he spoke of how Atlantic had a large hand in the direction and sound of this album. Gone are the producers he built a great rapport with like Soundtrakk and instead we get a crew of no name producers that don't mesh with Lupe Fiasco's style or message. Rife with excessive auto-tune use and generic pop rock â
  9. Mar 17, 2011
    0
    I've never been able to skip a single Lupe track before, but now that's changed. Where do I even begin? This third LP is full of lazy, generic sounding dial-it-in electro production. "Break the Chain" sounds like throw away trance music slowed down. Where is Soundtrakk!? Where is Matthew Santos? These guests are awful. I don't know who Skylar Grey is but her voice makes me want to break th
  10. Mar 17, 2011
    0
    Lupe's latest effort is not even in the same realm as his previous two LPs. The production is pop-y, mainstream, wrought with auto-tune. Lupe's notable lyrical genius is also lacking on most tracks. Soundtrakk (who produced most of Food and Liqueur, as well as The Cool) is sorely missed. Atlantic and Lupe really screwed this one up with delays and the tracks they picked to be on the record.
  11. Mar 18, 2011
    0
    Anything above 60 is just too high for this awful piece of work. The production sounds like it would be more suited to Kesha or Flo Rida, Lupe is really un focused for the majority of the LP, All Black Everything & Words I Never Said being the only two exeptions and the later was completely destroyed by awful production! Lupe can blame Atlantic all he wants but nobody forced him to release
  12. Mar 21, 2011
    0
    I am really disappointed with this album. The lyrics are decent but nothing on par with his first two albums. Production is just horrible. The one song i truly loved was all black everything. That was about it
  13. Jun 14, 2013
    2
    I was actually shocked by how bad this thing was. The only good track is "Things I Never Said" and everything else ranges from weak to just plain awful. Commercial pop-rap at it's worst. The iTunes bonus tracks, "I'm Beamin" and "Shining Down", which I initially thought were going to be on the actual album, were actually pretty solid tracks....which makes how terrible the final version ofI was actually shocked by how bad this thing was. The only good track is "Things I Never Said" and everything else ranges from weak to just plain awful. Commercial pop-rap at it's worst. The iTunes bonus tracks, "I'm Beamin" and "Shining Down", which I initially thought were going to be on the actual album, were actually pretty solid tracks....which makes how terrible the final version of this album was even more perplexing Collapse
Metascore
57

Mixed or average reviews - based on 27 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 27
  2. Negative: 3 out of 27
  1. Aug 4, 2011
    70
    Lupe seems to have accepted that Lasers is not the masterpiece he originally set out to make and is prepared to move on. Maybe we should follow his lead.
  2. 40
    Save for the brief reprieves of the barbed, anti-everything 'Words I Never Said' and the historical rewrite of 'All Black Everything', Lasers walks a fine line between conscious hip-hop and sleepwalking.
  3. Mar 23, 2011
    60
    So the political nails are hidden deeply enough in the candy that sometimes it's hard to tell whether the juxtaposition is truly bracingly subversive or oddly self-defeating. Depending on your mood or disposition, maybe it's neither, either or both. A musical Rorschach test if there ever was one.