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}} ''Lasers'' is the third studio album by American rapper Lupe Fiasco, released on March 7, 2011 by Atlantic Records. Production for the album took place between 2008 and 2010. ''Lasers'' features production by The Audibles, The Neptunes, Needlz, Alex da Kid, Syience, and long-time collaborator Soundtrakk, among others. Trey Songz, John Legend, Skylar Grey, Sway, Matt Mahaffey, MDMA, Eric Turner and Sarah Green contribute vocals to the album. ''Lasers'' was preceded by the lead single "The Show Goes On" and its follow-up "Words I Never Said" featuring Skylar Grey. The former became Fiasco's highest charting song on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and has been certified double platinum in the US. The latter, however, only achieved moderate success on the Hot 100. The album has received "mixed or average reviews" from most major music critics, having a score of 57 out of 100 at the review aggregator Metacritic. It fared better commercially however, debuting at number one on the US ''Billboard'' 200 with first-week sales of over 200,000 copies sold, making the album Fiasco's second top ten album as well as his highest entry on the chart. == Background == Lupe Fiasco was supposedly going to released a triple album, titled ''LupE.N.D.'' as his third and final record, but his contract with Atlantic Records prevented him from doing so. From then he postponed ''LupE.N.D.'' indefinitely and intended on releasing an album tentatively titled ''The Great American Rap Album'' in June 2009.〔Sharks (February 2, 2009). (Lupe Fiasco to Release 'The Great American Rap Album' ). TheBoombox. Retrieved on 2011-03-16.〕 Instead, the album was also postponed and he announced that a new album was in the works, originally titled ''We Are Lasers'' and then changed to ''Lasers''. "Lasers" is a backronym for "Love Always Shines Everytime, Remember 2 Smile". Referring to the title of the album, Fiasco has stated: "I've always had that word in my head, I'm a word guy. And I thought 'lasers' would be a dope name for an album, so when I came up with it I just put it in my 'think-tank' and let it evolve and came up with different meanings for it. That’s why I made it an acronym () to give it a new mould, a new understanding, but still playing off the idea that it's bringing light to different circumstances which is what I try and do - bringing understanding and light and awareness to different projects that are going on in the world, and 'L.A.S.E.R.S' is no different. In 2010, to promote the message of the album, Fiasco released a viral video onto the internet titled "The L.A.S.E.R.S. Manifesto", which can be found on both YouTube and the (official website ). The manifesto reads: On January 4, 2011, ''Billboard'' revealed two guest appearances on Fiasco's album ''Lasers''. The guests confirmed were Trey Songz and British rapper Sway. In the interview with ''Billboard'', Fiasco expressed his thoughts on music piracy and fighting track leaks on various blogs.〔 Speaking about the problems with his record label, Fiasco has stated: "I think I set the precedent for record labels — showed everyone that you can have rappers that don't fit the format and still have a presence () You look at a person like me, or Kanye (), and it was sort of a shock to the system. I definitely think I was part of changing that, and an influence to a lot dudes that are coming out today."〔Frazier, Walter (December 30, 2010). (Lupe Fiasco Drops Label Beef to Focus on 'Lasers' ). ''Billboard''. Retrieved on 2011-03-16.〕 In a 2011 interview with MTV UK, Fiasco said that the album "doesn’t have a storyline, whereas ''The Cool'' was a concept album and this is more just a collection of songs that share some of the same tones, which is basically just positivity and consciousness. Some of the records are controversial, but it’s less cohesive than ''The Cool''." Talking about the album with ''Details'', Fiasco has stated that he wanted to make "a popular record () but by my definition of popular () an uprising of the people". He has also stated that the creation of the album was "a very painful, dark, fucked-up process."〔 In a February 2011 interview with ''Complex'', Fiasco has stated: Speaking about the album with the ''Chicago Sun-Times'', Fiasco has stated: "''Lasers'' is a great album. I'm actually happy with the record. I feel I got to say what I wanted even with -- It doesn't make up for what it took to get through it. It's still being argued and debated upon. ... The climate of this record was very weird, in some instances surreal. I became very abstract. I had to create this commercial art that appeases the corporate side. I had to acquiesce to certain forces. Hopefully within that I snuck in some things I actually wanted to say any way I can." In an interview with ''The Guardian'', Fiasco has expressed that during the recording process of the album he has dealt with depression and suicidal thoughts: "It was mentally destructive. I say it with a certain laissez-faire now because I'm past it (). I was super-depressed, lightly suicidal, at moments medium suicidal – and if not suicidal, willing to just walk away from it all completely." 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Lasers (album)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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