Funeral by Lil Wayne
Lil Wayne’s newest album, Funeral dropped on Friday. For the Wayne faithful, you’ll see some familiar iterations of Mr. Carter. At times you’ll get Tha Carter 2 Wayne; sometimes Tha Carter 3 Wayne; other times, COLLEGROVE Wayne. Like any good funeral, these Waynes we all love are well represented. Of course, you also get blessed (ha) with Rebirth Wayne. Let’s take a look at the Good, the Meh, and the Ugly.
Let’s begin with the Good. When he’s at his best, Wayne can create and bend lines into place with the artistry of a master wordsmith. He’s making excellent use of slant rhymes and his word play is second to none. Wayne switches his flows up; going hard; going slow; rhyming frantically, like if he doesn’t get it out now he’ll die. “Mahogany,” “Mama Mia,” “Harden,” I Don’t Sleep,” “Ball Hard,” “Bastard (Satan’s Kid),” and “Never Mind” all fall into what we would refer to as “The Good.” Harden is the best track on the album with Wayne showing off the versatility of his delivery. He changes up his raps over inspired production.
Now for the Meh. The album starts with “Funeral,” which feels… off. The best comparison I can make is to Rebirth era Wayne. It has moments of quality, but overall, it feels imprecise. My note for “I Do” is literally, “Eh.” Wayne’s verse goes hard, but @lilbaby_1 and @bigsean do nothing for the track. “Clap For Em,” “Bing James” (with tributes to Kobe Bryant), “Not Me,” “Trust Nobody,” “Know You Know,” and “Wild Dogs” make up a very forgettable middle of the album, with the exception of @2chainz’ verse on “Know You Know.” This is when Wayne starts playing fast and loose with his slant rhymes; he’ll try to stretch things out too much and his lines come off as unintelligent (he is not) or lazy.
As for the Ugly, there’s nothing ugly on the album, even at its low points. Overall, the album is okay. It won’t live on as a Wayne classic but it certainly will be remembered better than Rebirth and Tha Carter 4. If he had released a 12 track version of Funeral, it would have had some good potential. Instead, we got some good tracks with some filler. But it’s still Wayne’s World, and he’s going to do his thing his way like he always has.