ATG sizes it all up.
Lil Wayne is finally in jail.
His sentencing perpetually curtailed by oddities (dental surgery, freak fires), the game-changing rapper shipped to Rikers Monday afternoon. One of our brightest stars gone until likely October. Without the luxury of near daily guest spots, the internet will be a less interesting forum for new music.
And yet, I doubt Wayne will be out of the public eye much. He opened 2010 with two new albums and reportedly shot seven music videos during Super Bowl weekend. He'll have summer singles and back to school singles. I'm sure we'll see Carter IV sometime in November as it's completed and he's hinted at dropping the thing after his sentence for gun possession; management should see eventual prison liberation as golden opportunity for a coinciding marketing campaign.
These factors point to Lil Wayne as a prime candidate for rapper of the year despite spending eight months of it in prison.
But in this life nothing is guaranteed. Prison changes. He could find God, lose interest in rapping, find discerning subject matter, turn a corner. The fourth chapter in Lil Wayne's fascinating career is over, following Lil Wayne the child star and hit-and-miss solo entity who coins phrase, "Bling Bling" (1999-2003); Lil Wayne the emerging superstar with lyrics so good we have to question their authenticity (2004-2005); Lil Wayne with a chip on his shoulder attacking the mixtape circuit (2006, 2007); Lil Wayne the biggest rap star on the planet (2008-2010).
This version of Lil Wayne is defined by hubris (I'm untouchable, I'm a tastemaker, I'm a festival headliner, I'm a guitar player) and we're left with the generally awful rock hybrid, Rebirth, and the confusing and impenetrable get-to-know-my-underlings venture, We Are Young Money.
Most astonishing is that despite all the bullshit output, Lil Wayne enters jail with some absolute thoroughbreds in the race, some of his best singles all over radio.
There's his signees of whom two, Drake and Nicki Minaj, are qualified superstars. There's "Every Girl" and "BedRock," two outstanding, smooth, funny, awesome top ten Billboard singles. There's a new Young Money video, "Roger That," already in regular BET/MTV rotation.
Yes, I couldn't bring myself to get through Rebirth for an official review, but only the most backwards purist will try making case that the bombastic, introspective, Eminem-fueled boulder of gravity, "Drop The World," isn't way better than anything Blakroc produced. Eminem raps better than any verse on Relapse, Lil Wayne sing-talks the blues and it's an astonishing, primal bit of rap.
T.I. showed us jail can be a focusing, relaxing, fame-baiting career boost. Lil Wayne prepared accordingly, and as a result the game won't have to miss him.
- Ramon Ramirez
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