THE YEAR IN WAYNE PART 4

It's hard to believe after the whole year droppin powerful cuts and fairly decent mixtapes that in the fourth quarter Lil Wayne wouldn't take it easy, ya know, to deal with his gun charges n shit. However, as we've been taught in the past, sky's the limit - so much so that Wayne's most recent collection boasts a title referencing the oft-quoted phrase. A close second to Hottest Nigga Under the Sun for Wayne mixtape of the year, this joint might even be more of a mixtape EP, seeing as there's only 14 tracks minus the interludes. While 14 tracks is still about average length for a hip hop album, we're totally used to Weezy dropping 25-30 tracks at a time. This makes the mix more easily digestible, allowing more tracks to stand as memorable. Oh, and the fact that there's a lot less godawful tracks helps too. I'ma go track-by-track on this one.

No Ceilings

1. "Swag Surfin'"

Before we even hear Wayne say a word on the first track we hear his Bic flick. Get ready - this theme will persist throughout. Without analyzing it too much I'd say he literally hits a blunt on every one of these 17 tracks, ya know, just to set him straight. "Swag Surfin'" runs just over four minutes, almost all of which features Weezy spitting lines. No real hook or chorus or anything, just spits. The beat isn't too crazy, but like usual Wayne wrings its neck (um.. he mentions Nomar Garciaparra). Not a ton of extended theme shit but I'm pretty sure he's best at one-liners anyway. Case in point:

"I'm too much for these niggas and three much for these hos"

Lil Wayne - Swag Surfin' (via Fader)

2. "Ice Cream Paint Job"

Another flick. Another few minute span of one-liners. Beat's a bit heavier than the previous track's.. can't tell which of these I like better. You make the call

"Concrete shoes won't help in the river - I don't care if you's Michael Phelps my nigga"

"If you ain't the bank teller don't tell me nothin"

...but seriously, if you ain't listening to ANYONE except for the middle-aged lady behind the counter at the bank, well... not sure how you're gona, you know... function in real life. Good thing he quit real life a while ago.

3. "D.O.A."

Jay Z will probably always be a clever dude. His new shit might not hold up against his classic material but he seems like a smart guy, you know by not becoming completely irrelevant. He ain't a slave to fads n shit, as painted by the first single from The Blueprint III, "D.O.A." ("Death of Auto-tune"). Jay's not gonna make himself sound like a fuckin chipmunk in order to push units. There's two huge rappers ('real' rappers.. not Akon/T-Pain) that absorbed auto-tune into their curriculum last year and made crazy(er) paychecks because of it, Kanye West with 808s and Herartbreak and Lil Wayne on Tha Carter III. I don't think Weezy took "D.O.A." to heart necessarily (Jay and Wayne is both Carters, right?), but he sure kills its beat and makes it his own - that's right, with no auto-tune. My only issue with the track is any part where Wayne isn't rapping. Since no one can fuck with Drew Brees, he references and makes fun of a former Saints quarterback ("I'm in the way - you can't pass like Aaron Brooks"). None of this really holds much weight as written words so you gotta hear the track, but he does this great little thing at the end of the first and second verses where he hollers at Hova like "young or old there ain't no comparin me - I just cleared that up, moment of clarity" and "Weezy Baby a.k.a. your highness I just killed this shit moment of silence." DAMN.

Lil Wayne - D.O.A.

4. "Interlude"

This portion of the mixtape is where Wayne continues to smoke weed and gets a bit bleary-eyed thanking all the fans for listening to the mixtape. You're welcome, Weezy.

5. "Wasted"

Speaking of weed, as the strings start to pump at the very beginning of "Wasted," Lil Wayne is again hitting a blunt. He's so concentrated on his Kush that he actually stops the beat after just 16 seconds to focus on the hand-eye coordination task of putting the flicked lighter to the L. The track is not skipping or corrupted, just a couple seconds' weedbreak, which makes sense seeing as the track is called "Wasted" (this might also explain the "big shit like a horse ass" line). However, this don't mean Weezy's vulnerable. Blitzed is his primo state, so don't even think that just cos he stumblin you can fuck wit him. "I'll serve anyone like a blind waiter," he warns, so be sure to keep any beef to yourself.

Also, the whole mixtape sees Wayne tryna prove that sky is the limit. This been proved over and over, especially since he name-drops fucking Jalen Rose (cos he 'ball hard') in this track before coming to an eerie realization to end the spit:

"As we look up - where did the ceilings go?"

Lil Wayne - Wasted (via Fader)

6. "Watch My Shoes"

I mean, good thing there's no ceilings in Wayne's house. I mean, how else would he absorb all that cough syrup rain been storin up overhead? That's the only explanation for the first lines of "Watch My Shoes"

"Okay - no ceilings mothafucka good mornin
dick in ya mouth when yer yawnin I'm goin in
Gudda why they started me?
Marley why they started me?
I'll bring ya to your front door like ya ordered me
back in this bitch
but a lot more rich
on my poppa bear shit need hot porridge"

The rest of this is straight fire, Weezy absolutely killing the 3 Deep beat. Again, the written word don't do this shit justice - his flow baffles, his content amazes and his insults hurt bad. Though, this is where the "Ay Man" reference pops up, with Weezy claiming "R.I.P. 'Ay Man'" since he finally decided to leave the cut off this mix. I mean, it's a fine piece of Wayne and all but there's obviously more pressing issues.

Lil Wayne - Watch My Shoes

7. "Break Up"

Shit's a slow-builder, sort of sounds like some lil squirt tappin his index finger on the hollow part of his desk to the beat of the Junior High second hand draggin by with nothin on his mind 'cept how fuckin cute the substitute teacher is. Please give this guy the strength to get in trouble (spitball, conspiracy to drop pencils, whatever) so he gets made to stay after class to sweet on dat recent post-grad. Sure she outa his league (he's fuckin twelve years old) but he got that charm, man, he got that charm. Shit's got this lullaby quality, makes certain lines sound a bit more heady than they're probably supposed to be. Example:

"Braindead flow vegetable zucchini"

Gudda Gudda got some verse on here as well, and while I usually brush the dude to the side in favor of better rappers, his flow matches the beat better than anything else he's done (assuming his output is limited to Young Money mixtapes). Oh, and Short Dawg's verse really ain't bad either but still, I'll take Wayne's brags anyday:

"Elevator in my crib cos it's five floors
I'm not expectin you to have one inside yours"

8. "Banned From T.V."

"NO CEILINS GOD DAMMIT NOW THE FUCKIN SKY SHOWIN"

9. "Throw It in the Bag (rmx)"

Eh, I mean this shit's pretty rad but I gotta say the remix with Drake probably kills it harder. Bangs harder, snaps harder, thumps harder, etc. Again, you make the call:

Lil Wayne - Throw It in the Bag (rmx)

Fabolous ft. Drake - Throw It in the Bag (Remix)

10. "I Think I Love Her"

Finally, I have beef with this mixtape. SOMETHING WENT WRONG. But.. why's that a good thing? Cos Wayne acknowledges.

"Now let me start by sayin I dont like this beat,
but I weather the storm I'ma lightning streak"

So why'd he do it? A bet? To prove he can give any shit shine? Who knows.

11. "Interlude 2"

Self explanatory, but Wayne DOES remind us that "there is no ceilins, there is only the sky and the sky is the limit. Christopher Wallace said that."

12. "Wetter"

Hm. Weird slow jam. Now really my shit, but you gotta hand it to Shanell for pleading with Weezy to "make it Wayne down on" her. Imagine that.

13. "I'm Good"

Here we go, bringin the mix back up to the first half's supremacy. "I'm Good" sounds like some horns blarin to announce some far off pharaoh back to reclaim his land, previously taken over by wack emcees that had no concept of swag or syrup ("No such thing as sobered up. You closed-minded? I shoot you in your head I bet you open up"). The camera pans to reveal a staggering amount of Egyptians on they grind (you know.. the daily push/pull of pyramid building while superiors get they whip on), but as Pharaoh Carter approaches the kushsmoke plumes start spotty, soon filling the whole scene with a thick haze smellin all grape.

"Fire alarm dick them bitches wana pull
Weezy Baby nigga I ain't just good mothafucka I'M GOO-OOD"

Try n figure that one out. But not on my time. Back to work - heave-ho, etc, etc.

14. "Make Her Say"

Wellll. Lady Gaga "Pokerface" sample. Turns it into "poke her face," you know like she givin ya some oral pleasure or something. This is a lotta fluff. It ain't TERRIBLE but you know.. awful analogies.

15. "Run This Town"

Yeah, Mr. Carter does up the whole other Carter shit again, perhaps not as jaw-dropping as "D.O.A.," but then again that shit can't be fucked with in general. The "Run This Town" beat doesn't work quite as well with Weezy as the former, but he manages to drop some weird cannibal imagery, which he continues to excel at

"Young Money run this towns, countries
I still eat rappers - mmmmm, scrumptious"

16. "I Gotta Feeling"

I don't know much about this beat except that I heard it on the radio at the bank the other day. I don't imagine this version is much better than the radio version. Probably wanna avoid this one, though for the record Wayne flicks the lighter and takes a hit on this track too.

17. "Outro"

Wayne thanks us all one last time for listenin to all the tracks and actually gives us some nice insight as to why he keeps on giving away all this music for free. More like a lil P.S.A.

"This is just a message - your beat ain't safe. I just like to have fun. And so, they asked my why did I do this. Why do you give out free music why do you do this, why WHY? Because I'm Weezy. I I I I I I'm different. I have plenty of it, so it's nothin for me to share. Priceless, that's why it's free. Yeah. No Ceilins. Please don't forget the F."

And so there you go, this has been the No Ceilings portion of The Year In Wayne, the final chapter. Appreciate you reading and all.

Lil Wayne - No Ceilings




P.S. I probably won't review Rebirth or anything (apparently droppin Feb 1). Seems like it's just going to be awful. Just sayin.