God Emcees: Lil Wayne

In all serious Lil Wayne is probably one of the illest rappers ever. Prior to Tha Carter 3- Tha Carter 4 era (excluding I Am Not A Human Being) Wayne practically killed every beat he did. Even his underrated stuff.  So many complain Wayne doesn’t rap about shit, when I realized Wayne’s rap style fits the era he’s in. A part from being an artist, Wayne is a businessman too. A businessman who knows what it’s like to be at the bottom and will do whatever it takes to stay on top even if it means dumbing it down for the generation. If real shit sells, expect the realest, if BS sells expect BS as simple as that.

The Block is Hot - Tha Carter Era

This was a dope album for the time it was in. Considering gangsta and party music was the shit. Personally I found the Album’s lead single The Block is Hot was pretty good. It’s Up To Me would be considered real. It was talking about life changing for him as he was on his way to becoming a star. A lot of Lil Wayne “fans” don’t even know about this Wayne which is pretty much a shame. This is the “Lyrical Prodigy” Lil Wayne the game was expecting to come in and tear shit up. Unfortunately, 500 Degreez and Lights Out were among his underrated works. Lil Wayne was amazing at rhyming and hooks. This was practically when hip hop got that jolt of energy and who was one of the men leading the charge? Y’all still don’t know lol. I can bet about 3/5 of his current fans can’t name a track off any of those 3 albums. Then Tha Carter came. This was a pretty good album Wayne was just cool with it. The big picture of the album was like a tour of his house. These early years for Wayne were really good but nothing compared to his lyrical content later.

Tha Carter II - The Leak Era

In my opinion this was Wayne in his prime. Every bar, every line, every metaphor pure genius. Tha Carter II is what made me a Lil Wayne admirer. Fireman was a dope track overall, Best Rapper Alive was hype. That song just got me in the zone. I mean not much rappers have the balls to say this no matter how much they think it but leave it up to Wayne to give you what’s on his mind. And honestly I think at the point he made this track he was the best rapper alive. Everyone else was chilling, of course there was Cassidy, Fabolous, Juelz Santana but when you got bars like Wayne at the time, you had the position sealed. Then he dropped the Mixtapes that were just incredible works of art from Dedication 2 to The Leak. I thought The Leak was better than the 3rd Carter album because he had put in more work into that. After the original Carter III leaked he had to start from scratch and create another album within a few months. I’m Me is one of Wayne’s greatest songs and my favorite song from him. This time definitely proved Wayne could carry the title of a “God Emcee”. 

Tha Carter III - Present

Mediocrity is the best word that describes Wayne’s music from Tha Carter III up until now. The reason his status still holds as one of the greatest rappers hip hop has ever seen is his ability to pull metaphors out of nowhere. His raps don’t exactly have controversial or powerful lyrics but he has lived up to being the lyrical prodigy from the 90’s. The last remnants of the old Wayne are probably most notable in I Am Not A Human Being and songs like Dear Anne Stan pt. 2, John, and Blunt Blowin’. Wayne has remained influential in hip hop I just wish it was in a different way. I appreciate all the music the man has given us, some more than others, but I miss the get in your face and talk about why you don’t give a fuck Weezy. Tha Carter II Weezy I loved hearing on the radio. The Weezy Jay-Z didn’t mind handing the crown over too. However, for becoming and remaining a force in the hip hop world, Lil Wayne is definitely one of Hip Hop’s “God Emcees.”