[Devel]

[ROYP]

(Original post by Cable)
The problem with Lil Wayne is that when he entered the scene, he tried to come across as the next big thing in hip-hop. But he has failed. In hip-hop/rap, as good as it is to have a good beat/background for your song/track, you must also have the following to be a good rapper: good voice; good lyrics; good delivery and good flow. The problem with Lil Wayne is that his songs generally have poor lyrics and average delivery. So no matter how good the beats are, his songs won't make him be remembered as a great along the likes of 2pac and Biggie.

Like I said above, his lyrics are generally poor. Not only does he have some wasteman lines, but his songs lack diversity (i.e. his songs are generally about hos/sluts and money). What people liked about the likes of Tupac was that he might have had a lots of tracks about hoes, money and thug life but he also had many tracks where he was talking about his own problems and other problems in the world (in a cool non-wasteman way).

Listen to Tupac "Keep your head up" and "Letter 2 my unborn". Those are some examples of what I'm talking about. Even Eminem also talks about his own problems (e.g. "Cleaning out my closet").

Sometimes you don't have to talk about your problems but you can be inspirational. An example is The Game "Dreams". Or you can talk about how you're going to have a better life compared to your bad past. An example is "Juicy" by Biggie.

Sometimes you can be gangsta and have non-wasteman lines generally. An example is a lot of 50 cent's songs like "Hustla's Ambition".

And sometimes, people can just talk about their life, including their past. Examples are "I ain't mad at cha" by Tupac and "Family Business" by Kanye West. When you listen to these kind of songs, you can feel them, you know what I'm sayin'?

Additionally, delivery and flow is also important as I said above. Listen to "Rigamortis" by Kendrick Lamar as an example. Nearly all of Tupac's songs have good flow and delivery.

So after you've listened to all these songs, you may then understand why I generally don't like Lil Wayne's songs. His lyrics, flow and delivery are poor overall and he dresses like a wasteman so often.

However, I admit that Weezy and Drake nailed it in "She will". That's the best song I've heard from him so far, even it was about hoes generally. "Lollipop" was also catchy.

Fair play for actually writing a lengthy reply. If you isolate Tha Carter III would you say it's a good album? That's really all I was thinking about when I made the thread.

I never said he should go down as a great but his name gets thrown around with Pitbull's and that can't be right.

[rmpr97]

His lyrics are awful and are always just about sex or money.

All he does is plast auto-tune over his songs, at least with people like T-Pain or Kanye is sounds sorta good.

Not to mention he thinks he can play guitar.

[Hopsin rapper]

(Original post by Converse Rocker)
It is a gimmick though. That's not necessarily a bad thing, it might help people remember him.

Well if that is considered a gimmick, then MC Hammer's trousers are gimmicks (which they are clearly not)

[Converse Rocker]

(Original post by Hopsin rapper)
Well if that is considered a gimmick, then MC Hammer's trousers are gimmicks (which they are clearly not)

I'd consider hammer pants a gimmick. It's a novelty that helps him stand out from the crowd and gain attention. Gimmick has negative connotations I suppose but they aren't always bad.

"an ingenious or novel device, scheme, or stratagem, especially one designed to attract attention or increase appeal."

I took that from some online thesaurus, seems to fit the bill for contact lenses and hammer pants.

[Cable]

(Original post by ROYP)
Fair play for actually writing a lengthy reply. If you isolate Tha Carter III would you say it's a good album? That's really all I was thinking about when I made the thread.

I never said he should go down as a great but his name gets thrown around with Pitbull's and that can't be right.

Yeah, Tha Carter III was good/decent overall. Ok, he's not as bad as Pitbull lol. But he ain't great either imo.

But I commend you for making this thread. It's a very bold move and it has the potential for an interesting debate if others are prepared to put in a well thought-out response.

[IgorYakov]

What isn't wrong with him...





"I don't even know how to rap"

[Robbob16]

As people have said his lyrics are ridiculous. He does stupid things like learning the basics of guitar from John Mayer and then making an album based on shoddy guitar work and auto tune. Also he calls that album rock when it's actually just poor pop.


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[ROYP]

(Original post by Cable)
Yeah, Tha Carter III was good/decent overall. Ok, he's not as bad as Pitbull lol. But he ain't great either imo.

But I commend you for making this thread. It's a very bold move and it has the potential for an interesting debate if others are prepared to put in a well thought-out response.

I think Tha Carter is a decent album as well. Not amazing but good enough that I keep it in my iTunes, although I skip some tracks.

The answers so far have been pretty much as I expected. Mostly one or two sentences with no real comment. Obviously not every artist can be to everyone's liking and many will genuinely not like him but I get the feeling more than a few people haven't really heard him much and are following the trend

[Converse Rocker]

(Original post by ROYP)
Obviously not every artist can be to everyone's liking and many will genuinely not like him but I get the feeling more than a few people haven't really heard him much and are following the trend

I'm not going to comment on his rap music, because I don't think I've ever heard it before. However I have seen him play guitar and I stand by my comment that he's terrible.

[superawesomepanda]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBM1LCZKkQg says it all

[ROYP]

(Original post by Converse Rocker)
I'm not going to comment on his rap music, because I don't think I've ever heard it before. However I have seen him play guitar and I stand by my comment that he's terrible.

I haven't seen him attempt the guitar but I heard his Rebirth album which was supposedly 'rock' which I can admit sucked a lot of dick

The thread was really about rap though

[Politricks]

(Original post by T-Toe)
His lyrics aren't particularly inspirational and neither is his dress sense.



He looks like a something out of the Teletubbies in this picture.

Apart from the green Dipsy leggings, he doesn't look remotely like anything from the Teletubbies, the costume team at the BBC would have far more sense.

[Hopsin rapper]

(Original post by Converse Rocker)
I'd consider hammer pants a gimmick. It's a novelty that helps him stand out from the crowd and gain attention. Gimmick has negative connotations I suppose but they aren't always bad.

"an ingenious or novel device, scheme, or stratagem, especially one designed to attract attention or increase appeal."

I took that from some online thesaurus, seems to fit the bill for contact lenses and hammer pants.

Yeah you are probably actually correct. I take back what I said. It may be a gimmick but certainly is not a 'bad' gimmick. You are right I suppose, gimmicks can be good/positive things if you have the talent to back it up. A music artist that is a gimmick and makes bad music basically means that he/she is looking for attention because he/she does not have talent. But a good music artist that is a gimmick can use his gimmicky ways in a positive manner to gain fans, popularity etc and basically get his talents exposed.

[Annoying-Mouse]

I like him. It depends on what you want out of music. I don't like any political **** and I don't like personal situation songs e.g. discussing ghetto life and how it's hard blah blha blah how the system is corrupt blah blha blha how **** ain't going to change because that's the way it is etc etc or how you had a ****ty mum and lived in a trailer park. It's like Jay Z said "Rap critics they say he's "Money Cash Hoes" - I'm from the hood stupid, what type of facts are those - If you grew up with holes in ya zapatos - You'd be celebrating the minute you was havin' dough". I'm a hedonist so songs about pleasure-seeking lifestyle appeal to me.

[tomatoslayer]

I can't stand this flava flav looking gremlin..
he sucks but everyone loves him and his absurd version of 'hiphop'..

yikes

[ROYP]

(Original post by tomatoslayer)
I can't stand this flava flav looking gremlin..
he sucks but everyone loves him and his absurd version of 'hiphop'..

yikes

everyone clearly doesn't which is why I made the thread

[Greenlaner]

The real question is, what the hell is wrong with the people who actually like his music?

[ROYP]

(Original post by Greenlaner)
The real question is, what the hell is wrong with the people who actually like his music?

No, the real question was in the thread title - feel free to answer it

[T-Toe]

(Original post by Politricks)
Apart from the green Dipsy leggings, he doesn't look remotely like anything from the Teletubbies, the costume team at the BBC would have far more sense.

Ah -__-...


That's the reason why I mentioned the Teletubbies.