Weezy attempts to rock

Lil Wayne’s seventh studio album, Rebirth, is the popular rapper’s first foray into rock music. Though the album doesn’t completely abandon rap, Lil Wayne stays true to a rock theme through most of the disc.  Is this new direction for the critically acclaimed rapper a rewarding one?

The short answer is no.  While Weezy dedicated himself to this new album with a reckless abandon — the album was delayed several times so Wayne could make it “perfect” — the results are less than inspiring.  Muddy instrumentation and the erratic use of auto-tune run rampant throughout the album, and without Weezy’s signature rap prowess, many of the songs fall flat.  Finding highlights on Rebirth is less about finding the good and more about avoiding the bad.

From the very beginning of the album, we realize that Wayne is very serious about his new endeavor.  Opening track “American Star” is a generic R&B inspired rock song accented near the end by a terrible, distorted guitar solo from Wayne.  “Get a Life” features a totally absurd call and response chorus and is a close second in the competition for worst song of the album.  That title should be reserved for the following song, the sex rap “On Fire,” that uses a terrible metaphor of a 9/11 firefighter to describe how Weezy’s girl is “hot.”  The best song here is “Drop the World,” a blustering and powerful rap, but Eminem’s appearance on it is unnecessary and uninspired.

So what’s the bottom line with this record?  If you didn’t like Lil Wayne’s previous work, you won’t like this album.  If you are a Weezy fan, you probably won’t like this album.  If you really want to listen to some Lil Wayne, the recent “No Ceilings” mixtape is a much better bet.  Hopefully this “rock” experiment will remind Lil Wayne what he is good at: rapping.