For hip-hop fans that have been decrying the steady downward decline of rap the past decade, Lupe Fiasco is standing as one of the last bastions of dense rhyme schemes and socially conscious lyrics. Fiasco has long adamantly refused to give in to the concessions of the current hook-happy musical establishment. Attaining surprise success with his debut album “Food & Liquor” in 2006, Fiasco rapidly made a name for himself as an MC with an agile, saber wit who is not afraid to use it. His latest effort, “Lasers,” continues to separate him from the pack. “Lasers” is an album built with a manifesto in mind, hell-bent on gutting a media drunk on negativity and fear mongering. Fiasco’s skewering of the current political machine through the lens of media trope and propaganda is as honest as ever. “I really think the war on terror is a bunch of bullshit,” he raps over cheerless, muddy electro in “Words I Never Said,” he goes on to say, “just a poor excuse for you to use up all your bullets.” “Lasers” goes a long way to show that political lyrics and genuinely dynamic music does not have to be mutually exclusive.

It’s not all doom-and-gloom, though. Fiasco keeps the tone light in “I Don’t Wanna Care Right Now,” highlighting Lupe’s blistering wordplay over an infectious tribal rhythm and synth-swamped chorus. For all his lyrical clout, though, it’s clear even Fiasco can’t sustain his vacuum outside popular music forever. “State Run Radio,” in spite of it’s deriding of the hackneyed popular music scene, commits many of the same sins its preaching against with a repetitive chorus and insistent hook. But despite how many times one might feel tempted to tell Fiasco to practice what he preaches, there’s scarcely a more self-aware artist you can trust to walk down that road today and not lose himself.