'Rebirth' of a rap superstar..

Lil Wayne has proven in the past few years that he's your typical southern rapper, having pushed himself far away from his Cash Money roots. He hasn't lost who he used to be, but instead added a quirky, eccentric, hip-hop response to Kurt Cobain type of personality to his music. We almost never know what to expect from him in interviews, performances, and albums, and with the release of his newest single from his rock inspired album "Rebirth", we're taken on yet another roller coaster ride, courtesy of Dwyane Carter.


"Hot Revolver" in theory should be a nice song. The instrumental is catchy, Wayne's guitar playing is actually not as horrible as people might assume, but combining all of that with his unique rap sounds and over auto-tuning, the song is a creative project blown up in a million pieces. The saving grace of the song ends up being the background vocals on the chorus, which gives it the only sense of catchiness throughout the song. Lil Wayne is not a singer, obviously, but the over digitization of his voice only magnifies the alien qualities that made him so unique and the song ends up making the fans possibly reaching for a revolver. To end their misery, of course.

However, I will say this in Wayne's defense; He's taking a very bold and interesting risk with this album, and maybe it's not that the songs are bad, but they just don't catch the full energy of Lil Wayne. That is the ultimate disappointment because he is like lightning in a bottle when he performs, but so far this is sounding like a spring shower in a cup. I'll sit back and wait for the final act myself.