In Defense of “Rebirth”

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I’ll begin by putting it simply: don’t misjudge Lil Wayne because of this. Those who have always disdained Wayne despite all his success will certainly take this opportunity to tear him to shreds. Although Wayne sounds whack as an auto-tuned punkrocker, there is no sense in writing him off because of this album alone. Those of you who are familiar with the recent mixtape No Ceilings are well aware that “the mixtape Weezy”, referred to thusly by Jay-Z in his hit song “D.O.A. (Death of Autotune)”, is alive and well. This is the prolific Weezy F Baby who worked his way to the top by churning out mixtape after mixtape, shocking the world with the fearlessness of his talent. Just because he is now choosing to indulge the rock-star fantasy (in his own way, of course) doesn’t mean he is no longer the phenomenal rapper he can be. Wayne’s own words best describe his drive to set himself apart: “I’m rare, like Mr. Clean with hair/No brakelights on my car-eer.”

                Fans of Tha Carter III vividly recall Wayne’s bold and bizarre statement: “We are not the same, I am a Martian.” With this proclamation in mind, it’s not hard to figure out how Rebirth was born. Wayne wants to prove to everybody that he is the best rapper, and the way he has always tried to do that is by being different. This is his attempt to set a trend, to be on the cutting edge of hip-hop, and I think it’s wrong to look down on an artist who so boldly explores uncharted territory. Lil Wayne, in his own words, is “restin’ in the lead, I need a pillow and a cover,” and as long as he’s asleep at the top of the rap game, how can we begrudge him his dreams?