Lupe Fiasco and Atlantic Records have mended their creative difference this week over the shelved Lasers, and have agreed to a album release date of March 8, 2011.
The news came earlier today directly from Atlantic Record’s Twitter, after Lupe Fiasco posted a picture on his account with label executive Julie Greenwald. The photo features the pair smiling under an Atlantic Records logo, with Fiasco exclaiming “Victory” in the accompanying Tweet.
Lasers has been completed for well over a year, but Atlantic Records refused to release it on the grounds it lacks crossover appeal. Over the past month, Fiasco and his fans launched a public campaign for the album’s release. On October 15, fans from around the country planned to meet in New York City and protest outside Atlantic Record’s Manhattan office. Last Saturday (October 2), Fiasco detailed the label’s 360 deal and hit record intervention practices in a speech to The Second Regional Academic and Cultural Collaborative in Dayton, Ohio.
At press time, Lupe Fiasco is expected to debut Lasers’ lead single on October 26 via www.LupeFiasco.com
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Lupe and his fan protestors were getting a lot of ridicule on the Internet. But no matter the means, you can’t argue with results. If Atlantic Records does stand by the March date, it’s indeed a victory that wouldn’t have happened without the “We Want Lasers” campaign.
We know in Hip-Hop people copy anything that works (autotune, classic album “sequels”). So I wonder if artists are going to start being more vocal about their label problems. It goes on all the time, but for the most part it never hits the media because artists don’t want to be viewed as complainers, or worse incompetent, and unable to make commercially viable music.
We won’t see any copying just yet. But if Nas also gets his way with Def Jam, expect the floodgates to open.
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 