370. Lil Wayne, "Tha Carter II"

 


You can't help but like Lil Wayne.  Of course, he talks a tough game (album opening lyrics: "Cash Money, Young Money, motherfuck the other side / They can fuck with us if they want, I bring 'em homicide / Word to my mama, I'm gon' continue bombin'") but he just seems like a genuinely likable guy.  He does hits on sports TV shows, and has interests in all kinds of stuff, and just seems like a good dude.  I mean, it's tough to stay hard when you're on The Masked Singer.

This album, which came out in 2005, was Weezy's fifth, and is generally considered his best work.  It's really, really good!  There's a lot of bravado, not unusual for albums of this type and artists in this genre, but it's backed up with some truly excellent flow and some musically interesting tracks.  Wayne's voice is a real instrument here, cracking with emotion and booming with power.  I really dig the intricate rhymes, but like when it's transcribed here it just loses something:

No preventin' the grind, I gotta get it
I'm admitted to the game, true player, no quittin'
There you go shittin' on the way a nigga thinkin'
Only history I know is Benjamin Franklin
And since the future ain't promised to no one
I live every day like this is the sure one
Trade in the tidal wave, this is the ocean
Stand in that heat 'til the motherfucking snow come
You really gotta hear it firsthand.

Wayne seems like he's doing good now but he's had his issues.  You generally don't want your Wikipedia page to have headings like "Health issues," "Arrests and incarceration," and "Feuds."  (Brief summary: seizures, possibly drug-related; drugs and guns; and Juvenile, Pusha T, and Jay-Z.)  He had a federal gun beef but, believe it or not, was pardoned by Trump on his last day in office.

Future Jeopardy answer: Roger Stone, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and Lil Wayne.

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