I know the words I’ve got to say and the subjects I’ve got to talk about. When I do my Carter albums, I know I’ve got to rap, I know I’ve got to spit.
“When I said I was doing a rock album, it was about doing a freedom thing. When Wayne is prompted to discuss recording Rebirth, he says: Tim Westwood manages a short interview on Wayne’s tour bus. Wayne did explain these motives, and his response is particularly illuminating. In this case, critics’ expectations for Tha Carter III’s successor were dashed aside by Wayne’s new vocal aesthetic and concept.Ĭritics’ lack of awareness about Wayne’s motives for recording Rebirth partially explains their disapproval. We can see how critics build a canon of musical expectations around an artist, and are many times unwilling to accept new music that conflicts with their predispositions. Wayne may never be so daring again, but now that we are a few years past the emotional outbursts of these critics, a look back at this short-lived phase of Wayne’s career reveals how critics process music that falls outside an artists’ expected norm. It is astonishing that an album by an artist whose previous release ( Tha Carter III) sold one million copies in one week could be met with such violent critical opposition. With luck, Wayne will return to what he does best – and soon.” Jon Pareles gives some career advice in the New York Times : “Instead of branching out or crossing over, Lil Wayne would be better off guarding his home turf.” Times is of a similar opinion: “‘Rebirth’ deserves its reputation as one of the worst albums of the year so far. Īllison Stewart includes a track by track breakdown of Rebirth in her review for the Washington Post, describing the CD as “profoundly, irretrievably awful…Worse than how it sounds, though, is what it does: It takes the best, and certainly the most self-affirming, rapper in the world and unmoors him, reduces him to an uncertain-sounding amateur on Van Halen karaoke night.” Rebirth however, is a fascinating album, and its struggles were mostly due to critics’ incomprehension of Wayne’s intentions and the vocal aesthetic that strongly contrasts with Wayne’s previous release, Tha Carter III. Following the release of Rebirth in 2010, Wayne has not strayed from a more traditional hip hop aesthetic.
This was something he had never done before, and has not done since. Fans will remember his most recent fall from grace ( Rebirth ) as an utter failure critically, an album so despised that in order to redeem himself, Wayne released another record ( I Am Not A Human Being ) in the same year. With this year’s release of I Am Not A Human Being 2, Lil Wayne returns to solidify his position in the rap world.