Criticising Lil Wayne needn't have anything to do with nostalgia for some mythical mid-90s rap past (although it's revealing that, when LW describes himself as the best rapper alive, its to that era that he himself draws comparison with.) As an MC he does have skill in terms of flow, but its the cliched lyrics rather than their delivery that let him down. If he could grow out of that then the hype might eventually be justified but right now I just think he's a bit of a case of loads of style but very little actual substance.
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Originally Posted by noisereductions
The same thinking attempted to condemn "Howl" as well.
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I don't think NWRA or anyone else is trying to 'condemn' rappers like Biggie or Lil Wayne, so much as calling into question the validity of certain aspects of their work. Everyone knows that rap is never going to win awards for political correctness but if people can't find issue with it on any level then what's the point of even discussing it? My own view is that while gangster rap provided hip hop with a great, and much needed, kick in the arm in the 80s, it has since then come to overly define it, effectively eliminating a whole tradition of rap that goes back to artists like Whodini and Biz Markie. There's nothing wrong with rapping about guns, hoes and bling but I do think that there's now such an overemphasis on these topics that many people are beginning to think of them as being somehow synonymous with the genre.