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Of course nearly everyone is aware of Wayne's prime, some say it was overrated, but I feel even with the talk of his "Best Rapper Alive" run, it still is underrated and overlooked by some. Let's take a look into some things...
Underdog
It all started in the Hot Boys. Juvenile obviously was the star of the group and had the most dominance considering his fanbase and impact at the time, he did help pave some ways. People fail to realize where Wayne came from when looking at where he is today. Some assume he was born into stardom, some assume he was just shot straight to the top, and some already know this but just fail to realize how amazing this is. Wayne was the underdog in the group, he wasn't the type for people to want to consistently check back for, sometimes he was even just an afterthought. When Hot Boys disbanded due to problems between members of the group and Birdman, Wayne had the choice to head on his own but he stayed with Baby.
Come-up
After Tha Block Is Hot, Lights Out, and 500 Degreez, it was clear that Wayne wasn't really breaking the boundaries and limitations growing up from the South had placed him in. From the southern sound in his voice and that bounce flow he had, it wasn't easy for his songs to be taken seriously or as something big in regards to the radio considering they only focused on East and West coast artists. When Tha Carter I dropped, it was clear that Wayne has learned techniques - a lot of techniques. His voice, flow, lyricism, rhyme scheme, and just about everything else nearly rose tenfold. Some speculated ghost writers, but that has been shot down due to credible interviews and contradictory statements said by Gillie Da Kid. It has been said that Wayne was influenced with his flow from Gillie and that Gillie helped with roughly 2-4 tracks tops on the album, but nothing more. Wayne basically learned, practiced, and skyrocketed from there.
Tha Carter I was the album that made people want to keep track of this young'n, who was only 21 at the time of the release. This album helped open the eyes of many people who slept on him or enlightened those that didn't know who he was, and showed them that he is definitely someone to follow. And to those that did follow and have faith in him, they definitely should be proud to know they witnessed history and was apart of it.
Tha Carter II followed a little over a year later. This album showed Wayne at a position and form that has not yet been seen before. This Wayne was an even more skilled artist than he was just a year ago. This is known as a classic album and held in high regards and used by many to show Wayne's lyrical ability, flow, dominance, charisma, and everything else. Tha Mobb, the album's leading song, is the first song that show's fans just what they're in for when they enter. It shows a hungry Wayne that completely rips the beat apart for 5 minutes. 5 minutes of nonstop rapping; no breaks, no pauses, no hooks. Tha Carter II showed a lot of soulful production and clearly still has that southern feel to it that made it seem that Wayne did not want to change for no man, and wanted to stay true to his roots. He wanted to keep pushing that southern culture down the other coasts' throats until they accepted him.
As seen in his song Shooter featuring Robin Thicke, Wayne displays his anger with the radio stations for not accepting who he is and what he represents:
"And to the radio stations, I'm tired of being patient
Stop being rapper racist, region haters
Spectators, dictators
Behind-door-dick-takers, it's outrageous
You don't know how sick you make us
I wanna throw up like chips in Vegas
But this is Southern, face it
If we too simple, then yall don't get the basics"
Relevancy
It's clear Wayne was known definitely before his shot into stardom. He was even known back in the Hot Boys days in the 90s, but mainly only in the South and not nationwide. His largest step into recognition and acknowledgement is definitely when Tha Carter dropped in June 2004. In the same year, Beyonce (in Destiny's Child at the time) got the assistance from T.I. and Lil Wayne. What, Lil Wayne? Yes, Beyonce, as big as she was at the time, got the assistance from an artist that was on the rise to stardom, and this feature only helped that even more. It was all uphill from this point on. Wayne went on a steady increase of relevancy, not only on the streets, but on the charts, radio, and mainstream as the years progressed. It wasn't until Tha Carter III dropped, after numerous pushbacks due to the leak of the original, that he became known worldwide. He broke the Hip Hop barrier and officially became a superstar. He became one of the only Hip Hop artists aside from 50 Cent and Eminem to sell 1million first week, and he is also the last with Tha Carter III nationwide, and Tha Carter IV selling 964,000 nationwide (1mil+ first week if worldwide sales are put into factor).
Dominance
Wayne's dominance is something that is taken for granted. A lot of artist's had their primes, but Wayne's prime was special. The way he controlled the streets, charts, mainstream, and everything was in complete unison. He was everywhere, whether you liked it or not. He was your favorite artist's favorite artist and influence. He was the most wanted and asked for feature and could literally be seen on nearly any song. Just imagine reliving the 06-08 time period and looking at new songs that dropped within that era and looking at all the songs in Hip Hop, then looking at the features list of each song, only to find out that Wayne was found on nearly all of them.
The crazy part of it is that he was the most asked for feature, but was also the most feared. It was known that the second Wayne touched the beat, it was his, regardless of how many artist's were on it, or who they were. He completely stole the show whether it was a verse or a hook. An example of a verse that stole the whole song was We Takin Over, and an example of a hook that he took the whole song was Duffle Bag Boy. He MADE the songs.
Swag/Attitude/Charisma
A lot of artist's have attitude, some artist's have swag, some have charisma. But the combination of them all is just a powerful mix. Wayne had that style, that attitude/charisma that just made you wanna be like him or just follow what he does and says, in an interview or a song. He popularized getting tatted from head to toe. Yes, this was done before but not in the Hip Hop community - this is the area that Wayne popularized it and also popularized lean. Keep in mind of the term I used, popularized, not started.
His attitude and charisma were something else. It was in 2004 on Tha Carter I, following the year Jay-Z dropped the Black album as his retirement album, that Wayne boldly stated "I'm the best rapper alive, since the best rapper retired" on Bring It Back.... huh? An artist that wasn't even known like that nationwide, let alone even on the level of other known artists such as Kanye at the time, saying that he's the best rapper alive? This was NOT the only time we hear this from Wayne. In Tha Carter II, Wayne had a track titled Best Rapper Alive, which had listeners wondering if Hov would feel some type of way that Wayne is just booting him out of his throne - but still, no one went forth to challenge this.
Wayne's attitude just FIT his style, it fit his swag, and fit his rhyming ability and songs. No one likes a cocky person/artist, but it was different in this case. The way Wayne presented his attitude and cockiness was easy to digest, believe, and he backed that statement up easily during these years.
Work Ethic
...I am NOT exaggerating when I say Wayne has THE greatest work ethic of any and all Hip Hop artists. No artist at all touches this man's work ethic, and I dare anyone to challenge this and show me proof that he isn't the hardest working man, or at least was, especially from 04-08 era. The easiest way to explain just the sheer amount of work Wayne has done is stating quotes from Wayne and a producer for C3. Wayne stated that on average, he tries to pump out 3 songs a day, which would mean 21 songs a week, which would be roughly 84 songs in a month. Multiply that by 12 and that's over 800 tracks in a year. With that said, one of the producers for C3 stated that Wayne originally recorded 300+ songs for the album that he let Universal and Cortez organize and create a tracklist for the album.... 300+ tracks for ONE album, that will only probably choose about 15-20 of them? That's insane. And keep in mind this is not to ignore the 100+ features he had in 2008 alone, as well as the amount he's had in 2007 too. No artist is seeing Wayne when it comes to work ethic.
Just to show how dedicated to the studio Wayne was/is:
Lyrical Ability
The way he tackled beats was just something else. He hit it hard to the point that you'd listen to the track, it'll finished, and you'd just sit there like "did I just hear that?" The thing about Wayne, is that he could go extremely deep and lyrical on a track, but even when he isn't, he would just swarm and murder the beat to the point no one could use it anymore. He could spit line-for-line on a track with each line being a punchline that had nothing to do with the previous, but then just blow you away from his delivery, flow, and attitude on the track.
Perfect example of this:
Then he could just easily switch it up with a deep lyrical song such as Tie My Hands off of Carter 3.
Game Changer
He brought a style to the table that completely flipped and changed the game to such a strong extent that even today people are still biting and using that style. The use of metaphors/similes/punchlines/etc. were used before, but not to the extent that Wayne used it. Wayne emphasized it so heavily that others were like "wow, this is pretty dope shit" and caught on and did the same thing. Some may say this was a bad thing, but it isn't at all. The use of punchlines and such doesn't have to negatively be used. You could have a song full of dope punchlines that could also have a deep meaning. There's possibilities and ways of intertwining the two together to get a great mixture.
Intelligence/Wit/Creativity
People say "oh punchlines take no thinking", but they do. Have you ever thought that when creating a punchline to the extent that Weezy has done in his past and having it rhyme with a line before/after it, while still maintaining a high level of quality may be real hard? Wayne is a very witty artist as well, as well as creative too. Talib Kweli, at his own concert, said that no one should ever talk shit about Wayne until they create a song as dope as Dr. Carter. He highly praised that song, and that song is rightly praised.
Versatility
I feel no artist is as versatile as him as well. He could hop in nearly any beat and make it sound good. He could do a love song, sad song, song for radio, song for a single that's meant to sell and reach high on the charts, street banger, trap song, song about death, anything. There's no end to what he's capable of and there's songs that back this statement up. Wayne doesn't even have a singing voice but was able to pull off songs such as Lollipop and How To Love, without making it sound awkward or weird. Wayne also has GOAT hooks under his belt such as My Life, Duffle Bag Boy, Make It Rain, etc.
Street/Mainstream Impact
Mixtapes. Mixtapes. Mixtapes. The streets were FLOODED with them. Wayne just made SURE you knew who he was. He was everywhere. His prime was so dominating that he controlled the streets and mainstream with an iron fist. Tha Carter III was an album that hit both mainstream and the streets hard too. He hit both of them with a force that felt too unreal, and I personally haven't seen something like that before since maybe 50 Cent, but even that wasn't like this.
Influence
Kendrick Lamar, Big Sean, Drake, A$AP Rocky, all of Young Money, etc. His influence can be seen nearly everywhere. And for those that don't think he influenced older artists, he has. Wayne has influenced them to heavily pick up their work ethic, and when Wayne changed the game, the whole game adjusted to how he made it sound with punchlines and such. Wayne's influence is also seen on what's known to be the "next big three" artists: Kendrick, Drake, and A$AP (that could be debated).
The thing is, we have artists such as Kendrick that's arguably dominating Hip Hop right now, but he doesn't have the package that Wayne had in his prime. Kendrick has this attitude that he's the best, but for some reason, it doesn't fit who he is well. Wayne's attitude and the way he tackled the game was in such a way that we probably will never see again. Wayne was so dominating and his mixtapes were so feared and awaited that he gained the name "Mixtape Weezy". Prime Wayne is something that no one should overlook or ignore at all.
Some say "oh Wayne took over the game when no one was there" but now look, they all came back out of nowhere huh? Face it, they were all too afraid to try to take back the game. Literally every artist just handed the WHOLE Hip Hop to this guy who carried the whole genre on his back during his prime with no opposition. He was on such a high position that even if you dissed him, all he had to say was one line to diss you back as opposed to the typical diss song return.
tl;dr Wayne's one of the greatest to ever do it
but yall already knew this. if yall ever need to explain to anyone why Wayne's so great and don't feel like explaining in-depth you could just c/p thread or something
enjoy fam
Underdog
It all started in the Hot Boys. Juvenile obviously was the star of the group and had the most dominance considering his fanbase and impact at the time, he did help pave some ways. People fail to realize where Wayne came from when looking at where he is today. Some assume he was born into stardom, some assume he was just shot straight to the top, and some already know this but just fail to realize how amazing this is. Wayne was the underdog in the group, he wasn't the type for people to want to consistently check back for, sometimes he was even just an afterthought. When Hot Boys disbanded due to problems between members of the group and Birdman, Wayne had the choice to head on his own but he stayed with Baby.
Come-up
After Tha Block Is Hot, Lights Out, and 500 Degreez, it was clear that Wayne wasn't really breaking the boundaries and limitations growing up from the South had placed him in. From the southern sound in his voice and that bounce flow he had, it wasn't easy for his songs to be taken seriously or as something big in regards to the radio considering they only focused on East and West coast artists. When Tha Carter I dropped, it was clear that Wayne has learned techniques - a lot of techniques. His voice, flow, lyricism, rhyme scheme, and just about everything else nearly rose tenfold. Some speculated ghost writers, but that has been shot down due to credible interviews and contradictory statements said by Gillie Da Kid. It has been said that Wayne was influenced with his flow from Gillie and that Gillie helped with roughly 2-4 tracks tops on the album, but nothing more. Wayne basically learned, practiced, and skyrocketed from there.
Tha Carter I was the album that made people want to keep track of this young'n, who was only 21 at the time of the release. This album helped open the eyes of many people who slept on him or enlightened those that didn't know who he was, and showed them that he is definitely someone to follow. And to those that did follow and have faith in him, they definitely should be proud to know they witnessed history and was apart of it.
Tha Carter II followed a little over a year later. This album showed Wayne at a position and form that has not yet been seen before. This Wayne was an even more skilled artist than he was just a year ago. This is known as a classic album and held in high regards and used by many to show Wayne's lyrical ability, flow, dominance, charisma, and everything else. Tha Mobb, the album's leading song, is the first song that show's fans just what they're in for when they enter. It shows a hungry Wayne that completely rips the beat apart for 5 minutes. 5 minutes of nonstop rapping; no breaks, no pauses, no hooks. Tha Carter II showed a lot of soulful production and clearly still has that southern feel to it that made it seem that Wayne did not want to change for no man, and wanted to stay true to his roots. He wanted to keep pushing that southern culture down the other coasts' throats until they accepted him.
As seen in his song Shooter featuring Robin Thicke, Wayne displays his anger with the radio stations for not accepting who he is and what he represents:
"And to the radio stations, I'm tired of being patient
Stop being rapper racist, region haters
Spectators, dictators
Behind-door-dick-takers, it's outrageous
You don't know how sick you make us
I wanna throw up like chips in Vegas
But this is Southern, face it
If we too simple, then yall don't get the basics"
Relevancy
It's clear Wayne was known definitely before his shot into stardom. He was even known back in the Hot Boys days in the 90s, but mainly only in the South and not nationwide. His largest step into recognition and acknowledgement is definitely when Tha Carter dropped in June 2004. In the same year, Beyonce (in Destiny's Child at the time) got the assistance from T.I. and Lil Wayne. What, Lil Wayne? Yes, Beyonce, as big as she was at the time, got the assistance from an artist that was on the rise to stardom, and this feature only helped that even more. It was all uphill from this point on. Wayne went on a steady increase of relevancy, not only on the streets, but on the charts, radio, and mainstream as the years progressed. It wasn't until Tha Carter III dropped, after numerous pushbacks due to the leak of the original, that he became known worldwide. He broke the Hip Hop barrier and officially became a superstar. He became one of the only Hip Hop artists aside from 50 Cent and Eminem to sell 1million first week, and he is also the last with Tha Carter III nationwide, and Tha Carter IV selling 964,000 nationwide (1mil+ first week if worldwide sales are put into factor).
Dominance
Wayne's dominance is something that is taken for granted. A lot of artist's had their primes, but Wayne's prime was special. The way he controlled the streets, charts, mainstream, and everything was in complete unison. He was everywhere, whether you liked it or not. He was your favorite artist's favorite artist and influence. He was the most wanted and asked for feature and could literally be seen on nearly any song. Just imagine reliving the 06-08 time period and looking at new songs that dropped within that era and looking at all the songs in Hip Hop, then looking at the features list of each song, only to find out that Wayne was found on nearly all of them.
The crazy part of it is that he was the most asked for feature, but was also the most feared. It was known that the second Wayne touched the beat, it was his, regardless of how many artist's were on it, or who they were. He completely stole the show whether it was a verse or a hook. An example of a verse that stole the whole song was We Takin Over, and an example of a hook that he took the whole song was Duffle Bag Boy. He MADE the songs.
Swag/Attitude/Charisma
A lot of artist's have attitude, some artist's have swag, some have charisma. But the combination of them all is just a powerful mix. Wayne had that style, that attitude/charisma that just made you wanna be like him or just follow what he does and says, in an interview or a song. He popularized getting tatted from head to toe. Yes, this was done before but not in the Hip Hop community - this is the area that Wayne popularized it and also popularized lean. Keep in mind of the term I used, popularized, not started.
His attitude and charisma were something else. It was in 2004 on Tha Carter I, following the year Jay-Z dropped the Black album as his retirement album, that Wayne boldly stated "I'm the best rapper alive, since the best rapper retired" on Bring It Back.... huh? An artist that wasn't even known like that nationwide, let alone even on the level of other known artists such as Kanye at the time, saying that he's the best rapper alive? This was NOT the only time we hear this from Wayne. In Tha Carter II, Wayne had a track titled Best Rapper Alive, which had listeners wondering if Hov would feel some type of way that Wayne is just booting him out of his throne - but still, no one went forth to challenge this.
Wayne's attitude just FIT his style, it fit his swag, and fit his rhyming ability and songs. No one likes a cocky person/artist, but it was different in this case. The way Wayne presented his attitude and cockiness was easy to digest, believe, and he backed that statement up easily during these years.
Work Ethic
...I am NOT exaggerating when I say Wayne has THE greatest work ethic of any and all Hip Hop artists. No artist at all touches this man's work ethic, and I dare anyone to challenge this and show me proof that he isn't the hardest working man, or at least was, especially from 04-08 era. The easiest way to explain just the sheer amount of work Wayne has done is stating quotes from Wayne and a producer for C3. Wayne stated that on average, he tries to pump out 3 songs a day, which would mean 21 songs a week, which would be roughly 84 songs in a month. Multiply that by 12 and that's over 800 tracks in a year. With that said, one of the producers for C3 stated that Wayne originally recorded 300+ songs for the album that he let Universal and Cortez organize and create a tracklist for the album.... 300+ tracks for ONE album, that will only probably choose about 15-20 of them? That's insane. And keep in mind this is not to ignore the 100+ features he had in 2008 alone, as well as the amount he's had in 2007 too. No artist is seeing Wayne when it comes to work ethic.
Just to show how dedicated to the studio Wayne was/is:
Lyrical Ability
The way he tackled beats was just something else. He hit it hard to the point that you'd listen to the track, it'll finished, and you'd just sit there like "did I just hear that?" The thing about Wayne, is that he could go extremely deep and lyrical on a track, but even when he isn't, he would just swarm and murder the beat to the point no one could use it anymore. He could spit line-for-line on a track with each line being a punchline that had nothing to do with the previous, but then just blow you away from his delivery, flow, and attitude on the track.
Perfect example of this:
Then he could just easily switch it up with a deep lyrical song such as Tie My Hands off of Carter 3.
Game Changer
He brought a style to the table that completely flipped and changed the game to such a strong extent that even today people are still biting and using that style. The use of metaphors/similes/punchlines/etc. were used before, but not to the extent that Wayne used it. Wayne emphasized it so heavily that others were like "wow, this is pretty dope shit" and caught on and did the same thing. Some may say this was a bad thing, but it isn't at all. The use of punchlines and such doesn't have to negatively be used. You could have a song full of dope punchlines that could also have a deep meaning. There's possibilities and ways of intertwining the two together to get a great mixture.
Intelligence/Wit/Creativity
People say "oh punchlines take no thinking", but they do. Have you ever thought that when creating a punchline to the extent that Weezy has done in his past and having it rhyme with a line before/after it, while still maintaining a high level of quality may be real hard? Wayne is a very witty artist as well, as well as creative too. Talib Kweli, at his own concert, said that no one should ever talk shit about Wayne until they create a song as dope as Dr. Carter. He highly praised that song, and that song is rightly praised.
Versatility
I feel no artist is as versatile as him as well. He could hop in nearly any beat and make it sound good. He could do a love song, sad song, song for radio, song for a single that's meant to sell and reach high on the charts, street banger, trap song, song about death, anything. There's no end to what he's capable of and there's songs that back this statement up. Wayne doesn't even have a singing voice but was able to pull off songs such as Lollipop and How To Love, without making it sound awkward or weird. Wayne also has GOAT hooks under his belt such as My Life, Duffle Bag Boy, Make It Rain, etc.
Street/Mainstream Impact
Mixtapes. Mixtapes. Mixtapes. The streets were FLOODED with them. Wayne just made SURE you knew who he was. He was everywhere. His prime was so dominating that he controlled the streets and mainstream with an iron fist. Tha Carter III was an album that hit both mainstream and the streets hard too. He hit both of them with a force that felt too unreal, and I personally haven't seen something like that before since maybe 50 Cent, but even that wasn't like this.
Influence
Kendrick Lamar, Big Sean, Drake, A$AP Rocky, all of Young Money, etc. His influence can be seen nearly everywhere. And for those that don't think he influenced older artists, he has. Wayne has influenced them to heavily pick up their work ethic, and when Wayne changed the game, the whole game adjusted to how he made it sound with punchlines and such. Wayne's influence is also seen on what's known to be the "next big three" artists: Kendrick, Drake, and A$AP (that could be debated).
The thing is, we have artists such as Kendrick that's arguably dominating Hip Hop right now, but he doesn't have the package that Wayne had in his prime. Kendrick has this attitude that he's the best, but for some reason, it doesn't fit who he is well. Wayne's attitude and the way he tackled the game was in such a way that we probably will never see again. Wayne was so dominating and his mixtapes were so feared and awaited that he gained the name "Mixtape Weezy". Prime Wayne is something that no one should overlook or ignore at all.
Some say "oh Wayne took over the game when no one was there" but now look, they all came back out of nowhere huh? Face it, they were all too afraid to try to take back the game. Literally every artist just handed the WHOLE Hip Hop to this guy who carried the whole genre on his back during his prime with no opposition. He was on such a high position that even if you dissed him, all he had to say was one line to diss you back as opposed to the typical diss song return.
tl;dr Wayne's one of the greatest to ever do it
but yall already knew this. if yall ever need to explain to anyone why Wayne's so great and don't feel like explaining in-depth you could just c/p thread or something
enjoy fam
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