拉萨路 (2010)

Lazarus is the debut studio album by American rapper Travie McCoy released on June 8, 2010. McCoy announced his plans to pursue a solo career in early 2010, although he insisted that Gym Class Heroes had not broken up. After creating demos of melancholy and low-tempo songs, McCoy decided to abandon his early material and start over, as he claimed the songs were "too personal." He began to write more uptempo "party anthems" with lyrical themes of overcoming grief. He drew from various musical influences on the record, including hip hop, reggae, and rock.

Upon its release, Lazarus debuted at No. 25 on the Billboard 200 chart, and the lead single "Billionaire" peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. The songs "Need You" and "We'll Be Alright" were also released as singles. The album received generally positive reviews, with critics praising its upbeat songs while criticizing the overabundance of featured collaborations. In 2019, the album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales of over 500,000 copies.

Background

In early 2010, Gym Class Heroes lead vocalist Travie McCoy announced that he would be pursuing a solo career. He denied rumors that Gym Class Heroes had broken up, asserting that "Since the inception of Gym Class in 1997, every member has had another musical outlet, if not three or four. This is just another one of those." McCoy began writing new material while Gym Class was on the road promoting The Quilt (2008). He had originally prepared to record an introspective album of "sad and somber" acoustic songs reflective of his state of mind following his breakup with singer Katy Perry and his addiction to painkillers. However, he decided to scrap his early material and start over, calling it "too personal." He added, "I didn't want that to be my first look as a solo artist," comparing the album to Kanye West's 808s & Heartbreak (2008).

McCoy temporarily relocated to Miami, Florida to record new material and recover from his addiction, which helped him to create a more upbeat album because he "want[ed] to do something positive." McCoy decided to officially call himself "Travie" on the album instead of Travis, explaining that he has been called Travie by friends and family for "as long as [he] can remember." He believes that the new name allows listeners to become "that much closer" to him and to "feel much more comfortable with calling [him] Travie and being part of the family."

Recording and production

Lazarus was released after being in the works for a year and a half. McCoy calls the album "The longest, I think, I've spent on a record in my whole career." He wanted to keep the number of collaborations on the album "kinda tight," but he plans to work with other artists on remixes of the album. Producers on the album include Bruno Mars, T-Pain, The Smeezingtons, The Stereotypes, Lucas Secon, Oligee and Josh Abraham; Bruno Mars, T-Pain and Cee Lo Green provide guest vocals.

Lazarus is mainly influenced by hip-hop, although hiss "love for live instrumentation is still reflected on the record." "Billionaire", the album's first single, was a song McCoy began work on after abandoning the original material for the album. "I wasn't really happy, and that was coming though in a lot of my songs," McCoy recalled. Working on more uptempo music helped put him in a "different headspace." He credited his friends and collaborators on the album for helping him recover from his depressed state during the recording process. McCoy felt uncomfortable with his singing voice as he was more accustomed to rapping; however, T-Pain encouraged him to sing more on the album and overcome his insecurities.

McCoy "took a lot of time" with the track listing of the album to make sure the album was cohesive and felt like a "ride." He said of the album's writing process "With any project, I just go in and blindly start writing songs and then find out which way we want to go with it. This one took a bit longer to find the lane." Despite the album's long gestation period, McCoy was able to write some of the songs at a very rapid pace. The song "After Midnight" was written, recorded, and mixed in less than a half an hour. He began by recording himself humming the song's melody and creating a constant loop that repeated throughout the song, and then recorded his verses over the track.

McCoy also selected the guest appearances for the album quickly after writing individual parts of songs, choosing artists he felt would work best with the musical style he had in mind. The hook of "Dr. Feel Good" was written by Bruno Mars, and upon hearing Mars sing it, McCoy decided that Cee Lo Green would be a good candidate to sing the hook, as McCoy had idolized Green since his teenage years after listening to him on the song "Git Up, Git Out" from OutKast's debut album Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik (1994).