Lil' Wayne - Rebirth

Lil’ Wayne
Rebirth
Cash Money Records
D+





I loved Tha Carter III. I may not be a hip-hop know-it-all, but in terms of where that record stands compared to some of the rap that is making it to radio these days, Lil’ Wayne cemented himself as a current pillar of the genre with that record. Problem with that statement is in what would be considered his followup, Rebirth, Wayne takes a huge gamble by mixing in heavy amounts of rock elements to his tracks and creates a record that is confusing as much as it is disappointing.

The story goes that Wayne wanted to create a ‘rock album’, and in the process had the album pushed back so many times (for whatever reason) that some thought it would never see the light of day. But for as much of a good intention he had in infusing rock into his arsenal, the poorly written arrangements leave for nothing to back Wayne’s uncharacteristically bland lyricism. Whether it be the flat opener “American Star” or the single “Prom Queen”, you’ll hear that the guitars and drums take a very laid back approach to create mostly minimal beats and melodies. This might work on straight rap records, but if you are going to use electric guitars and live drums to anchor your sound, you simply can’t have bare bones background sound.

That being said, when the melodies actually pick up in later tracks, Wayne just sounds out of place trying to rap on top of them. Just listen to “The Price Is Wrong”. Rebirth later channels pop-rock and even reggae-rock in the style of Sublime for the disturbingly unflattering tracks. It really is this simple - the tracks kill any chance for us to take Wayne’s rapping seriously, whether or not he is on par with his earlier releases. Throw in some unneeded use of auto-tune/vocoder throughout the record and an ambiguous channelling of the 1980s electropop in “On Fire”, and you’ll almost want to forget this album exists.

Strangely, the best track of the disc barely features any of the elements boasted on the tracks surrounding it. Wayne and Eminem team up for “Drop The World”, which harkens the feel of a more electronic-based melody, and absolutely kill it. This track gives an ample opportunity for both of them to deliver solid verses without the distraction of trying to fit into a genre not meant for good rappers. “Runnin’” delivers in a similar manner, showing us how this album could have worked if it weren’t so dependent on being a rock record.

After wrapping this album with the completely ludicrous sounding “The Price Is Wrong”, Lil’ Wayne will leave you with a tough pill to swallow. It is without a doubt the weakest release he has put out. Was the idea too ambitious? No. Was the idea approached the wrong way? Probably. Did focusing too much on the rock aspects leave the lyrical aspects weaker than they should have been? Also possible. If anything, Wayne has a lot to prove when I’m Not A Human Being drops later this month, and possibly even more to live up to whenever Tha Carter IV drops.