There is perhaps no one in Hip Hop with more familiarity with posse cuts, guest appearances and
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past month or so, then you already know that New
New Orleans MC and codeine enthusiast, Lil Wayne has sold over a million copies (1,005,545 to
Much has changed since Fat Joe first came on the scene as a hard core, East Coast, boom bap enthusiast with the legendary “Digging in the Crates” (DITC) crew in the mid 90s. Since the rotund MC dropped his first album “Represent” in 1993 and more notably his seminal “Jealous Ones Envy” in 1995 hip hop has seen the death of its two largest icons in Tupac and Biggie, his crew member Big L as well as his friend and protégé Big Pun. Violence and death alone is enough to disillusion any hip hop enthusiast but changing styles and fickle fans tastes have pushed many artists into unwilling early retirement. Fat Joe has been able to stand as a shining example of perseverance in a culture that disposes of its artists on almost a daily basis. He has been able to collect different approaches to recording, flow patterns, beats and allegiances as often as he does sneakers in his massive collection.
Critically some have lambasted his later career as “trend jumping”, and as of late his record sales have dwindled significantly. But, the fact that people still care and that he’s still talked about speaks volumes. From his recent exchange of lyrical jabs with 50 cent and physical jabs with Papoose it doesn’t seem that he’s going anywhere soon. The latest remix of his song “Ain’t Sayin’ Nuthin” from his album “The Elephant in the Room” shows how he has persevered so long. Sonically the song is dramatic mesh of synthesizers, piano chimes and rapid fire drums. Joe wisely teams up with possibly the biggest mainstream forces on the west and south in Lil Wayne and The Game in an end to end brag fest with each artists attempting to outdo the other in a test of bravado and swagger.
Listen to the track [HERE]
Say what you will about Lil Wayne, but it is obvious that he is quickly becoming one of the most dominant artists in not just hip hop but in music over all. The New Orleans natives’ relentless work ethic, his ability to unconsciously string together similes and metaphors and his penchant for virtually transforming his vocal timbre into a flow that almost becomes a musical instrument over tracks has made him omnipresent on the radio, videos and mix tapes. Though still a young man Wayne is a seasoned veteran whose skill has grown by leaps and bounds. He routinely releases energetic verses that play with rhyme patterns and tweaks flow in a state in hip hop when MCs all seemingly rely on the safe conventional conversational approach. His subject matter is almost a schizophrenic as he bounces between the humorous and emotional but it culminates in a formula that has garnered him the respect of certain legendary MCs and the wrath of others.
However, with popularity comes backlash and eventually unabashed hatred. Seemingly unaffected by the new crop of naysayers Wayne continued his onslaught on the listening public by releasing “Lollipop” the first single of his highly anticipated, long delayed “The Carter III”. The track is a hazy codeine induced song the combines a slow down tempo electro hip hop sound complete with auto tune vocals. When released, the song went number one on the charts almost immediately ensuring the public will hear the track all summer long and confirming Wayne’s popularity. Not content to rest on his laurels Wayne has recently released a remix to the song with arguably the other most popular MC on the planet Kanye West. On the remix, the playful vibe of the original is shifted a bit as the track becomes a trade of verse amongst two MCs who are now safely heavyweights in the game.
