Looks like “Rebirth” might be overdue

According to allhiphop.com, it seems that Lil’ Wayne’s “rock” album entitled “Rebirth” release date has been pushed back.

Okay, I truly have mixed feelings about this whole thing, the first feeling is
confused yet but civil about the matter.

As we know, Lil’ Wayne has been successful in the rap world. With various mix tapes and the juggernaut of an album “The Carter III”, Lil’ Wayne has been declared as “best rapper alive”. But, like many established artists, Lil’ Wayne, real name DeWayne, wants to branch out into another genre to express himself, in this case, thru rock music. I can imagine the distribution label and marketing department being confused, in a panic about what to do with a “Lil Wayne rock album”. Aside from Lil’ Wayne being a fan of Nirvana, I’m not sure why he’s going into the rock realm as of now.

Now it’s time to hide the kids, here’s the raw version of what I really think.

The whole “Lil Wayne mania” is lost on me. I guess I’m kind of like those old school wrestlers who couldn’t figure out what was so good about Hulk Hogan. The thing that pisses me off about Lil’ Wayne is that I feel he’s jumping on this “party like a rock star” poser bullshit that The Shop Boyz started two summers ago. When I was younger, people such as myself were persecuted and made fun of for our varied taste in music. To those outside of the realm of AfroPunk, rock was “white boy shit” or it was “how can you listen to that stuff?” Now, you have the same people who attacked our varied taste in music wearing fuckin’ band tees and have never even heard of the group that’s on their chest. To me, that’s like wearing a family reunion T-shirt and not being apart of that family, or not know their history.


Don’t get me wrong, there are tons of other rappers, past and present, who have rock-tinged rap music … because they’re fucking fans of rock! Those artists include, Esham, Ice-T, Run D.M.C. ,Tech N9ne, DMX, Public Enemy, Cypress Hill, Method Man, Three Six Mafia, Outkast, Beastie Boys (they were a hardcore punk band, but got into rap), Snoop Dogg, and the biggest surprise but non-surprise, Lil’ Jon! Lil’ Jon is a big fan of rock music, namely The Ramones, Sex Pistols, and Bad Brains. Lil’ Jon even had the rhythm section of Bad Brains (Darryl Jenifer, Earl Hudson and Dr. Know) play “Re-Ignition” on his remix for “Real Nigga Roll Call”. In fact, Jonathan Smith, also known as Lil’ Jon, was a skate punk. With all that combine, Lil’ Jon’s rock credibility has been validated, and I await the release of his rock influenced album “Crunk Rock”. But, like Lil’ Wayne’s “Rebirth”, the release date for “Crunk Rock” has been pushed back as well.

Random Fact: The Beastie Boys were a hardcore punk band, but they didn’t start out that way. They started the band as a joke, and chose the name Beastie Boys as a tribute to Bad Brains (Double B’s).

After reading my rants, have you noticed the common trend? If you’ve watched the documentary “Electric Purgatory”, then you learned most record labels see color first, and music second when it comes to their black artists. Even though I have my doubts on the genuineness of a rock album from Lil Wayne, I do see it as the label putting race first and music second. When will the madness end?

Update: Rebirth has been released and it sucked and Lil Wayne is now in Riker’s Island…for weapons charges not being a sucker MC.