mp3 – Lil Wayne (featuring Eminem) – Drop The World (Explicit)
Weezy’s turn to “rock” has knocked some of the shine off of the hit-makin’ rapper’s star. Single after single has been cast out into the world prior to Rebirth’s release to little acclaim and next to no interest on the charts. He’s not attracted the rock fans this stunt was meant to and he’s lost the hip-hop fans who made his previous album, Tha Carter III, a triple-platinum mega-success.
Critics have been scathing in their reviews so far, with many centering on the fact that, what Lil Wayne’s idea of rock is may not be most’s. There’s a lot of silly grandstanding, cliched posing and a general lack of “rockin’” going on here.
But, taken on its own merits, (and by “merits” I mean, judging it for what it is, whatever that may be) it’s nowhere near as awful as the critics would have you believe. I ain’t saying it’s a work of genius or even all that enjoyable overall. But there are moments that rise above others.
The album’s best song, “Drop the World”, is more of what fans would expect from Weezy and works precisely because it’s indicative of what Wayne does best. “Ground Zero”, despite it’s title and lyrics of “Lets-Lets-Let’s jump off a building baby/Let’s jump-jump out a window” combining to conjure some rather ill-planned images in the listener’s mind.
Part of Wayne’s problem with making a “rock” album is the lack of rockers he bothered to collaborate with. Patrick Stump and Travis Barker are the only ones listed in the writing and production credits. That’s a serious low-level of rockin’ and both Stump and Barker are not exactly benchmarks of the form. How cool would it be to see Wayne with, say, the Jesus Lizard or Mastodon or hell, even the obvious collaboration – Weezer? I can see Rivers Cuomo and the gang getting their hair rock guise on to back up Weezy.
But Rebirth is what we’re asked to evaluate and, as it is, it’s just an okay listen. A star project if there ever was one (though comparatively, nowhere near as head-scratching as Chris Cornell’s Scream album from a year ago), Lil Wayne perhaps needed this to serve as a wake up kick in the ass. As Tha Carter IV is said to be due later this year, I think it’s already worked.
