So after the general disappointment that was Public Enemy, Mr. Carter saved the day with this mixtape, a combination of previously released tracks without DJ drops and a buncha new shit. The absence of drops even makes "The Beach Boys song" sound better, though now it's called "Relationships" instead of "Girls Forever" (though still fairly unlistenable). It's still not as cohesive as Hottest Nigga Under the Sun, but the cuts are more interesting all around.
Official White Label (The Second Edition)
"Ready For the World" and "Relationships," the first and second tracks, are recycled from Public Enemy, but there's a new track in "Baseball Sex" immediately following. Wayne's verse isn't awful (but Mack Maine's is) and the beat is rad.. sort of some less minimal "Drop It Like It's Hot" shit. A couple tracks later Nikki Minaj does some mostly annoying spitting on "I Get Crazy," then "We Be Steady Mobbin" repeats, again from Public Enemy. Ya gotta bear with Gucci Mane on this one, cos even though he struggles to breathe with all those marbles in his mouth, Wayne's verses outnumber his. Plus Weezy says
"I'm so hot you'll probably catch a tan around this motherfucker"
..which is one of the best one-liners of his career.
"I'm Goin In" repeats as well but this time, again, there's no watermarks and the name is changed to "Harder Than Ever." Theres a little Young Jeezy verse stuck on the end too, which isn't at all necessary.
There's another re-play a bit later that's really just awful, "The Same Shit" featuring Juelz Santana. It's about how Wayne survived Katrina and Juelz survived 9/11. Now hold on... it's 2009. Katrina was 2005... and 9/11 was 2001. I'm not sayin "GET OVER IT DUDES" by any means cos those are tragic tragedies and all, but come on. I'm sure there's something more pressing/relevant/crunk to rap about.
"Ask Me" throws a new beat under Kanye's excellent verse on Rhymefest's "Brand New"
"the survey says by the streets accordin'
Kanye just as important as Michael Jordan
was to the NBA when he was scorin'
Ralph Lauren was borin' before I wore him"
and couples it with Wayne lines from "Cannon" in the second half (actually.. another very good recycling of Wayne's "Cannon" verse can be found in the track "Lost Boys" from the Night of the Living Dead mixtape).
Lil Wayne - Ask Me
"Actor" is pretty great as well, some awesome looped horn sample matched in the mix by Wayne's flow which might have for the first time actually been part of the beat rather than the dominating squeaky firespitter up on top of it. This is due to the repetition of "did it before"s and other similar 4-syllable bites, the sum of which create some sort of convoluted tale of remembering yer (many) sexual partners.
Lil Wayne - Actor
Next is "What It Iz," the better version of "The Best" from Public Enemy with Kanye and Jay Z. Track's got a summer-fresh beat, sexy-cool spats and a syrup-drenched chorus from a flawlessly autotuned 'Ye. Really, this has potential for summer jam 2010.
Lil Wayne - What It Iz
"How Ya Doin" is sandwiched between "What It Iz" and "Stay Late" but really doesn't need to be there cos it's just "Ay Man" from Hottest Nigga (note: Wayne mentions this theme on No Ceilings a.k.a. hold fast til next post). "Stay Late" is another Drake track that he pretty much kills
"Me and Weezy like a mouth full of hot peppers"
It's either true that they sputter hot jalapenos or I've been bombarded with too much Drizzy, which is entirely possible considering I survived most of 2009.
"Fix My Hat" is crazy too, if not for the beat on the verse then for the rad "hold up hold up lemme fix my hat" hook (oh, and "Weezy F Baby ga-ga goo-gooin'").
Lil Wayne - Fix My Hat
There's some other alright stuff between then and the end, but I really gotta note the last track, simply titled "Bonus Track." Here we get Weezy puttin on his best Rasta fire-spit accent. For some reason it's even edited for radio play, but we're still treated to this pretty gruesome murder spree/cannibal imagery:
"TURN YOUR BLOCK INTO A RESTAURANT, ORDER AND LEAVE
WHAT ARE YOU HAVIN'? ORGANS, PLEASE."
Honestly it's a good listen as a whole, but will probably go down better broken up and minus the shitty tracks. As expected it's bit drawn out and lacks enough exclusives to really make its mark, but I mean it IS a Lil Wayne mixtape after all.
Lil Wayne - Official White Label (The Second Edition)
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