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"When I usually premiere mixtapes I always have the Review in the back of my mind. Once the mixtape gets dropped I usually spend the next 48 hours listening to the mixtape front to back over and over again. Each time trying to gather something from it that I missed the last listen through. I find my favorite tracks, listen to lyrics, analyze beat production, and mood, I take pride in doing a full analysis of the mixtape. After analyzing I like to reflect on some of the other works provided by the Artist as a way to evaluate the production. As I said before this usually comes easy, but the Dedication 4 has not been an easy tape to review, I barely listened to it twice. Because when I look back at Waynes previous productions, and compare it to this latest dedication, it just doenst belong.
Lil Wayne started his rap career at the age of 17, boosting onto the scence with the HotBoys on the track “Bling Bling”. This kid was the talk of the rap game, creating a phrase that till this day is widely used to describe anything that is flashy, over the top, and shining. The iced out Hummers, the chains, the huge mansions, the video was like a coming out party for Hip Hop into the Mainstream of what was a lucrative and strong record industry. (This was long before the IPOD folks) Lil Wayne was able to take mediocre rappers like Mannie Fresh, and Baby aka Birdman and make them relevant. He took a Hip Hop group from Lousiana that featured M.C.’s like Turk, Juvenile, and BG and gave them that extra bit of energy that took them over the top. YMCMB is huge right now, and a large part of its success is not because of Wayne, but because of the artists that he has signed and keeps in his click. (Niki Minaj, Drake, Tyga) But YMCMB started off as the Cash Money Millionaires, which eventually became the Cash Money Billionaires, but it wasn’t on the backs of Baby, Juvenile, or BG, it was the young gun of the click that carried and propelled the label out of this atmosphere. I dont mean to make it seem like Wayne just showed up and took over the game. In the onset of his career he relied heavily on the group around him. Juvenile was an established Southern rap success, with a large fan base and some banging tracks, Mannie Fresh was at the top of the producing world, providing beats for the whole team. Wayne was good, had tons of potential, but he wasnt seeing the success yet. Something changed, Wayne got hungry the mediocrity that surrounded him from his first two albums The Block is Hott and 500 Degreez was slowly being thrown out the window especially when he started dropping his SQAD UP mixtapes. Similiar to his Dedication series the SQAD UP mixtapes saw Wayne rapping over some of the hottest beats from some of the best singles out. Unlike D4 Wayne would destroy these beats, he would gobble em up and spit out some of the sickest wordplay you had ever heard. He was driven, he was hungry, he had something to prove. Those SQAD UP tapes are where I send anyone who doubts Wayne has talent, you will hear some of the best of lil Wayne on these tapes. SQ5 and SQ7 being my favorites, many people still dont know about these tapes. SQAD isnt what sent Lil Wayne to the top, its when he chose to bring out the Carter, where things changed. Tha Carter and tha Carter II are hip hop classics, tracks like “Fireman” “Grown Man” “Shooter” “Hustler Muzik” “Go DJ” “Earthquake” the list goes on. Lil Wayne began to set himself apart and could be seen as the best. But even as Tha Carter III came out you started to see Wayne loosing interest, and experimenting with Autotune, which just made his music less and less apealing. Today were left with an M.C. whos lifestyle has taken over his musical talents. He is clearly F*#ked up on all sorts of drugs, I havent heard him say a complete sentence in years, and what was once lyrical content has turned into standing on skateboards creating idiotic metaphors about making women wet. I mean come on Wayne.The only thing this mixtape has left me saying is wheres Mr. Carter ? What am I listening to? The best track on your mixtape has your verse begining with “I dont even like this beat”. HELLO!?!?! Special Delivery when it dropped was the illest track in Hip Hop, this was still when Bad Boy ran the Hip Hop game. The main reason its the best is because J. Cole , who shouldn’t even be on your level (Nothing against Cole, Wayne is just a legend) stole it from you. Wayne’s been through alot, plenty of controversy, plenty of musical experimentation, and of course setting the trend for drawing all over yourself. But wheres Mr. Carter ? I really hope that Wayne is able to find who he used to be, and create music thats not only entertaining, but has substance. If D4 is any indication of what we have to expect from Wayne in the future, Mr. Carter is dead and gone."
Article here: Lil Wayne- Dedication 4 // Mixtape Review | Fresh Hip Hop
Sounds like he knows what he's talking about, he mentioned SQ mixtapes, etc. His rating for D4 was harsh, but I still see where he's coming from since he's basing it off of him overall or w/e lol..
He said 2.6/5, so 5.2/10
Edit: See what it says on the pic? "LilWayneHQ.com"
Lil Wayne started his rap career at the age of 17, boosting onto the scence with the HotBoys on the track “Bling Bling”. This kid was the talk of the rap game, creating a phrase that till this day is widely used to describe anything that is flashy, over the top, and shining. The iced out Hummers, the chains, the huge mansions, the video was like a coming out party for Hip Hop into the Mainstream of what was a lucrative and strong record industry. (This was long before the IPOD folks) Lil Wayne was able to take mediocre rappers like Mannie Fresh, and Baby aka Birdman and make them relevant. He took a Hip Hop group from Lousiana that featured M.C.’s like Turk, Juvenile, and BG and gave them that extra bit of energy that took them over the top. YMCMB is huge right now, and a large part of its success is not because of Wayne, but because of the artists that he has signed and keeps in his click. (Niki Minaj, Drake, Tyga) But YMCMB started off as the Cash Money Millionaires, which eventually became the Cash Money Billionaires, but it wasn’t on the backs of Baby, Juvenile, or BG, it was the young gun of the click that carried and propelled the label out of this atmosphere. I dont mean to make it seem like Wayne just showed up and took over the game. In the onset of his career he relied heavily on the group around him. Juvenile was an established Southern rap success, with a large fan base and some banging tracks, Mannie Fresh was at the top of the producing world, providing beats for the whole team. Wayne was good, had tons of potential, but he wasnt seeing the success yet. Something changed, Wayne got hungry the mediocrity that surrounded him from his first two albums The Block is Hott and 500 Degreez was slowly being thrown out the window especially when he started dropping his SQAD UP mixtapes. Similiar to his Dedication series the SQAD UP mixtapes saw Wayne rapping over some of the hottest beats from some of the best singles out. Unlike D4 Wayne would destroy these beats, he would gobble em up and spit out some of the sickest wordplay you had ever heard. He was driven, he was hungry, he had something to prove. Those SQAD UP tapes are where I send anyone who doubts Wayne has talent, you will hear some of the best of lil Wayne on these tapes. SQ5 and SQ7 being my favorites, many people still dont know about these tapes. SQAD isnt what sent Lil Wayne to the top, its when he chose to bring out the Carter, where things changed. Tha Carter and tha Carter II are hip hop classics, tracks like “Fireman” “Grown Man” “Shooter” “Hustler Muzik” “Go DJ” “Earthquake” the list goes on. Lil Wayne began to set himself apart and could be seen as the best. But even as Tha Carter III came out you started to see Wayne loosing interest, and experimenting with Autotune, which just made his music less and less apealing. Today were left with an M.C. whos lifestyle has taken over his musical talents. He is clearly F*#ked up on all sorts of drugs, I havent heard him say a complete sentence in years, and what was once lyrical content has turned into standing on skateboards creating idiotic metaphors about making women wet. I mean come on Wayne.The only thing this mixtape has left me saying is wheres Mr. Carter ? What am I listening to? The best track on your mixtape has your verse begining with “I dont even like this beat”. HELLO!?!?! Special Delivery when it dropped was the illest track in Hip Hop, this was still when Bad Boy ran the Hip Hop game. The main reason its the best is because J. Cole , who shouldn’t even be on your level (Nothing against Cole, Wayne is just a legend) stole it from you. Wayne’s been through alot, plenty of controversy, plenty of musical experimentation, and of course setting the trend for drawing all over yourself. But wheres Mr. Carter ? I really hope that Wayne is able to find who he used to be, and create music thats not only entertaining, but has substance. If D4 is any indication of what we have to expect from Wayne in the future, Mr. Carter is dead and gone."Article here: Lil Wayne- Dedication 4 // Mixtape Review | Fresh Hip Hop
Sounds like he knows what he's talking about, he mentioned SQ mixtapes, etc. His rating for D4 was harsh, but I still see where he's coming from since he's basing it off of him overall or w/e lol..
He said 2.6/5, so 5.2/10
Edit: See what it says on the pic? "LilWayneHQ.com"
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