Lil Wayne can Rock

So in my thirst for something new to listen to I decided to stomach my pride and download preorder a copy of Lil Wayne's Rebirth from Amazon. Since Amazon clearly doesn't....give a shit, I got the album and gave it a couple of listens.

Those who know me know that I am against Lil Wayne's raps. I like Lil Wayne the rapper, and I do think he could be a great rapper, but his subject matter ranges from girls, eating out girls, and being very high, having a decent amount of money, and being an alien. Thats cool until every song is about that. So to be completely honest I went into this album with every intention of hating it, like I usually dislike everything Lil Wayne releases (Exception is the Drought 3. I liked that), but I will be the first and maybe the only person to say: Rebirth is pretty good. And by pretty good I mean...it's really nice.

Lil Wayne makes a much better rocker than he does a rapper without a doubt. Rapper Lil Wayne has nothing to say, but Lil Wayne's flow and end rhyme style works perfectly with his rock instrumentals. I guess I should just make this a review and go track by track

"American Star"- This is the first track and it starts off with some guitar riffs most likely not played by Lil Wayne, and the basic rock beat comes in, and it feels really nice. It has a great groove to it and Lil Wayne's sing rapping style and tone...it just works really perfectly. It's all really cohesive. You can feel the energy and the pulse. Lil Wayne's lyrics aren't anything magical, but the stuff he's saying and his flow works perfectly with the rock feel. "Born and raised in the U.S.A/ Where the government watches what you do and say". It all fits nicely. I like Shannel's work on the hook too...she fits the song perfectly. Good work all around.

"Prom Queen"- Starts off all rocky again, I'm glad Lil Wayne took this seriously and actually attempted to make it feel like...rock, which it kinda does. Lil Wayne rap-sings over this pretty nicely and it fits the music pretty nicely. Lyrics till a nice story but the the beat kinda drowns out his voice...I dunno it could be balanced better. Wayne's lyrics are nothing special, but once again it fits the music perfectly. Another cohesive track.

"Ground Zero"- This track I kinda don't like. I'm not sure of the direction this was trying to go in...I remember when this first got leaked and it was unfinished and it sounded like complete garbage. This version isn't too far from that. It's just bleh, nothing catching about the song and it just feels too grungy sounding. Maybe it's me.

"Da Da Da"- This is more like...some kind of Rock-Dance thing. It's weird. It starts off horribly but it kinda grows into this...synth like trance like jingle. It's pretty cool. I'm liking the musical aspect this whole album is seeming to have. Lyrics in this track are just Lil Wayne jargon, which is a surprising rarity in this album, despite Wayne's track record. So far this is the worst track to me though.

"Paradice"- Not much to this song. It's alright, feels like album filler, but I guess in an experimental album, every song is important. Lil Wayne's voice usually kinda annoys me sometimes but his singing flows effortlessly into all these songs, it's really cool. Paradice is a pretty clever name for a song too. Lyrics are great too. This Rebirth project is really looking good. Honestly this is the most I've ever liked Lil Wayne.

"Get A Life"- I like how Lil Wayne is not playing this rock thing safe. This song is really jumpy and fun, but not in a stupid way...like...it just feels fun. Lil Wayne's chanting "Fuck yoou (Fuck you) Get a Lifeee" actually made me chuckle. It all works. This is really nice.

"On Fire"- This is the one that feels the most inorganic of the others. While the others seem to have more of a rock feel, this is the most rap one. To follow suit, Lil Wayne raps about a clever extended metaphor about a woman on fire, but really the women is (WAIT FOR IT) MARIJUANA!! HOW CLEVER LIL WAYNE!! I kinda like this song. By the way, this song is not about him worshiping the devil, its pretty clear he's talking about weed.

"Drop The World"- Is another rap sounding track, aside from the screaming hook. Lil Wayne's lyrics are deep (by deep I mean that puddle you avoid on the way to your car that will get your socks wet), and Eminem reminds us that Lil Wayne is not a great rapper. Eminem is actually a great partner for Lil Wayne. We have the guy claiming to be the best rapper alive, and then the white guy reminding us what rap is supposed to be like, like in Drake's "Forever". It warms my heart to see Em destroy songs. He should rap with Wayne more regularly.

"Runnin" - This track brings things back to the rock feel (noice). Musically this track feels really cool. Lil Wayne's lyrics are nice (did I say this is the most I liked Wayne?). I mean nothing lyrically incredible, but the lyrics are nice. Shannell does good on these hooks. I don't listen to Avril Lavigne but her chorus's remind me of her...or that chick from Paramore...So in other words she sounds really white. Nice track, although it kinda feels like filler.

"One Way Trip" - Eh. Regular Lil Wayne over a rock sounding beat with some lame on the hook. Skip this track.

"Knockout" - Sounds like some cheesy pop-rock with Lil Wayne singing over it. Another lame track. It tries to have the same fun feel that "Get A Life" had, but not as cool. Lil Wayne has fun on this one. I'm liking the "Once you go black, you never go back" chant. I wish it worked on all my white classmates. Jungle fever is weak where I live...relatively...

"The Price Is Wrong"- Lame. Jusy some yelling about some girl. Cool.

"I'll Die For You" - Would've been the perfect album closing. My friend described it as stereotypical 80s rock journey sounding music. With like a guy driving a red convertible down a highway scene, his best friend next to him, two girls in the backseat, sunglasses on...that kinda stuff. It's pretty cheesy, but musically its not too bad.

"I'm So Over You" - I like to pretend that the album ended at the last song. This song isn't too bad. It could be worse, but its not worth being the last song on the album.

OVERALL:

I wanted to hate this album so bad that I'm actually sad that I like it. Every time I tell my friends that this album is legit, they laugh at me. They're like "Wow just yesterday this guy was talking about how Return to Forever was the greatest band to ever exist (truth), and now he's talking about how Lil Wayne's rock album is actually good. Are my musical tastes screwed? Maybe, and maybe I'm in no position to talk about rock, but this album is good. I appreciate what Lil Wayne did here, and if he would actually learn the guitar and get a real band together and start adding a real rock styling, he could be onto something gold here. This is a step in the RIGHT direction. We need a black rocker, and while he is not akin to Vernon Reid and Cult of Personality, I think Lil Wayne could get there. I like this album, but its not perfect, and the lows are REALLY low. As such I give it...

4/5

~Remian

I really hope this is what Lil Wayne does from now on. Either that or he should only rap with Eminem.

Apparently Mack Maine says that this Amazon accidental ship version will be different from the truly released version. Okay fine, thats 2 Lil Wayne Rock albums then. They're already thinking at Young Money! CHANGE! CHANGE! YES WE CAN!

Back! Let's Talk About Drake

Okay.

So back in July when I said I'd be doing this blogging thing, well I was set on it and then the TV came on and I forgot what a blog was.

Somewhere in between that time blogs became pretty popular and I personally enjoy reading some (and by some I really mean like...two...). I'm going through a pretty cool time in my life though both musically and socially and I think I'd like to start...writing about it I guess.

So in the coming months I start my audition tour, which is really just a glamorized way of me just going from college to college auditioning and then beg convince them to accept me into the college so I can...learn more. I'll be going to Berklee, VCU, Howard and JMU (I think theres another school but whatever) and hopefully they'll ignore the fact that I'm a subpar student and focus on my music ability. Yeeeyuh

So this year is either going to be a great year of me preparing to start learning music at a higher level, or a year of me sitting around trying to figure out where to go from there. Hopefully its the former...

So quick story. Today I had an interview for a job which I got (YEESSSSS) and my friend (we'll call him Rick) is giving me a ride back and my boss rolls with us. So my boss immediately says to me "Yo, so Rick tells me you rap...". So instantly I consider opening the door and jumping out, but Rick convinces me to freestyle with him (Rick is incredible at freestyling, which is a novelty skill for white kids in Fairfax). So we spit rhymes back and forth...in front of my boss. And I'm trying to stay focused and watch what I'm saying in front of my...boss, and Rick just doesn't give a shit. He spits a line about having sex with your sister and then spits a line about anal beads...just some horrible...tasteless comments...but it was cool. He can really spit.

Okay so 2009 was a really cool year for music, and by cool I mean that Canadian kid Drake dominated everything. I'm glad Drake is successful, since I followed his mixtape run back in 2008 before So Far Gone came out. I wasn't really anticipating So Far Gone since I really got Comeback Season and Room For Improvement because I was intrigued that one of my favorite characters on Degrassi decided that he could rap with the best of em. When So Far Gone came out and blew me away [||] I went back and listened to the other too. Drake is a great rapper. Incredible almost, no doubt one of the best lyrical talents we have around right now. After So Far Gone people started comparing him to Cudi, which was stupid. Cudi isn't a good rapper and Drake is. Drake WOULD be up there competing with my favorite newcomer, J. Cole, and of course my favorite "newcomer" ever, Lupe Fiasco, but Drake made one fatal mistake.

Lil Wayne.

Don't get me wrong I love the pot/codeine gorging rapper, but his "message" completely contradicted what Drake was about. How the hell does Drake have a song called "Video Girl", talking about how girls should aspire and work towards being more than the ho's in videos, and then he teams up with Lil Wayne and jingles like "Every Girl" come around flaunting about how they...want to have sex with "Every Girl" in the world. Don't get me wrong I agree with both messages and I'm sure Drake does too, but it just didn't feel right to watch a newcomer that you really loved start changing so...rapidly. This deterioration of his old meaningful lyric based music was even chronicled by him in the So Far Gone mixtape with the tracks "Say What's Real" and "Successful". To me that was both incredible and sad, for a rapper to talk about how the world around him and his drive for success causes him to compromise some his incredible lyrical integrity. Drake is great, but I would love to see old Drake. Current Drake is Lil Wayne's lyrical sidekick. To me, they really compliment each other perfectly. Drake's clean image juxtaposes (let that word soak in) Lil Wayne's griminess bad boy visage. They seem like a cool crew. The problem is every time they rap they don't talk about ANYTHING. Literally. EVERY one of Drakes songs in Comeback Season and Room For Improvement had a topic and he discussed it throughly in rhyme. It was a cool 90's golden age vibe. Even in So Far Gone his lone songs had topics (not sure about his experimental singing songs...I try ignore singing Drake), but everytime Lil Wayne jumped beside him they would just rap in punchline tangents about how cool and how high they are. Awesome man you're so cool and high man! Me too! I relate to your music!

This trend of dumbing down of the audience isn't necessarily terrible. Jay-Z even admitted to it in "Moment Of Clarity", but the difference is that Hov still keeps levels of personal content in his music. When he raps, he puts himself in the music and really chronicles little ideas or personal thoughts in his head. Drake does this less and less. That song he released that got no attention but really should've called "Fear" even discussed how he knew his music was getting a little sillier, but you can keep old Drake and still put out hits? You don't have to throw in nonsensical lines about shutting down my mall and telling every girl that she's the one for you but you're really not gonna call...or how about you talk about something other than girls man. If you're gonna talk about a girl. how about you talk about a girl who left you because you started hanging out with possibly the biggest drug abuser in the Hip Hop industry and threw away your socially conscious, intelligent lyrical content for bubblegum braggadocio rap. That would be cool.

I dunno, it's just disappointing. I feel like we lost what could've been a powerful smart lyricist in the mainstream (sounds like a joke when I read it back to myself). The Drake presented to us is, at least to me, a watered down version of the lyrical killer that Drake really could be. I could really talk for a while on this topic and start pulling out the lyrical citations. Drake was really incredible. I hope that Drake shows up on his upcoming debut album. It's incredible how much hype there is for just a debut album. It shows how hungry everyone was for something that was simply different. I'm a little scared it might end up being more of the same.

~Remian

Next time: Can Lil Wayne rock?

Listening To:

A Scorpio's Mind-Drake//Room For Improvement

Introduction

In the free time I have in between practicing piano, work, and, of course, listening to music, I've decided to chronicle my musical thoughts in this online journal of sorts. I'll begin with a little introduction of myself and my musical identity. If anyone reads this, feel free to do the same, as I love learning about the musical identities of different people.

You can call me Remian, and about 3 or 2 years ago I made the life changing decision to pursue a career in Jazz Piano. I've always loved jazz, from the moment my parents gave me the gift of A Charlie Brown Christmas by the Vince Guaraldi Trio. This album wasn't essentially life changing at first, but I know that I played the hell out of it. Jazz has always been my prime musical love. It's sense of freedom and creativity as well as expression constantly move me to more emotional ground. To put it simply, its something I love.

Piano is something very dear to me, as it allows me to express my emotions musically, as well as being my primary outlet to experiment in my own creation of the music I love. Last year I started a short lived (but rather well recieved) Jazz Fusion/Jazz Rock Trio called Project Knockout with two friends from High School. Although the band sort of died out (I'd love to resurrect it if given the chance...maybe...) what I accomplished with that group still inspires me to do more. I'm currently planning another group, most likely to be a quartet, to expand on the musical ideas I started with Project Knockout, and to also move into ideas that I weren't able to express in Project Knockout due to creative differences.

Aside from Jazz, I love Hip Hop, especially Jazzy or Soulful Hip-Hop, such as the works of Nujabes, Nomak, DJ Premier, 9th Wonder, Kanye West (earlier Kanye West maybe...) and so forth. Rock is also a genre I am strongly fond of. Santana has ended up being as strong of an influence on me as Herbie Hancock, as well as Jimi Hendrix, Radiohead, Steely Dan, The Doobie Brothers...I'm no rock expert but those are great groups.

I guess to sort of...conclude, this blog is just going to be an outlet for my musical ideas, as well as discussions on what I'm currently listening to, maybe album reviews and so forth. So...if anyone reads this...hope you enjoy...

~Remian

Currently Listening To:
--Jarrett Cherner Trio - Stand Your Own // Burgeoning