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For too long, unskilled rappers, like Lil’ Wayne, have landed featherweight punch-lines on the ear-drums of trained listeners, reminding us that the art of lyrical swordsmanship should be left to those best capable of wielding it. But this song, bad pun or not, crosses the line. This time, somebody must be held accountable for the drivel and acerbic vitriol Lil’ Wayne lashed out at his ancestors, who suffered far too much to be disrespected by an intellectually crippled caricature.
The lyrics of the song, which also features super-lyrical southern crew Dem Franchize Boyz, goes:
I wake up in the morning, take a sh**, shower, shave/ Stand over the stove and whip it like a slave/ I whip it like a slave, I whip it like a slave/ Stand over the stove and whip it like a slave/
This hook is maintained for a good 40 seconds (that way, it’s sufficiently ingrained in the minds of young listeners), before Mr. Carter comes in—in signature superciliousness. And just so no one misses the point of the song, he raps: “New day new yay/ Bet I whip it like Kunta Kinte/ Talking sugar, talking dough like a ben-YAY/ I take a brick, karate chop it like a sensei/.”
Of course, it’s always comical to hear Lil’ Wayne discuss the dangerous terrain of drug-dealing. Why, the multi-millionaire who had it made at 11 knows more than anyone else the perils of the dope game.. But even with this awareness, many younger fans are still desperate enough to be lied to blatantly about an experience they know he never partook in, and one which they are foreign to. On this ground, commonality is found. Most of them, you see, are White and rich.
White suburban girls can’t get enough of “Weezy,” and for good reason—he, essentially, validates the centuries-old lies told about Blackness as a racial demerit. Lil’ Wayne is the epitome of a 21st century Minstrel. Stepin’ Fetchit in the flesh. He bucks, coons, and shines, for the shillings tossed his way by far wealthier white executives at the helm of this recording industry.
“Your career is a typo/
Mine was written like a Haiku/”
And before we go any further, a couple of points must be addressed:
1). Lil’ Wayne is no gangster, no dope dealer, no Blood. He’s, in truth, merely a child star who cashed in, quite handsomely I might add, on the untimely retirement of Jay-Z in 2004. Many of us who, today, shake our heads consistently at the very thought of Lil’ Wayne being regarded the “Best Rapper Alive,” remember the laughs we shared when he first, in early 2005, declared himself that. Most saw his ambitiousness as an unwise publicity stunt, but lately, circumstances have changed considerably. What we now realize, and are forced to admit, is the enormous control of those “old White men” Mos Def sang about in “The Rape Over” (The New Danger, 2004).. Lil’ Wayne’s success, it can be safely assumed, is a product not of talent or merit but of an agenda long-drafted before he came onto the scene. At best, he’s the dummy whose strings were picked to be pulled by powerful ventriloquists in big skyscraper offices.
2). Lil’ Wayne is powerless. Just that. For one who sold an impressive 1,000,000+ copies with his latest album, Tha Carter III (200
, and has been mentioned no less than twice by the most powerful man in the world, he might be getting less respect, from his bosses, than security guards and janitors.
According to the Irv Gotti golden rule of business in the Hip-Hop industry, to get whatever they want, artists must “get hot.” Well, no other artists, with the exception of Drake, is hotter than Lil’ Wayne at this point, and still, label executives and A&Rs could care less about hurt feelings, as they rip asunder his many aspirations.
In a December 2007 interview with RollingOut Television, Rap mogul Irv Gotti discussed the tricks of the Rap trade: “The key to negotiations and the key to success [is]—just get hot and stay hot, and when you go in that office and have that meeting, check your hotness..” Gotti explained how to ascertain the hotness of an artist: “Say some stupid sh**. If they kick you out [of] the office, Ni**a, you’re not that hot. If you say some outlandish sh** and they sit there and talk with you, you’re pretty hot. If you say some outlandish sh** and they thinking about doing it, Ni**a, you’re off the hook!”
So, let’s put Lil’ Wayne’s career to that test.
In 2008, at peak time, following the huge success of his now-triple platinum album, Mr. Big Shot decided he wanted to release a Rock-themed album, Rebirth. Many laughed and, apparently, some of those were executives at Universal Records—his parent company. After the release of his first single, “Prom Queen,” his manager, Cortez Bryant, was advised that the shot-callers weren’t really feeling the concept, and if Weezy “doesn't brighten up, they have to turn into Mr. Evil Record Company and just tell him it’s never going to be released.” The album was originally scheduled for an April 2009 release date. It’s been pushed back several times now, but is tentatively set for November 2009. Something tells me—this time next year Rebirth would have been shelved. The reason: Lil’ Wayne, to borrow Gotti’s term, is not hot.
The many impediments put before his collaboration album (three years in the making) with Harlem rapper Juelz Santana, I Can’t Feel My Face, provides further validation.
For this reason, I stand convinced that the concept for Lil’ Wayne’s “Whip It Like A Slave” diatribe was probably suggested by some sleazy executive whose name we might never know. This contention, however, should not be read as an excuse for the vitriolic investments these Black rappers made in the song. But I can see a scenario play out where Lil’ Wayne’s original line was “Whip It Like A Soda,” or a variant of sorts, but a snot-nosed executive heard the hook, thought a while about it, and compelled him to introduce that one word which gives it a completely different context. In fact, I’m not sure you call that compulsion. Forced might be the more accurate adjective.
We’ve witnessed this “sense” play itself out in Hip-Hop recently. Lil’ Wayne is hardly the only one to spit terror and torture on the history that gave birth to him. Gone are the days when such audacity invited Timberland boots and golf clubs to the bodies of uninformed Rappers. On the monstrously misogynistic second single of Cleveland Rapper Kid Cudi’s upcoming album, “Make Her Say (Poke Her Face),”—also featuring the ever-conscious Common—Kanye West invokes Civil Rights icon Rosa Parks to demonstrate his financial prowess: “And That’s My Commandment, You Ain’t Gotta Ask Moses/ More Champagne, More Toastest /More Damn Planes, More Coastest/ And Fuck A Bus, The Benz Is Parked Like Rosa/.” Of course, West’s comments appear mild in the face of Atlanta Rapper Young Jeezy who had previously compared himself to MLK, Malcolm X and Jesus. And not to forget Lil’ Wayne demanding, two years ago, that a XXL interviewer “[t]alk to me like you talk to Martin Luther King or Malcolm X. You’re not going to ask him about what he thinks about what somebody said about him. You ask him about his greatness and his greatness only.” Pretty damn accurate if you ask me.
Well, since Lil’ Wayne sees fit to anoint himself the modern-day MLK and Malcolm X, I’ll appreciate any fans who can relay to him, when next he stops by, just how proud we are to have Martin Luther King or Malcolm X “wake up in the morning, take a sh**, shower, shave/ Stand over the stove and whip it like a slave.”
The lyrics of the song, which also features super-lyrical southern crew Dem Franchize Boyz, goes:
I wake up in the morning, take a sh**, shower, shave/ Stand over the stove and whip it like a slave/ I whip it like a slave, I whip it like a slave/ Stand over the stove and whip it like a slave/
This hook is maintained for a good 40 seconds (that way, it’s sufficiently ingrained in the minds of young listeners), before Mr. Carter comes in—in signature superciliousness. And just so no one misses the point of the song, he raps: “New day new yay/ Bet I whip it like Kunta Kinte/ Talking sugar, talking dough like a ben-YAY/ I take a brick, karate chop it like a sensei/.”
Of course, it’s always comical to hear Lil’ Wayne discuss the dangerous terrain of drug-dealing. Why, the multi-millionaire who had it made at 11 knows more than anyone else the perils of the dope game.. But even with this awareness, many younger fans are still desperate enough to be lied to blatantly about an experience they know he never partook in, and one which they are foreign to. On this ground, commonality is found. Most of them, you see, are White and rich.
White suburban girls can’t get enough of “Weezy,” and for good reason—he, essentially, validates the centuries-old lies told about Blackness as a racial demerit. Lil’ Wayne is the epitome of a 21st century Minstrel. Stepin’ Fetchit in the flesh. He bucks, coons, and shines, for the shillings tossed his way by far wealthier white executives at the helm of this recording industry.
“Your career is a typo/
Mine was written like a Haiku/”
And before we go any further, a couple of points must be addressed:
1). Lil’ Wayne is no gangster, no dope dealer, no Blood. He’s, in truth, merely a child star who cashed in, quite handsomely I might add, on the untimely retirement of Jay-Z in 2004. Many of us who, today, shake our heads consistently at the very thought of Lil’ Wayne being regarded the “Best Rapper Alive,” remember the laughs we shared when he first, in early 2005, declared himself that. Most saw his ambitiousness as an unwise publicity stunt, but lately, circumstances have changed considerably. What we now realize, and are forced to admit, is the enormous control of those “old White men” Mos Def sang about in “The Rape Over” (The New Danger, 2004).. Lil’ Wayne’s success, it can be safely assumed, is a product not of talent or merit but of an agenda long-drafted before he came onto the scene. At best, he’s the dummy whose strings were picked to be pulled by powerful ventriloquists in big skyscraper offices.
2). Lil’ Wayne is powerless. Just that. For one who sold an impressive 1,000,000+ copies with his latest album, Tha Carter III (200
, and has been mentioned no less than twice by the most powerful man in the world, he might be getting less respect, from his bosses, than security guards and janitors.According to the Irv Gotti golden rule of business in the Hip-Hop industry, to get whatever they want, artists must “get hot.” Well, no other artists, with the exception of Drake, is hotter than Lil’ Wayne at this point, and still, label executives and A&Rs could care less about hurt feelings, as they rip asunder his many aspirations.
In a December 2007 interview with RollingOut Television, Rap mogul Irv Gotti discussed the tricks of the Rap trade: “The key to negotiations and the key to success [is]—just get hot and stay hot, and when you go in that office and have that meeting, check your hotness..” Gotti explained how to ascertain the hotness of an artist: “Say some stupid sh**. If they kick you out [of] the office, Ni**a, you’re not that hot. If you say some outlandish sh** and they sit there and talk with you, you’re pretty hot. If you say some outlandish sh** and they thinking about doing it, Ni**a, you’re off the hook!”
So, let’s put Lil’ Wayne’s career to that test.
In 2008, at peak time, following the huge success of his now-triple platinum album, Mr. Big Shot decided he wanted to release a Rock-themed album, Rebirth. Many laughed and, apparently, some of those were executives at Universal Records—his parent company. After the release of his first single, “Prom Queen,” his manager, Cortez Bryant, was advised that the shot-callers weren’t really feeling the concept, and if Weezy “doesn't brighten up, they have to turn into Mr. Evil Record Company and just tell him it’s never going to be released.” The album was originally scheduled for an April 2009 release date. It’s been pushed back several times now, but is tentatively set for November 2009. Something tells me—this time next year Rebirth would have been shelved. The reason: Lil’ Wayne, to borrow Gotti’s term, is not hot.
The many impediments put before his collaboration album (three years in the making) with Harlem rapper Juelz Santana, I Can’t Feel My Face, provides further validation.
For this reason, I stand convinced that the concept for Lil’ Wayne’s “Whip It Like A Slave” diatribe was probably suggested by some sleazy executive whose name we might never know. This contention, however, should not be read as an excuse for the vitriolic investments these Black rappers made in the song. But I can see a scenario play out where Lil’ Wayne’s original line was “Whip It Like A Soda,” or a variant of sorts, but a snot-nosed executive heard the hook, thought a while about it, and compelled him to introduce that one word which gives it a completely different context. In fact, I’m not sure you call that compulsion. Forced might be the more accurate adjective.
We’ve witnessed this “sense” play itself out in Hip-Hop recently. Lil’ Wayne is hardly the only one to spit terror and torture on the history that gave birth to him. Gone are the days when such audacity invited Timberland boots and golf clubs to the bodies of uninformed Rappers. On the monstrously misogynistic second single of Cleveland Rapper Kid Cudi’s upcoming album, “Make Her Say (Poke Her Face),”—also featuring the ever-conscious Common—Kanye West invokes Civil Rights icon Rosa Parks to demonstrate his financial prowess: “And That’s My Commandment, You Ain’t Gotta Ask Moses/ More Champagne, More Toastest /More Damn Planes, More Coastest/ And Fuck A Bus, The Benz Is Parked Like Rosa/.” Of course, West’s comments appear mild in the face of Atlanta Rapper Young Jeezy who had previously compared himself to MLK, Malcolm X and Jesus. And not to forget Lil’ Wayne demanding, two years ago, that a XXL interviewer “[t]alk to me like you talk to Martin Luther King or Malcolm X. You’re not going to ask him about what he thinks about what somebody said about him. You ask him about his greatness and his greatness only.” Pretty damn accurate if you ask me.
Well, since Lil’ Wayne sees fit to anoint himself the modern-day MLK and Malcolm X, I’ll appreciate any fans who can relay to him, when next he stops by, just how proud we are to have Martin Luther King or Malcolm X “wake up in the morning, take a sh**, shower, shave/ Stand over the stove and whip it like a slave.”
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