Wild About Wayne

Lil' Wayne just sold nearly a milli copies of his album Tha Carter IV this week. He closed the VMAs this year. And he's taking Jay-Z to task in a new diss. Now news today breaks that the BET Hip-Hop Awards has honored him with a whopping 18 nominations for his work. This ranges from Made You Look Award (honoring hip-hop style) to Best Lyricist. Interestingly enough, he faces Jay-Z in several of these categories. But the question at hand, is he rap's best or rap's most visible.

Now, I personally don't listen to a lot of Weezy's raps. Not because I don't like him, it's mainly because he reminds me of a real-life Gremlin with his speaking voice and multiple tats all over his body. Not only that but he slurs so much, I don't always understand what he's saying. But I can say, he does provide interesting guest raps in songs like "Look at Me Now" by Chris Brown and even labelmate Jay Sean's massive dance floor hit, "Down." However, there have been some missteps, like his rock flavored, Rebirth album released in the intermission between Tha Carter III and Tha Carter IV.

Lil' Wayne also has a shaky history with the law. He recently was freed from prison after a year behind bars and has had multiple arrests ranging from gun possession  to possession of illegal substances. But is he really living the life of a rapper? Or just trying to maintain attention for attention's sake. It seems to me that he is striving for creative control, but sometimes it also seems like he's over-saturating the market. I mean how else do you explain feeling like someone wasn't in jail when you hear them or see them on television on a regular basis.

Maybe this is just a result of the current business model of music. People have to get in quick and fast, making an impression the best they know how in order to keep up the money and the fame. I think Weezy is especially wise to this because before 2008's groundbreaking Tha Carter III, he was mainly known as a southern stalwart on Cash Money Records. But he steadily built his profile, appearing as a guest on records like Destiny's Child's "Soldier" and releasing a steady stream of mixtapes. It obviously worked because he reaped the rewards and awards necessary to increase his stature.

Not only that, but Lil' Wayne introduced a new stable of rappers known as Young Money featuring rap's biggest breakout acts Drake and Nicki Minaj.  But beyond that Lil' Wayne has realized that being in hip-hop these days takes stamina, depth, and focus. And you can't knock a guy for that.

Wayne's BET Noms
Lil Wayne Leads Nominations