01-28-10
Wayne’s World: Hottest Lil Wayne Tracks of 2009 (Part 2)
Getting right back into it, this is part 2 or 4 of the Hottest Lil Wayne Tracks of 2009. I really appreciate all the responses I got for the first installment, both on the blog and in person. From here on out, the tracks only get better.
I want to take a minute to explain why I felt that I had to do this. It all started about a year ago, last January. I was checking out all the lists for the best music of 2008 and I noticed Tha Carter III was turning up on a lot of “best album” lists by professional critics as well as random people just like you and me. I downloaded the album and it blew my mind. I was amazed that this man, so vulgar and weird, was the best selling artist of 2008. Lil Wayne, who I had heard on Cash Money Millionaire hits like “Bling Bling,” “Shine,” and “Back That Azz Up” back when I was in 7th or 8th grade, was now rapping about being a martian. To me, it is amazing that a mainstream artist can be so completely insane. It is refreshing to me that somebody with so much personality and attitude, a man who is not afraid to say what is on his mind no matter how shocking or offensive it may be, has infiltrated the system.
Anyway, enough of my sermonizing. The only real testimonial Lil Wayne needs is his music. If you listen carefully and attentively, you may discover why Weezy F. Baby has become an international phenomenon. I present to you what I believe to be the 7th, 6th, and 5th Hottest Lil Wayne Tracks of 2009. Enjoy!
7. Kobe Bryant
This track is for all the people who think that Wayne raps about nothing other than women, money, and drugs. Yes, it’s true that these are some of Weezy’s favorite topics, but when he decides to devote an entire track to a single concept rather than a series of stream-of-consciousness metaphors, the results are often magical. Take for example “Kobe Bryant.” Wayne spends the entire song praising his favorite basketball player, KB. Anybody who has listened to Lil Wayne knows that he spends a LOT of time bragging and boasting, so it’s interesting hearing him talk about how great somebody else is. The official video (I don’t know how or why this song that isn’t on any album has an official video) features a number of clips of Kobe Bryant making some pretty insane plays. I can admire this guy’s skill and I never watch basketball. In fact, the clips in the video show Kobe balling so hard that a YouTube user named Pokem0n1996 was moved to say “the shots i c kobe make r redic dudes all up in his face jst pops them all.”
Weezy is a huge sports fan. He has a tattoo of the ESPN logo on his arm. He has appeared on ESPN multiple times and has even written for their blog. As he once said on the Dedication 2 mixtape, “I watch sports, dawg. That’s what I’m into. Sports, sports, sports. I got a favorite team and favorite player in every single sport.” Wayne’s sports obsession actually explains a lot about his rap style, including how competitive he is and how he is constantly calling himself the greatest rapper alive (all Muhammad Ali style.) Lil Wayne uses this song to tell us that he is the Kobe Bryant of rap, saying that Kobe is the greatest on the court and that Weezy is the greatest on the verse. The song is full of basketball references and lingo, showing that Wayne really knows what he is talking about. Musically, the song combines a pretty standard beat with a bunch of clips of sports commentators and other basketball players talking about Kobe Bryant. How many times do you hear people combining broadcast recordings with original music? It’s like Weezy’s been listening to David Byrne and Brian Eno’s “My Life in the Bush of Ghosts” or something. My favorite line is the Michael Jordan shout-out: “Tongue out like two-three, even two-three gotta love how I do me.” If you like the official video, check out the live video of Lil Wayne performing the song at a Lakers party complete with an introduction by Kobe: “Before the game that’s all we have in our headsets… dat dude. My main man. Lil Weezy.”
6. Yes feat. Pharrell
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This is probably the song on the list that I discovered most recently and it really came out of nowhere. I don’t know if it’s Pharrell feat. Lil Wayne or Lil Wayne featuring Pharrell because it isn’t on anything album. Strangely, it’s hard to find a legit version of this song on YouTube because of the copyright police. Hopefully that means it will get an official release soon. Anybody has heard any of The Neptunes productions will recognize the beat as their work. It has a crazy sound to it that is psychedelic and old-school at the same time. The song kicks off with Pharrell rapping, but Lil Wayne pretty quickly demonstrates that he’s running the show. Both dudes are using the Auto-tune effect, but it really comes out when Wayne starts rapping. You gotta love how Wayne drops a Bapes reference in his song with Pharrell, a renowned Bapester. This song features one of Weezy’s trademarks in this song: letting the beat finish his sentences for him, talking to the beat and letting it talk back to him. For example, he asks himself “Do you really think you’re better than the rest?” And the beat answers for him: “Yes, yes, yes, yes.” This song is also one of the best examples of Lil Wayne’s signature cackle. Throughout the track he is just cracking up. It’s the sound of a man who is having a great time doing what he loves. Like he says in the song, he’s Weezy F. Baby and the F is for “phenomenal.” (Does he realize…? Yes, of course he does.) He’s a New Orleans baller, ask ESPN. Just kickin’ it with a Bruce Lee-esbian.
5. Let Me Do me
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One of the greatest moments of 2009 for me was the day of the release of the Lil Wayne documentary, The Carter. I remember it well. I had a cheeseburger and milkshake on Newbury Street, came home and watched the DVD. I have since seen it 4 times. The Carter provides an in depth look at Lil Wayne around the time of the release of Tha Carter III. The film gives an honest picture of Lil Wayne that shows that he, like all humans, has a good side and a bad side. His good side being that he is incredibly dedicated to making good music, the bad being that he walks around in a weed-and-syrup induced haze 24/7. The movie can be either really uplifting or depressing depending on your viewpoint. You’ll have to see the movie for yourself if you want to know more, but I will say this: The Carter featured many awesome Lil Wayne songs that I had never heard before. In one unforgettable scene, Lil Wayne listens to a recent recording while smoking a blunt (this is actually what is happening during roughly half of the movie.) He looks directly at the camera while puffing out his cheeks and dancing to the music. The lyrics to the song appear on the screen in subtitles, and they’re completely out of this world. What other rapper could go from rapping about your homies dressed in black for your funeral to, less than 30 seconds later, rapping the jingle from Pepto Bismol commercials? (Note: Eric Franco thinks that the Pepto Bismol part sucks. Go figure.)
This is another track that features Auto-tune, and I love the way it allows Wayne to mix rapping and singing. The melody gets stuck in my mind almost as much as the words. You gotta love any song with a Steven Urkel reference. The most amazing part comes when Weezy rearranges the letters of his words: “I’m a giant in this bitch. Move the G and an S and put the I before the N and put the A in front of that and that’s what I am to the end. That’s a saint, motherfucker, simplify it for them.” How can he pull that off without writing down his rhymes? This is one of those songs that you almost have to break down line by line to fully understand the insanity that’s going on.
Stay tuned for more of the Hottest Lil Wayne Tracks of 2009.
01-19-10
Wayne’s World: Hottest Lil Wayne Tracks of 2009 (Part 1)
For those who didn’t know, Lil Wayne is probably the hardest working dude in show business. He brings mobile recording equipment with him everywhere he goes so that he can record new rap songs. Rumors say that he often stays up until 7 AM or earlier (later?) working on music and that during these marathon studio sessions he never takes breaks or even sits down. The result of this is that hundreds of Lil Wayne songs have leaked onto the internet over the past few years, creating a catalogue of unofficially released material that eclipses most artists’ entire recorded output in terms of volume. Additionally, Wayne has been featured as a guest on countless tracks and has also released official mixtapes for free download online.
The tricky part, however, is finding your way around in Lil Wayne’s giant jungle of hip hop insanity. The best place to hear most of these songs is on YouTube, but even then it’s hard to know where to jump in and find the hottest tracks without listening to a bunch of others that range from mediocre to pure shit. Luckily for you, I’ve spent the last few weeks reviewing some of the most popular tracks of the past year, both official and unofficial. It was very hard to narrow down my choices, but I managed to pick out 10 songs that I believe stand above the rest. Even then, it was really hard to rank all of these songs that I love. For example, some songs were personal favorites but I knew they might not have mass appeal. Some had great beats with good lyrics, others had good beats with great lyrics. Therefore, this list is subjective, not meant to be definitive, just trying to put the spotlight on some great tracks and maybe introduce people to some good music they hadn’t heard before. If you love Weezy, check the tracks out and see what you think, let me know which songs you like and which songs you hate or which songs you think should’ve been on the list, which ones should’ve beenplaced higher or lower, etc. If you are NOT a fan of Weezy, I recommend you give some of these tracks a try; you’re bound to find at least one or two that you can dig.
Big props to Tony, A Ross, Charizard, Chris D, Franco, Andy L, Allan Yu, and anybody who listened to these songs with me and assisted in the creation of this list.
10. Told Y’all
Told Y’all” begins with Wayne’s signature laugh and a miniature auto-tune freak out that I’ll admit rubbed me the wrong way when I first heard it. However, about 30 seconds into the tack, Wayne goes nuts on the beat and lets loose some Busta Rymes style spreed-rhyming that is really on fire. You have to really focus to understand everything he’s saying because it all goes by so fast. Luckily, there’s a YouTube video that features scrolling lyrics so you can read along. Wayne covers a lot of territory lyrically, including but not limited to: lighting somebody on fire and throwing them into the water, Hurricane Katrina, spelling(“I need to be at the t-o-p-o-f-h-i-p-h-o-p”), a Boston shoutout, and zombies. The beat has a pretty straightforward futuristic hip-hop vibe, but Lil Wayne really goes off on the it and shows that his flow is still fire in 2009.
9. “In The Morning”
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“In the Morning” is another track that uses the controversial auto-tune effect. When I first heard about it, I hated auto-tune because it was being used very lightly and subtly to correct singers who couldn’t sing in tune, making them “pitch perfect.” To me, this seems lazy, deceptive, and sleazy. However, rap music hijacked auto-tune and exploded it, turning it into something like an effects pedal for the voice. With songs like “In the Morning,” Auto Tune is almost like an instrument unto itself. OK, enough about Auto Tune.
The track begins with some synths and a tag (“Weezy F***in Baby, who better?”) from a mixtape DJ that lets you know this track is an unofficial release. The premise of the song is pretty basic: having a wild night and waking up in the morning like “ohh…ohh….” I think that’s something we can all relate to. This song has a great beat, with crazy synths, syncopated drums, some mindmelting guitar playing, and even a little piano thrown in for good measure. Weezy has been playing a lot of guitar lately and I really wonder if that’s him wailing throughout the track. The playing is so unconventional and weird that I want to say it’s him, but I’ve also never heard or seen him play guitar this well so I’m not sure. Let’s just give him the benefit of the doubt.
By the way, this track is a Tony Alcala favorite.
8. “Drop The World” featuring Eminem
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This track comes from Lil Wayne’s long-delayed Rebirth album. The album has been in production for quite some time and seems to be amassing some kind of weird voodoo energy. Amazon.com accidentally shipped 500 copies of the album early and the whole thing leaked on the internet about two months before the official release date, which happens to be about a week before Weezy is going get his prison sentence, expected to be up to a year in jail. Rebirth is supposed to be a rock album, but it’s actually some weird fusion of rap and rock. I’ll admit I was apprehensive when I heard the album’s single “Prom Queen,” but most of the songs on the album are better than “Prom Queen,” (which actually ended up growing on me.) The album will definitely attract its fair share of haters (Allan Yu, for example), and even I’ll admit that it’s not Weezy’s best material, but it truly sounds like no album that has come before it in the entire history of mankind. You really have to approach this stuff with an open mind. That said, there’s probably a few songs on the album that can fairly be called horrible.
“Drop the World” is one of the tracks that leaked from the album, but it has since been officially released as a single. The track features the best selling artist of the past decade, Eminem, who drops a great verse at the end of the song and actually does some really cool singing for about 15 seconds right in the middle. The song seems to deal with all of the pressure and bullshit that both rappers have to face in their lives. Wayne talks about hopping in his space ship and leaving Earth, being reborn, and dropping the world on your head. Weezy seems to be venting his frustrations about his impending prison sentence and all the other people who doubt or hate him. But he won’t be defeated: “all this bullshit’ll make me strong, motherfucker.”
By the way, this song is an Eric Franco favorite.
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Stay tuned for more of the hottest Lil Wayne tracks of 2009.
01-19-10
david byrne & fatboy slim telling the story of imelda marcos
as much as i love david byrne for all he’s done with the talking heads, his solo projects have been kinda lame, with the exceptions of the two collaborations with brian eno which everyone seems to love.
today i got an e-mail with a link to this video describing david byrne’s newest collaboration with fatboy slim. a completely ambitious project, a dance club style musical about the life and times of Imelda Marcos. the video and first song looks cool, could this work or does david byrne really only shine with the help of brian eno?
also, just for reference, a completely insane video of david byrne in his prime
01-14-10
how serious are these guys?
regardless, this is how we should dance this weekend.
01-09-10
Greetings from Interstate 95
In the spirit of Steve’s last post I decided to also give a little synopsis of my travels over break.
Setting out on New Years day (our departure was pushed forward by a day due to an impending storm) Dave and I loaded up the Cadillac and headed to his sister’s spot outside New Haven CT. As soon as we arrived we saw a family of deer on their front lawn which I thought were fake reindeer statues left over from the holidays until they started moving. It was rather late when we arrived and everyone was asleep but we were greeted by a series of wonderfully informative signs leading us down to the basement where the beer was. We drank a few, watched Chappelle show and hit the hay.
The next day we grabbed a slice of that famous New Haven coal fired apizza. Our stomachs were full and ready for all that Pennsylvania had to offer us. We arrived in Allentown around supper time and were quite surprised by the level of hospitality our hosts showed us. A homemade vegetarian sheppard’s pie for dinner, a show at a local venue called the secret art space and an impromptu historical tour of the Lehigh Valley region. Dawn and Joel were wonderful hosts and after breakfast at the Queen City Diner the next day we headed out towards all points south.
Hey looks like we crossed the mason dixon line, we’re finally in the South… ok, so when does it start getting warm? Apparently not in Richmond, the ole thermometer registered barely over 30. Luckily the warmth of our hosts Abi, Chelsea and Rosie made our visit quite enjoyable. We started with dinner at a local gastropub near the university. The place was bizarre – no menus, just a listing of entrees at the door, one sink for both bathrooms outside the actual toilet area and some bluegrass bands attracting a wealth of punk-looking loyalists. Once back at their apartment in the fan district we shared drinks, stories and played silly games to pass the time. We were sad to leave the next day, but forward progress was what we were after and warm weather was the dangling carrot.
We were now deep in the South. Although TomTom said we were 30 minutes outside Charleston there were absolutely no signs of an urban center in sight. Plantation Oaks was where we hung our hats that night. Nicole brought us to a Po-boy joint she had been looking to try on our way downtown for dinner. I, the catfish and Dave, deep friend whole quail. This was some serious southern comfort food as even on an empty stomach I wasn’t able to join the clean plates club that night. Driving around downtown we finally realized why we couldn’t see any tall buildings as we we approached city limits – there were none. Palmettos, yes ma’ams, neo classical southern mansions and a strong police presence were the language of this land. Looking around, it seemed we’d been transplanted to the post civil war, ante-bellum southern society that used to inhabit these hallowed grounds. It was time to leave, the warmth we’d been promised was still lacking and we had a long drive ahead of us the next morning.
95 is a fun road, it has a twisted sense of humor that you only get to know after driving it for days on end. Towards the end of our journey I could hear it’s Maniacal laugh that seemed to be saying “no matter how long you drive me you’ll never reach your destination. MUAHAHAHAH!” Ghosts of all the lives it had taken and speeding tickets its patron had received lingered in the air around us. The naive exuberance for being back on the road was slowly evaporating from my mind as I learned even after crossing the Florida border we still had over 7 hours to go. At least we had the car’s outside thermometer to watch as it climbed to the 80s right? Ok, that was a bit too optimistic, 70s? Fine, we’ll settle for 60s. WHAT?! we’re here and it’s barely crossed the 40 mark? Yup, record colds kept the mercury just slightly above the freezing mark the whole time we were in sunny FLA.
It’s the journey, not the destination that counts.
01-08-10
san francisco record store, via disposable camera
01-07-10
california greetings
greetings from california. the place of dank sunsets, foggy valley roads, animal style in-n-out, grateful dead new years eve balloon drops, bob weir praising bowl smoking buddhas, authentic mexican burritos, heady views, tart frozen yogurt, accusing bouncers and windy streets
