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"Beautiful Lasers (2 Ways)" is song by American rapper Lupe Fiasco, released as the seventh track off his third studio album, Lasers (2011). It features guest vocals from MDMA and production from King David. Fiasco wanted to release it as the album's lead single, though his label opted for "The Show Goes On" instead. The song peaked at number 70 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Composition[]
"Beautiful Lasers (2 Ways)" runs for a duration of four minutes and one second (4:01), containing an electropop beat with elements of rock and usage of vocoder. Lyrics detail suicidal ideation, which Fiasco experienced during the recording of Lasers.[1] There is directness in lyrics, void of his signature layered complexity, as he shares his personal demons. Vocals were recorded by Claudio Cueni at Mally Mall Studios in Las Vegas, Nevada, with mixing handled by Joe Peluso at Amerycan Studios in Los Angeles, California.
He informed Chicago Tribune of its message, "I was reading about Hunter S. Thompson and why he committed suicide, the Kurt Cobains, people in the same business as I am who actually carried it out. You have the corporation in your ear and you're living a public life, but you also have a private life and are thinking I don't want to be here. And it also refers to social suicide, where I would just leave, just not do music anymore. […] Saying that I didn't care became my therapy, my recovery. And I felt like I needed to document it. I felt like if I'm going through that, and I'm a normal person, I felt like other people must be contemplating this too because of similar pressures to do things they felt were wrong or against their better judgment." He added it to be therapeutic, where he was "going through this classic breakdown" and the track embodied that.[2]
Critical reception[]
Chris Coplan of Consequence felt it to possibly be "the most emotionally gripping and earnest cut" on the album, where the delivery of rawness and emotionality that's "free of Fiasco's trademark wit and wordplay," can summarize the entire record: "There's BS everywhere, but true Lasers can rise above."[3] Los Angeles Times's Todd Marten similarly found it to be an emotive song, with "heartbreak,"[4] while HipHopDX editor Edwin Ortiz less favorably opined that the production work "diminishes his message to the point that it becomes overbearing."[5]
Personnel[]
- Brian "Big Bass" Gardner – masterer
- Claudio Cueni – recording
- Dan Manzoor – guitar, bass
- David "King David" Manzoor – writer, producer, keyboards, drums
- Jason "MDMA" Boyd – featured vocals, writer
- Joe Peluso – mixer
- Josh Berg – assistant mixer
- Trevor Astey – additional engineer
- Wasalu "Lupe Fiasco" Jaco – lead vocals, writer
Charts[]
| Chart (2011) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 70
|
Lyrics[]
[Chorus: MDMA]
There's only two ways out of here
You're way too late, you'll be trapped here forever
There's only two ways out of here
One's through the door
The other's through me
[Verse 1: Lupe Fiasco]
Sometimes living in a world like this
It's pretty hard not to go insane
Not pretty if you don't comply
Pretty easy if you don't complain
Stand there like you don't feel pain
No tears in the face of defeat
Pretend 'til the end that you don't fear change
Don't admit that your faith is weak
Don't say that you feel like dying
Life's hard, and it feels like diamonds
Your home's just far too gone
Much too late to even feel like trying
Can't understand what I'm saying?
Can't figure out what I'm implying?
If you feel you don't wanna be alive
You feel just how I am
I'm on the dark side
And you can't come find him
How, when it's light all around you?
Yeah, but it's dark all inside him
No winners when it's me against me
One of us just ain't gonna survive
My heart been broke for a while
Your's been the one keepin' me alive
[Chorus: MDMA]
There's only two ways out of here
You're way too late, you'll be trapped here forever
There's only two ways out of here
One's through the door
The other's through me
[Verse 2: Lupe Fiasco]
This world is such a fucked up place
My mind's such a fucked up shape
Everything down here sucks
Maybe what's up there is great
We all gotta go one day
I just wanna cut to the chase
I wanna stop these nightmares
I just wanna touch your face
All you see is all my feats
All I see is all my flaws
All I hear is all my demons
Even through your applause
All you see is all my flights
Well, all I see is all my falls
All you see is all my rights
All I see is all my wrongs
Door keep telling me to fight
Gun on my table telling me to come on
Telling me to to put him inside my hand
Then put it up right next to my dome
Door keep telling me to find a reason
Anything to keep me from squeezing
Simplest things, yeah, you really like summer
You really like music, you really like reading
Love! I can't win if it's me against me
One of us ain't gonna survive
And my heart been broke for a while
Yours been the one keepin' me alive
Yours been the one keepin' me alive
Yours been the one keepin' me alive
[Chorus: MDMA]
There's only two ways out of here
You're way too late, you'll be trapped here forever
There's only two ways out of here
One's through the door
The other's through me
References[]
- ↑ Batey, Angus (March 3, 2011). "Lupe Fiasco: 'I Have the Right to Speak Out'". The Guardian.
- ↑ "Lupe Fiasco Discusses the Making of 'L.A.S.E.R.S.': 'It Was Destroying Me'". Chicago Tribune. March 1, 2011. Archived from the original on March 5, 2011.
- ↑ Coplan, Chris (March 9, 2011). "Album Review: Lupe Fiasco – Lasers". Consequence.
- ↑ Martens, Todd (March 7, 2011). "Album Review: Lupe Fiasco's 'Lasers'". Los Angeles Times.
- ↑ Ortiz, Edwin (March 4, 2011). "Lupe Fiasco - Lasers". HipHopDX.
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