Lupe Fiasco "Lasers" Concept Series: I Don't Wanna Care Right Now

This particular track from Lasers was definitely one of the ones that irritated me. There is a sharp contrast between what Atlantic Records wanted and Lupe Fiasco's style as a rapper. It's painfully obvious that this is what the label forced him to do. Auto-Tune saturates this song. If you go back and listen to Shining Down (A track that was supposed to be on Lasers.) Lupe states that he doesn't agree with the way everyone jumped on Auto-Tune after T-Pain, Lil Wayne and Kanye West picked it up.

This song sounds like it's better suited for the Black Eyed Peas or Usher. Anyway I wanted to create a piece that symbolized Lupe's values and his labels expectations. I wanted to go with something more realistic than the previous piece but still abstract to a point.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad (Anubis)

Lupe Fiasco "Lasers" Concept Series: Till I Get There

The idea for this just came to me out of the blue. Since Words I Never Said was so dark I felt it was only right that the next piece be whimsical. This painting was inspired by Monopoly. I just wanted to represent what happened to Lupe. His album was in limbo and no one thought it would see the light of day.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad (Anubis)

Lupe Fiasco "Lasers" Concept Series: Words I Never Said

This piece was extremely ambitious for me. It's been some time since I've done any realistic portraits in Sketchbook Pro. I believe Sade was the last. I'm not too crazy about the content on Lasers but Words I Never Said is just a masterful track. I wanted to go all out on this piece. I wanted to convey several things in this piece. For one this track is clearly different from the others. The lyrics are potent and not dumbed down like most others.

Also Lupe is taking several shots at key figures in the media and in politics. I wanted to show Lupe as villainous for making such a track. I personally support his music but I wanted to portray him from the perspective of Atlantic Records and those who don't understand his music. I just had to go with The Joker. (The Heath Ledger representation.) First I painted Fiasco like I would any portrait. Next I added the face paint (almost like a make up artist) on a separate layer. This let me erase the top layer to let skin show through. After doing that he really looked like The Clown Prince of Crime.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad (Anubis)

Lupe Fiasco "Lasers" Concept Series: Letting Go

This is an ArtRage painting for the first cut off of Lasers by Lupe Fiasco. The imagery was extremely important to this piece. I wanted to convey a powerful message of a man literally letting go and falling into the abyss. There are several other messages in this piece too but what fun would it be if I gave away everything?


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad (Anubis)

Lupe Fiasco Series: Lasers

I just want to make it clear that Lupe Fiasco is definitely one of my favorite rappers. That said save for a few tracks I was a little disappointed with Lasers. I followed Lupe's label situation and all the fan protests too. I was excited when Atlantic Records was pressured to release the album. Unfortunately what we got was a dumbed down Lupe Fiasco album.

From what I understand Atlantic forced him into a situation where he had to dumb down his lyrics and make his songs poppier. It shows on the album that his creativity was stifled. Songs like Superstar and Paris, Tokyo are poppy but the lyricism and creativity are still amazing. Lupe can make popular music but still remain true to his fans.

The pop songs on Lasers don't do his talents justice. I just wish Lupe hadn't given in. I feel like it's a slap in the face to all of the fans that appreciate him complex wordplay and storytelling. I just feel like both parties are at fault. That led me to start this new series to voice my opinion on what this album should've been like and what happened instead.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad (Anubis)