Lil Wayne is one of the key hip-hop artists of the early and early 2010s. Nas called him beloved MC, P. Diddy - a genius, Drake - a teacher. Lil Wayne sold about 100 million records and won five Grammy awards, including the Best Rap Album nomination in 2009.
Music, lyrics
Lil Wayne is considered a bright representative of the southern style. At the beginning of his career, he combined a Western aggressive reading style with more complex complex texts that were more characteristic of the east coast, including catchy punches, unpredictable rhymes, and puns.
Carter experimented a lot with flow. In working with his voice, he became a trendsetter, ahead of his time and determined the vector of hip-hop development.
The rapper made the most extensive use of the capabilities of the speech apparatus, avoiding the monotonous reading of the text. He changed the timbre of his voice, made unusual sounds (growl, high sounds, scream). Lil Wayne used subsequently very fashionable auto tunes and the Cloud manner. Wizzie switched to singing, adding to the performance of tricks borrowed from rock and reggae musicians.
As for the texts, they contain a huge number of shock lines, sometimes absurd, but often very fresh. Eminem noted that many lines of Lil Wayne understands only the fourth or fifth listening to the track.
Many criticize Wayne's texts for inconsistency and lack of conceptuality. The rapper has never been distinguished for his storytelling skills, both within the framework of one track and during the compilation of the album. If you compare the lines from different songs of Lil Wayne, you can notice their inconsistency. This is especially pronounced in early work.
On the other hand, according to some critics, the created image of a “rapper without a position” is a satire on modern hip-hop, in which form and presentation are valued higher than the content, or ridicule of an overly serious approach to music, when the performer wants to look almost not the messiah.
Image
Much of what Wayne did in the late 90s and early 2000s was becoming a trend. To verify this, just look at how many American (and not only) rappers have taken a pseudonym containing the English word "lil".
Wayne was one of the first to show that a rapper is not necessarily wide t-shirts and even wider pants. An indispensable external attribute of Carter was repeatedly borrowed by the performers of 10 tattoos on the face and dreadlocks.
In public, the rapper likes to appear with a naked torso, expensive jewelry and dark glasses.
In the videos, Lil Wayne either plays the role of a smiling millionaire spoiled by a beautiful life, or appears as a tough and aggressive guy from the outskirts, which was the musician at the beginning of his career.
Collaboration with performers
Lil Wayne is known for a huge number of tracks created in duets with various artists.
He recorded his main hit Lollipop with the talented rapper and producer Static. Another popular song, Got money, was born in collaboration with T-Pain, which was experiencing the peak of fame at that time.
Among the hip-hop artists that Lil Wayne worked with include DJ Khaled, TI, Akon, Rick Ross, Fat Joe, Birdman. Wizzy has a lot of work with rap titans Eminem and Kanye West, with the much less well-known Corey Hans, with producers of Detail and Swizz Beatz.
Feats with Carter marked the most prominent representatives of the next generation of hip-hop: Drake and Future, and an even younger Wise Khalifa.
In addition to rappers, Lil Wayne does not refuse duets with recognized pop singers, for example, with Bruno Mars and the band Imagine Dragons.
The performer admits that he himself cannot remember and list all the musicians with whom he recorded the tracks.
Awards
Lil Wayne is a laureate of numerous music and hip-hop awards. He has been nominated 26 times for the most prestigious Grammy Award. In 2009, the artist received four Grammy awards at once: for the best Carter III album, best Lollipop song, best solo performance and best group performance - together with Kanye West, Jay-Z and TI
In 2012, the rapper announced his retirement after the release of Carter V, substantiating his decision with a desire to spend more time with children.
The fifth album of Lil Wayne Carter series really remains the last release of the artist, however, Wayne continues to periodically delight the audience with live performances and participation in duets with different artists.
So, he received his first American Music Award in 2017 for the song I'm the one, recording it with DJ Khaled, Quavo and Chance the Rapper.