The sole purpose of an artist is to push his or herself to the limit, while challenging their creativity, and walking out of their comfort zone in order to bring something new to the table. With that said, enter Dwayne Michael Carter.
Although he’ll be serving the next eight months to a year in jail due to his guilty plea on federal gun charges, Hip-Hop’s current biggest superstar (by far) is leaving his fans a parting gift in the way of his often-delayed experimental rock album, Rebirth.
With Weezy being a rapper by trade, it’s obvious that rock and roll isn’t his forte, so he enlists the help of experts in the field like Travis Barker, Patrick Stump (Fall Out Boy), and his own rock artist, Kevin Rudolph.
But he also doesn’t stray too far away from the formula that got him to the point to where he’s able to take such a big musical risk, and names like Cool & Dre, Tha Bizness, and the J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League also make their way onto the album as well.
The live drumming and electric Gibson guitars begin with the sounds of ‘American Star’ (feat. Shanell); where Wayne uses Autotune to sing about going from nothing to something. Patrick Stump’s signature guitar style becomes evident on the catchy ‘Ground Zero,’ as he assists Young Money’s main man further express his artistic appetite. Cool & Dre take the helm on the fast-paced ‘Da Da Da’; a song that sees Wayne go with the distorted voice effect to match the production.
Kevin Rudolph slows the tempo down for his boss on ‘Paradice,’ as Wayne belts out different life tales, which deal with separate individuals. Cool & Dre then return with their ‘On Fire’ contribution, which is a combination of 80’s rock and their patented sound, all catered to Wayne’s liking in order from him to flip from his normal voice to an Autotuned one.
The closet thing to a Hip-Hop song in it’s purity comes in the form of ‘Drop The World’ featuring Eminem, and it sees the fellow superstar have his way with the English language as he usually does.
Other songs worth an honorable mention are ‘Runnin’ (feat. Shanell), and ‘One Way Trip’ (feat. Kevin Rudoplh); while tunes like ‘Knockout’ (feat. Nicki Minaj), ‘The Price Is Wrong,’ and ‘Get A Life’ didn’t fair too well.
When it’s all said and done, Lil Wayne should be applauded for completely stepping out of the box, and trying something that’s clearly not his bread and butter, (circa Mos Def with The New Danger).
The success he’s enjoyed within the past couple of years has no doubt brought him to this position, where it wouldn’t be career-ending if this project turned out to be a failure.
Not all artists share the same luxury as Lil Wayne, by being able to take such a huge chance, (especially in the current state of the music business) but if given the opportunity to be able to grab another fan base; most likely they would take it.
Wayne’s Rebirth was basically just another form of expression from one of the most energetic personalities in Hip-Hop, but as the old saying goes, “Don’t quit your day job.”
And that’s something he’ll have plenty of time to think about while serving out his sentence, as his diehard fans patiently await his release, and the arrival of Tha Carter IV.
