if you read enough of my blog, you’ll quickly come to the conclusion that I have a pretty varied taste in music. and when it comes to hip hop, i’m a pretty big believer in Lil Wayne. I don’t really know why i like the little tattooed guy with platinum teeth, but i guess like much of america, i find something about his flow to be irresistible.
however. as the title of this post states, not everyone can be a rock star. i appreciate artists trying to stretch their boundaries and push the musical envelope forward. but Lil Wayne is NOT A ROCK STAR. he is a rapper, and should stay a rapper, as his sales numbers are about to show on wednesday when his first week numbers come out.
Weezy just released an album called Rebirth. and I assume it gets its title from the fact that he is trying to rebirth himself as a rock & roller. Come on wayne! what are you thinking? Rap/Rock was cool in ’95 when Limp Bizkit ruled the airwaves. when Hova joined hands with Linkin Park for a collaboration EP, the world was at their knees. but thats because Hov was rapping over Park’s riffs, leaving the rockers to rock.
Rebirth, for the most part is a horribly failed attempt at a new fusion album. One of the biggest issues that I have with it is that the typically awesome effects used on Wayne’s already raspy as a 2 pack a day whore voice just sound like he running his vocals through the same pre-amp as the electric guitar. It reminds me of I sounded like as a 14 year old kid playing my Gibson Special 2 guitar that wouldnt stay in tune AND my vocals through one of those little 15 watt Crate amps, with the overdrive button pushed in and the gain turned all the way to the right. for an artist who i’m sure worked with some hugely expensive producers on this album, there is close to no dynamics.
secondly, the music sucks. wayne is a rapper and clearly sees music like a rapper. in rap, all you need is the beat from your 808 and a sick lyric on top of it. look at his hit song “A Milli”. that could barely be considered a song, yet it got lots and lots of airplay. that’s because hiphop cares about a good flow. Wayne, Em, JayZ and a few others can rap over the sound of me hitting my desk with my flipflops and I’ll listen to the entire track. but rock music needs good music, not just cool vocals. in fact, rock music can sell by having great lyrics, great melody and awful vocals (see Bob Dylan). whoever wrote the garbage on Rebirth should quit their garage band and start playing Garage Band.
This album never ever never would have seen the front page of iTunes had it been a new artist, even a new artist backed by a huge label. the name “Lil Wayne” can sell records. His last one debuted with something like 1 million sales in the first week. This one is headed for under 150k. rightfully so.
Weezy! Go back to rapping! we love it. leave the rock n roll to nickelback or something…
Lil Wayne – Da Da Da
this is the song that the album sticker says “features: da da da” so I assume someone thought this was a hit.
get it here and see for yourself: Rebirth (Deluxe Version) [Explicit]
