It’s relatively plain: Lil Wayne has been lost, fumbling in the dark, ever since his release from prison. The reasons are endlessly debatable and ultimately irrelevant, the fact remains: he hasn’t exactly released material up to his own standard since No Ceilings. Rebirth, at least, in all its cheesy, awful rock glory was a genuinely baffling misstep, endlessly amusing and attention worthy. What’s followed, from I Am Not a Human Being to the borderline treasonous Carter IV, have been tired, unfocused puffs in the elephantine cloud created by the Young Money empire.
Another truth is one all know but prefer to ignore: Weezy has been completely, and unilaterally, eclipsed by his apprentice. It’s in Drake’s shadow that Lil Wayne has spent the past few years, with IV’s only decent single completely guided and sold by his hook. “She Will” fit neatly into the commercial juggernaut so carefully constructed by the younger Young Money star. It was easily a hit.
Lost among it all was Wayne’s own voice. You don’t get to be one of the highest profile figures in rap without having a bit of flair of your own, and it goes without saying that Weezy has truckloads to spare. Yet, within the climate created by Drake’s pop movement, few considered where Wayne actually belonged in it all, least of all, apparently, himself. Trying to relate the typical Wayne message of ‘get bitches’ present in this track with 2011’s “How to Love” is an impossibly amusing affair, but sheds endless light on the MC’s awkward lack of footing in hip hop’s new atmosphere.
In 2013, Wayne is only fading further from the picture. “Bitches Love Me” is, essentially, the archetypal rap single for 2013. Mike Will Made It is making everything this year, and with Future and Drake on the hook, how could you go wrong? Where is Lil Wayne in all this? Spitting two disheartening, confused verses, adrift amongst the sing-song tapestry woven by his contemporaries. Drake, on the other hand, has downsized from the bitesize hook of “She Will” to, well, one line of dialogue. Who can blame him? For a hit, this works. But when you’re one of the biggest in it and you’re outpaced by, quite literally, a solitary line it might be time to find yourself in the music again.
