I Miss Cassettes...: Mar 19, 2007

it was bound to happen. yes, i'm going to speak on the recent phenomenon that has been the evolution of Lil Wayne (dare he gets the upper-case treatment?). yes, i got to play favorites, he is my second current favorite MC right now (only to Mr. Jones). a lot of people have asked the same questions and still continue to do so. where did his lyrical ability come from? was gillie really his ghostwriter? blazah, blah about his relationship with baby. all these questions don't stop him from constantly being in the top 10's and even the top 5's of fans and fellow rappers' lists. yes, to the sheep's eyes it seems like a spur-of-the-moment occurrence. but let's put weezy as the role of a wolf in sheep's clothing (it was coming, word to black sheep). it wasn't an overnight success of sorts. the progression could have started with his early recordings with b.g. as the b.g.'z. it could have started with his contribution to the hot boys. or maybe it was his debut solo album, tha block is hot. i think where a lot of critics and critiques agree that it started is with the first installment of tha carter series. the prophetic proclamation wayne said at the end of his first single "bring it back" being "the best rapper alive, since the best rapper retired" sparked people interests. most of the people probably said negative things like "is this motherfucker serious?" or "never in a million years will this statement be true". when did it hit that he would be the future of hip-hop and one of the most talked-about rappers in the new millennium you still ask? if not here then maybe it was the prefix, an obvious fascination with Jay-Z's black album (this mixtape was the prequel to tha carter). i didn't look for wayne when he dropped 500 degreez (i thought the title was a cheap shot at juve) and i didn't check the prefix (i later had to collect the material to here the progression). big bro had tha carter and let me hear it. as soon as i heard the first song "walk in" something was very different about him to my ears. it seemed as if his lyrical ability stepped a hella up. looking back it was a slowly but surely evolution. i know i can go on and on about the steps he's taken but i'll just let you hear with your own two ears.