I hated Lasers so much when it came out. I'm not sure there's been such a hostile reaction from hip-hop fans to an album in the internet era. Maybe Nastradamus? There weren't as many people online back then though.
Went back and listened to Lasers again today. Haven't heard it in years. Was surprised to be reminded how many of the songs got play on the radio. Overall, it's not that bad of an album. It's pretty solid if we're measuring it against other popular hip-hop from 2011.
But it is a jarring change from pre-Lasers Lupe. He simplified his flow, dumbs down his subject manner, and picked beats that reflected the radio sound at the time. A lot of people, myself included, were't measuring Lupe against the Top 40, we were comparing him to potentially Top 10 MC's. No one seems to talk about him like this anymore.
I haven't listened to a Lupe project since then. I wonder how many other former core fans are similar? I plan on going through his catalogue since then today and tomorrow, but damn, he really messed up with that album.