There has been a lot of (mostly autotuned) experimentation in music lately. Artists have shifted direction, genres have blended, and while a lot of it has been good, some of it has been bad. At the same time, Lil Wayne took over the rap scene in the time span of three short years with several mixtapes, Tha Carter III, and countless featured appearances – and now he’s going after rock. Rebirth, Lil Wayne’s year-in-the-making attempt to become a rockstar, shows signs of promise. A recurring theme of the album is that, apparently, poor Weezy was dumped by his high school sweetheart for another guy (as especially evidenced by the year-old single “Prom Queen” and the lesser “The Price Is Wrong”). Who hasn’t gone through that? Instantly relatable, right? Not really.
The album opens with “American Star”, which features Young Money labelmate Shanell and has almost a country inspired edge to it. “Prom Queen,” the first single released over a year ago, is the equivalent to Kanye West’s “Love Lockdown” only in the sense that it establishes Weezy’s change in direction and you either love it or hate it.
The next song sets a terrible precedent. It’s not that the song is bad, but I was halfway through it when I heard the lyrics “J-j-jump out a window, l-l-let’s jump off a building, baby.” The song is called “Ground Zero,” and besides being in poor taste I could not think of anything more appropriate to foreshadow the rest of the album.
“Da Da Da” and “Runnin’” (the latter of which should really be “Shanell featuring Lil Wayne, and not vice versa) are named based on more than half of their respective lyrics, and “Get A Life” is a “who cares” anthem that sounds familiar in a bad way. “Paradice” (spelled that way) is meant to be a foray into self-doubting fame and fortune, but it sounds false coming from someone who’s been taking over the music industry for the past few years. Nicki Minaj also makes her name debut in “Knockout”, where she proves to be a stronger rapper than singer.
The best songs on the album show that Lil Wayne is at his best when he’s himself. Despite the bad subject matter, “Ground Zero” is as good a rap song as it is a controversial one. Lil Wayne also raps on “One Way Trip” with a chorus by Kevin Rudolf, and “Drop The World” – far and away Lil Wayne’s best song on the album – is helped greatly by a verse from Eminem. By the way, he’s totally back, and he even opens up with a well-sung bridge. Maybe he should do a rock album.
The best that can be said about this album is that not every song is bad. The ones where Lil Wayne does what he does best – rap his ass off – are the ones that are most worthy of your attention. Everything else is entirely dependant on what you expect from your music. If you're a fan of Lil Wayne, then your expectations probably aren't that high.
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