The return of Lil Wayne! For a few years there, Weezy was just the best rapper alive and no one was close. It’s hard to think of someone else quite as dominant during his prime. It’s been a long time since that prime though and a long time since we’ve heard really good music from him. It’s hard not to be excited about the end of the drought.
It starts strong with “Don’t Cry” which has an excellent hook from the recently deceased XXX and then swaggers in with “Dedicate” to remind us exactly who Lil Wayne can be. His flow and switches are endlessly clever. Similarly “Uproar” is classic Lil Wayne with that countdown and the chopped lines and then it goes into “Let It Fly” takes advantage of the Travis Scott pairing for some quite solid trap.
It’s hard to pin down what exactly made Lil Wayne such a beast. To start with, he has an impossible amount of natural talent. It oozes off him. He’s got an exceptional ear for sounds and their pairings. He has a gift for clever, unexpected lines. More than anything though, he just has such irreverent fun with it all. He’s clearly enjoying himself every time he steps in front of the mic and it’s infectious.
Something like “Hittas” is just Wayne with clever, effortless top-tier rapping. He’s able to expertly duel Kendrick in “Mona Lisa” despite Kendrick’s return to his old feature flow. This is actually really good Kendrick, but Wayne is at least able to keep pace if not outshine K.Dot outright here. They’re both really good, really technical, really clever rappers. Lil Wayne then shifts into soulful with “What About Me” and the slower cut works really well too.
There’s unquestionably filler here though, like “Open Letter”, but even that song has moments. “Mess” is pure filler though, much though I sympathize with Wayne. It’s in “Let It All Work Out” that you really start to feel for Weezy. His description of his suicide attempt is startling after years of denial and heart-wrenching in its honesty. It’s interestingly old school as well and the return to one of his older styles works quite well for Wayne here.
However, some of the features also just don’t pan out. “Famous” is unpleasantly reminiscent of recent Em with that saccharine stadium rap hook, Snoop Dogg is a little too lazy on “Dope Niggaz” and Mack Maine’s part in “Start That Shit Off Right” is honestly garbage. Lil Wayne is able to save all of those with energetic, skilled rap, but they might all have been better consigned to the cutting-room floor.
This is unquestionably the return to form of one of the greatest, most unique rappers of all time. It might not be the classics that Wayne was able to string together at his peak, but it is an excellent rap album with some stellar cuts. It’s good to see him back.
– @murthynikhil
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