Lupe Fiasco 'fights to stay true'

May 2011 cover of XXL magazine

Reviewing Lupe Fiasco's latest album, Lasers, was painful for me on a few levels. Anyone who knows anything about your beloved blogger knows that I'm Lupe Fan #1.

I think he's one of the best lyricists to ever grace a track, and he's one of the most sincere, enlightened individuals in music. His first two albums, Food and Liquor and The Cool are two of my favorite rap albums of all time.

But while Lasers wasn't as bad as the turd sandwich Wiz Khalifa recently coughed up, it was still a very lukewarm album. It serves as a testament to how record executives can suck the life out of even the most righteous rappers. I think Lupe's fans understand the struggles he went through with Atlantic Records to retain his artistic integrity despite his label's insistence that he, "dumb it down."

Lupe has been vocal about those struggles and adamant that he wants to waste no time in getting back to the real shit his fans love. That's why he's been working on Food and Liquor 2, which is reportedly "half done" already. Hopefully his label doesn't strangle this album too. But if they try, I foresee fans -- and the Chi-Town superstar, putting up one hell of a fight. Whatever it takes to avoid another Lasers-like effort.

I'm with you Lupe. But if you do release another album like Lasers, I'll cry as I write the review, but I will throw that album under the bus...literally and figuratively.