Lil Wayne/ Rebirth

Dwayne Carter, known to many as Lil Wayne, has become somewhat of a music mogul recently with snapping up artists such as the much talked about Nicki Minaj, Drake and our very own Jay Sean on his own record label, Young Money (Universal). After being ranked as one of the highest earners in hip-hop for 2009, it looked like he had arrived, but when it comes to his own music it seems Auto-Tune got the better of him and not in a good way. Maybe he should’ve listened to the track Jay-Z made about that dreadful piece of technology.

In 2008, Lil Wayne’s album, Tha Carter III, was a piece of work that set his name in stone as one of the best MCs that hip-hop had seen in a very long time, with over a million copies sold in its first week of release. His flow and the production skills used for that album was something short of amazing, but with Rebirth he switched up that successful formula that catapulted him to A-list lyricist status on Tha Carter III, to becoming a wannabe rock star that nobody wants to listen to.

The opening track, American Star, was an awful introduction and it pretty much summed up the whole sound of the album, guitars, drums and a lot of Auto-Tune usage. The vocals from his R&B act, Shanell, were an added contribution to its downfall and she also gave a helping hand to the equally terrible second track, Prom Queen. Paradice on the other hand is a track that brings out the best in Lil Wayne. You actually get to hear his deep thoughts about basically coming from no where, to becoming a worldwide star and living in his own version of paradise and the soft drum beat and hint of Auto-Tune worked, instead of trying to block out the noise of the beats so you can hear a word he’s saying and that goes on for 90% of the album.

Other stand out tracks are, On Fire, in which Mr. Carter samples Amy Holland’s Scarface original, She’s On Fire. Along with Drop The World, featuring Eminem, that means there are 3 tracks that made the grade and out of a 14 track album that is pretty poor. I think it’s fair to say that the rap-metal ensemble didn’t work this time around, there is nothing wrong with experimenting with a couple of tracks, but to make a whole album based around that sound is simply outrageous.