arguing lil wayne's credentials for the crown of hip hop is a debate that has been waged online on every blog you click but one that has long since missed the point. while the initial hype following tha carter II and the dedication series might have been a bit premature he has earned his spot at the throne due to the sheer output of material unique swag and a rabid following unmatched in todays stale music industry. wayne isn't the best rapper alive by any definition of the words 'best' 'rapper' or 'alive' but for this era he will go down as its biggest star. so it shouldn't come as a shock to the wayne supporters why he has faced so much backlash. he represents a number of the problems with the era as a whole (kid rapper, southern rapper, ringtone rapper) he almost never makes a record of any substance, rarely makes much sense, and lacks a general point on his songs. these traits can be misconstrued as negatives when associated with wayne but they are also key reasons why he is the king. for all the garbage rappers who share more with wayne than they do with black thought he is the one who has emerged from the pack to become something else altogether turning these negatives into positives. wayne shouldn't be good at all he has too many holes in his game to be one of the best yet he is. his non sequitur stream of consciousness flow is what separates him from the pack of poseurs wannabes has-beens and never was rappers. in an industry where everyone sounds the same wayne is the voice of reason and insanity. he is my generations rapper.
for every fan riding wayne's dick over the past two years there have been countless others who have sought to challenge his rise. for those bloggers it would have been pure vindication if during their lonely and methodical pursuit they had discovered the evidence needed to forever discredit his standing. first came the pictures of him kissing birdman his father figure slash slave master. then came the allegations from gillie the kid of ghostwriting. then wayne was burned out and put out a mixtape using the vocoder t-pain popularized. the blogs were all set to declare this a flop before it came out but as usual poetic justice has no place in the world of rap.
hyperbole will be pilled on in both directions of tha carter III debate. neither are right. tha carter III is a masterful collection of the coked up insane ramblings of the hardest working man in show business during the youtube era. it is held back from classic status due to sub par radio singles especially the wyclef jean produced track but it has moments of brilliance. on 'mr. carter' wayne holds his own with jay-z. the rap equivalent of kobe keeping up with jordan during a pickup game. 'i heard somebody say church ima need a suit/ imma need a coop/ i wont need a roof/ flyer than beetlejuice, beetlejuice, beetlejuice' you can hear the joy in wayne's voice on the song. he's come a long way from the prefix where he was a kid growing up rapping over his favorite rappers beats emulating his flow. on 'mr. carter' wayne is all grown up and the featured star of the show. if you can't enjoy an album that has references to stuart scott, aldolf hitler, macho man randy savage, dennis rodman, diego corrales, elian gonzalez, a song where wayne compares himself to martin luther king and asks to be assassinated like him, and a six minute rant at the end of 'Misunderstood' on why crack dealers shouldn't be sent to prison when pedos can get free along with a few minutes of dissing al sharpton for being a bad leader of the blacks all while smoking a blunt then you have no soul
