Lasers (album) - Singles and Leaked Material

Singles and Leaked Material

During a concert at Boston College, Fiasco played the chorus of a song called "Shining Down", which eventually led to a snippet being leaked onto the internet. On May 17, 2009, a low quality version of the single leaked onto the internet, possibly stemming from a rip from the "FNF TV Stream". "Shining Down" was intended to be the first single from Everywhere, the first of the three CDs that LupE.N.D. would have been composed of. But because its release was withheld, there was speculation circulating that it may be the first single from Lasers. Fiasco later confirmed that it is in fact the first single from the album. The song was produced by Soundtrakk and featured Matthew Santos, in the same collaborative manner that Fiasco featured Santos on his hit lead single, "Superstar" from his second album, Lupe Fiasco's The Cool. It was released on July 7, 2009. The song had received mixed reviews, with Pitchfork Media giving it a 5/10 rating, calling it a "bland refix of The Cool's first single". "Shining Down" did not do as well as Fiasco had hoped for, charting only at number 93 on the Billboard Hot 100 during its initial run.

In a February 2010 interview with Australian radio station Triple J, Fiasco revealed that although the album had been submitted to his label, they still had no solid release date for it. He stated: "It's one of the sadder parts of being on a major record label. At a certain point it's out of your hands. About a date for Lasers, it's truly on them. I have no idea what they're going to do." It has also been reported that Fiasco had initially recorded B.o.B's "Nothin' on You" as well as "Airplanes" featuring Hayley Williams, but both songs had been rejected by Fiasco's label. Another unreleased song from Lasers was "Who Are You Now" featuring B.o.B, which has leaked onto the internet in March 2011.