Lil Wayne enters creative prison on crossover attempt

Mixtapes are, and always have been, Lil Wayne’s calling card. No one stakes their claim on a beat like him and most of the time Wayne’s versions are an improvement from the original.

“Rebirth” was supposed to have a similar premise: Weezy F. taking on rock music and making it his own in an attempt to go from eating rappers to eating rockers.
Unfortunately, this time Wayne’s ambition has failed to match the result. “Rebirth” is a misguided effort that resonates more as a careless hobby than a legitimate crossover attempt.

Part of what makes rap music so good is the artist’s flow, but this is not the case with rock music. So when Wayne tries to take lyrical content straight from hip-hop and lay it down in a rock song, it doesn’t translate well. Without that rapid pacing, the lyrics have time to marinate and in turn, don’t work.

The album’s leadoff track “American Star” is the mindless garbage that calls the seriousness of the album into question. Aside from the hypocritical lyrics, Wayne summons his guitar midway through the song by crying “Bridge!” and cracking off one of the worst guitar solos you will ever hear.

The so-called rock beats that he auto-tunes over are equally atrocious. Each sounds like it was handpicked to sound excruciatingly out of date and corny. “On Fire” might as well be a television theme song from the ’80s.

Conceptually, Wayne proves to be completely inept in terms of rock. His messages and stories lack any kind of commonality and most of the time make very little sense. “Drop The World,” which features the mixed-up Eminem, is a terrifying look at fame from two people who have struggled to deal with it in their own ways in the past.

It’s unfortunate that before his prison stay, Lil Wayne chose to leave the public with “Rebirth” and not something closer to home, or hell, just something better. Hopefully by the time he is released he’ll get back to doing what he does best and put down the guitar.