Put Some Keys On That – Lil’ Wayne Put Some Keys On That – Lil’ Wayne

“These niggas want word play, but im ’bout bird play!”

-Young Jeezy

A few days ago, BeeLow wrote a compelling article (found here) describing the current state of hip hop/rap from his perspective. He also listed some very tasty hip hop tunes which I urge everyone to check out. The article itself echoes a very common sentiment amongst fans of the genre; there is lack of quality in modern rap/hip hop music which is degrading the genre as an art form.

Music, like all art forms, is subjective, which gives BeeLow’s qualms with modern rap music plenty of validity. However, it also gives me a chance to play devil’s advocate.

“God made me super rich, the devil made you stupid bitch!
You could be just like me, if you stopped with all the stupid shit”

-Rich Boy

Okay, Im not gonna say that Soulja Boi is a good rapper. However, there are plenty of new rappers which have been similarly dismissed as garbage that happen to have plenty of talent. Two prime examples  of this are Lil’ Wayne and Gucci Mane.

Reasons why these rappers are dismissed:

Characters vs. Real life

“you are not the owner of that car that is a loaner,
i got money stacks as tall as you coz thats just my persona”

-Gucci Mane

So what if Wayne calls himself a gangsta? A crack dealer? A gazillionare? He also calls himself a pussy monster, an alien, a goblin. etc. Wayne probably creates a good amount of his persona on the mic and in interviews, but that should never diminish an artist’s validity.

“We are not the same, I am a martian”

-Lil’ Wayne

This isn’t a new thing either. Some of the crown jewels of hip hop (only built 4 Cuban Linx, Ready To Die) have been built around creating characters. The modern day dirty south crack dealer persona is so compelling even Jay-Z wants a slice:

“Don’t compare me to rappers, compare me to trappers, i’m more frank lucas than ludacris“

- Jay-Z

Materialism/Subject matter:

It’s hard to argue with the fact that Wayne and Gucci’s lyrics are very materialistic. After all, their respective labels are Cash Money and So Icey Ent.

For me, its not just what you say its how you say it. Gucci can talk bling all day and I’d listen — He finds good ways to keep it interesting. As far as the empty violence, swearing, and ridiculousness, I’ll take that any day over the PG groaners heard in some Common songs. Some of us like our movies Rated R (and in 3-D)!

Quality of Beats

I personally don’t think that the quality of beats has dropped at all over the years. I’ve been following Bangladesh, Polow da Don, and other young promising producers which have already made some SICK beats. Not to mention the already established Neptunes (Hell Hath No Fury, my favorite thing ever, was entirely produced by them) and Kanye West.

Quality of Lyrics/Flow

Rappers are kind of like stand up comedians; judged by content, style, and delivery. One of my favorite comedians ever is Mitch Hedberg, whose stoned punch lines never really had any focus whatsoever. Kind of reminds me of Wayne’s Drought 3, an album that doesn’t establish much ‘deep’ lyrical content in terms of message, but its a very fun mess to listen through — and a satisfying one. Humor is also something that rappers like Wayne and Gucci have in abundance that rappers like Common don’t.  Unless this video really was a joke:

“I stay fresh like im wrapped in plastic!”

-Common

Voice and flow are equally important. Gucci and Jeezy’s colossal ad-libs push the listener along their unimpressed trap flows. Wayne’s frog/bug thing only adds to his weird alien mystique.

At the end of his article, BeeLow foresaw a bright future in hip hop due to some of the growing young talent in the form of rappers like Drake and Wale.

I see a bright future in hip hop due to growing artists such as Gucci Mane and Nicki Minaj. This new breed of rappers all follow the same Wayne work ethic where the studio becomes your life, and its quite simple to see why they’re so successful. Talented and hard working…what’s not to like? I feel like we can all learn a thing:

or two:

from wayne’s work ethic/music philosophy.

Albums to check out:

Lil’ Wayne: Dedication 2, Drought 3, No Ceilings

Gucci Mane: Burrprint 3-D

CLIPSE: Hell Hath No Fury

- Jorge (YAWN)