I'm so incredibly tired of all the "real" hip hop fans you have to tell you about Bun B and all these other underground artists and claim that they're "real" hip hop and someone like Wayne isn't.... because he's popular? because he raps over good beats? because he's making money? I just don't get it.
The guy's album is incredible. Take away the t-pain stuff like got money, look at tracks like 3 Peat and almost the entire leak album... shoot me down, let the beat build, mrs officer... there are an incredible number of insanely good tracks on tha carter III, especially if you include the stuff from the leak.
Why not just give a guy his due? All these rap arguments about who is the greatest alive and top 5 all time and all that stuff is just garbage, but this counter culture backlash against lil wayne is absurd, he's become such an incredible rapper who puts out such consistent quality, but now everyone's got to be so against him because he's had commercial success, it's outright ridiculous
Bun B is talented. Jay-Z (who has made so much money from hip hop) is incredibly talented. Ludacris is good as is Busta Rhymes. They all make a lot of money. Lil Wayne is simply not so talented. He is creative but not talented.
What makes a rapper talented? When I see a basketball player who can jump through the roof, I know he has talent... a guy with a silky smooth J is talented... this is rap music, there's no physicality to this.
What I know about Wayne is that he's prolific and consistent. I never hear a Lil Wayne verse on his own albums or anyone else's and end up disappointed. I probably can't name 5 rappers I can say that about, and Bun B certainly doesn't make that list. Wayne is incredibly creative, sometimes shockingly creative, and contrary to what someone just posted above, I think this creativity is pushing rap in ways that are new and exciting, especially while Nas makes such an obvious shock value play in trying to name his album what he went for. Seriously, Nas gets all this credit, but what has he really done? Because he's an angry black man who doesn't rap over kanye beats he's got street cred and is therefore talented?
I don't see music as a talent thing. It's a personal preference thing, for sure. I'm not against people who are into underground rap, it just isn't my thing, I listen to hip hop as a musical experience, the beats, lyrics, and sounds just coming together to either please me or repulse me, and lil wayne almost always leaves me wanting more. Given the tremendous number of people buying his stuff, I'm probably not alone. Now what does that necessitate that he's not a talented rapper who isn't "real"? He's out there making music, not spending 36 months between albums (or 5 years, like some artists) and he's bringing it in ways that people love, why not just appreciate that?
Topic: How to approach a lil Wayne argument. (Read 16913 times)