So last month(?) I mentioned that I had two co-workers who were disciples of Lil Wayne, in that they thought he was the greatest rapper alive. Being a person who’s avoided the radio and video channels, I’d been pretty oblivious to Lil Wayne’s journey from “the shortest and darkest of those Cash Money cats” to the emcee who seemed to be regarded as the nicest out, lyrically.
Yeah, I never thought anyone associated with Cash Money would be considered “lyrical”, either. of course, as it’s been pointed out numerous times, the only Cash Money in my collection is an instrumental album.
Yet Lil Wayne has been called the best by The Source, XXL and Blender. It’s that last one that really caused me to ponder. I mean, both The Source and XXL are notorious for “what’s hot” publishing, as they’re rarely ahead of the curve. But if a pretty homogenous music mag like Blender is giving Lil Wayne props, he may actually be worth listening to. I mean, even Pitchfork is slurping the guy. Doesn’t that mean something?
Thus, I commissioned my coworkers to “sell me on Lil Wayne.” I wanted to be a believer.
I’d casually listened to both mixes, off and on, for the past month, usually on the way to work or on the way home. The main reason why I hadn’t shared my thoughts with you is because neither of my aforementioned co-workers provided me with a tracklisting. I’ve got no problem passively listening to Lil Wayne, but to have to research and find out the track names was, like, way too much of an investment of my time.
What’s nutty is how despite getting two different mixes from two different coworkers (one black and one who’s white but thinks he’s black) there wasn’t really any overlay between the two. One focused on mixtape material and the other on output from albums.
Which brings me to my thoughts regarding my weekend with Weezy. I did some basic research and found that most of the songs were culled from Dedication 2 and Da Drought series.
Whether or not I like it, Lil Wayne Did catch my ear. I actually found myself paying attention to his rhyme scheme. And more often that not, he put together some clever bars. “Georgia Bush” has been praised before, so I’ll just reinforce that it’s certainly the first song of his that actually impressed me in terms of lyrical content.
Content wise, I didn’t really get much of Weezy straying from “the street”, and since this was taken from numerous mixtapes, I doubt that subject matter varies much. However hearing him over a variety of different beats from different artists (from Little Brother to Nas to Swizz Beatz) certainly helped in keeping my attention from straying.
There were only two songs that really stoked my ire—”I’m Blooded” and “Diamonds and Girls”. The latter because I’m a Prince fan and the hearing Weezy over that sample irked me. The former puzzled me because I swore that claiming “Crip” or “Blood” on record went out of fashion in the early ’90s, so to hear Lil Wayne, who I didn’t know was affiliated with Bloods, proudly proclaiming to be one just seemed odd.
But overall, I can kind of see what all the fuss is about. Weezy is nice (and clever) on the mic and he holds his own with other emcees and over a variety of beats. I’m willing to admit that I was wrong about Lil Wayne.
Of course when I put the other mix on…
