R.I.P. Lil Wayne

       No. Lil Wayne did not die in real life. Do not start any rumors of this sort and trace them back to me. But if you look at where he is in the music biz, where he came from and the music that he has produced at these stages, he’s dead. If you have never heard Da Drought 3, the best mixtape ever released, but you have heard Rebirth, his new ROCK album, its two different people. Da Drought 3 features a poetic genius constantly mixing together concoctions of stupefying rhymes (Gremlins & mention, fishes & pigeons). He was the Best Rapper Alive, which he claimed on Tha Carter II in 2005, but here in 2010 this term is commonly referred to as perjury.

       As he has stated in numerous tracks, including but certainly not limited to “Phone Home,” “Me and My Cup,” and “Barry Bonds,” he references his love for codeine (aka Purple Drank, Sizzurp) a prescription strength cough syrup which is also made of promethazine . As stated in a Rolling Stone article in 2009, he smokes marijuana comparable to someone addicted to cigarettes. Although he supposedly doesn’t do anything drug or alcohol related outside of these two, constantly abusing these substances will wreck someone’s psyche and it’s a sad thing to say and he isn’t the first artist affected by abusing drugs, but these habits are flushing him down the drain.

       Learning to play the guitar is not that great of an accomplishment, I’m sure hundreds of people learn every day. Genre-hopping is rarely ever seen and it could very well be a possibility in the future. Lil Wayne’s new album Rebrith showcases the different genres that guitar is used in (metal, 80’s pop, etc…). Michael Jordan is to basketball player as Lil Wayne is to rapper. MJ may have been semi-decent at baseball, but Lil Wayne botched in his attempt at rock.

       It’s hard to see a musician with the audacity to include this:

“And when I was 5, my favorite movie was the Gremlins

Aint got shit to do with this, but I just thought that I should mention”

..in a song just completely lose all musical talent is a travesty. I’m sure he was making dough back in the day when he put out The Dedication and Tha Carter II, but now that he isn’t making comparable quality music I’m sure he is rolling in more money than he could ever spend. And he isn’t producing the same quantity of music either. He had songs coming out faster than anyone could listen to them in ’06, ’07, and the early part of ’08 and now you’ll be hard press to find a new song of his, he is just hurls verses in mainstream pop like he’s an updated Apple product.

       If senior year of high school had a theme song it would have to be something Weezy put out. 2007 and 2008 were all about him. His 2009 mixtape “No Ceilings” was reminiscent of the Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. we all once knew. He was famous for taking a popular rap song to the car wash, waxing and polishing the hell out of it, to make the original artist look foolish. Now it looks like the tables are turned. Don’t be surprised to see him on Dancing with the Stars soon.