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  • » Name: Amanda Bassa
  • » Location: VA
  • » Member Since: 09/21/07
  • » Bio: student, future change maker, and everything you wouldn't expect me to be.
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The Undisputed Truth

Weezy Can't Leave Rap Alone


January 02, 2008 | Tags: Lil Wayne, longevity

I realized something today that made me cringe. Well, a few things actually. First of all, I am an old fart in a 19-year-old’s body that has the joints of an 80-year-old arthritic woman, and I need gym action, stat. Second, I realized that (brace yourselves) Lil Wayne has been releasing music since like 1995. It is now 2008, and you know what that means? Weezy F. Baby has been at it for thirteen years now. That’s more than a decade. That’s more than half of my lifetime. I really never realized that it had been that long. I hope I’m not the only one.

See, this presents a problem though. I mentioned in an earlier blog that I have to give a lot of credit to artists (and not even just rap artists) that can maintain a musical career for that long and remain relevant and in the radar of the masses – including the younger demographics. And, uh, that means that I need to actually give the rapper (who always talks and raps like he has something in his mouth, but I’m not about to go into what that something may be. Extra drizzling of fruity sauce on that statement, by the way) props, despite the fact that he makes me stare at the stereo in my car with that “what the fuuuuuck was that” sort of look of disbelief and terror a lot of times these days. Remember this day, because you may never see it happening again in this blog. Now excuse me while I go bang my head against a wall a few times to kill the brain cells that actually allowed Weezy to find his way into my longevity hall of fame.

OK, I’m good now. Back to sensible matters of business.

Aside from the fact that it’s obviously better to be a well-established artist rather than a one hit wonder, there’s something about somebody who achieves longevity in the world of rap music that I very much adore. Instead of releasing an album or two within the span of a couple of years, and having a few hit singles on the radio, the artist that lasts in the mainstream for a decade or more is easy to observe while they progress and grow. Just look at how people like Jay-Z have evolved stylistically since they started out. Look at where they’re at now. You don’t get the advantage of watching artists enhance (or in some unfortunate cases, lose) their skills over time if one just makes a track that sparks the newest dance craze and then goes on ghost mode from rap.

The way I see it, the best method to use to measure the state of rap music these days isn’t by the one hit wonders that pop up every now and then and put the notoriously crappy music onto the airwaves. Rather, we should be judging the state of rap these days on how the veterans are sounding as of late. The day when all of the people who have been at this shit on a large scale for 15+ years and are still at it are all putting out shitty music? Then a decline in quality is definitely evident and proven. But come to think of it…I still haven’t seen that day happen. Long live the beautiful sound that is rap music. And long live longevity.


The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the writer and not necessarily those of HipHopDX.com or Cheri Media Group.

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