Edd’s MANtra: Rocks In His Head

Y’all like Lil’ Wayne, right?

Sorry, I couldn’t tell if those were cheers or the sound of crickets.

Well, I had the pleasure of hearing Wayne’s newest offering, an attempt at a rock song called “Prom Queen.” If you haven’t heard it, I’m positive that it’ll be playing nonstop on your local radio station soon enough.

For those of you lucky enough to lack access to radio, never fear, I’ll sum it up for you. It sucks.

I think it’s odd that “Prom Queen” is slated to be the first single from Wayne’s new album, Rebirth, a “rock album” which is set to drop in April. By “rock” I assume that means Wayne will be giggling nonsense over screechy guitars. Sort of like how that hideous Kanye album was “pop.”Walking around with a Guitar Hero guitar doesn’t make you Kurt Cobain.

While I wouldn’t be shocked if the album was pushed back (Tha Carter III was delayed for about a year) I don’t understand why he thinks it’s a good idea to release another album so soon, let alone a rock album. Carter III hasn’t been out a year yet.

These rappers need to learn from Ja Rule. I contend that the reason Ja’s now a bagger at Target is not because of 50 Cent’s taunting, but because he was putting out approximately 495,934 songs with Jennifer Lopez every week. People just got tired of hearing the Cookie Monster 24/7. 50 just made it cool to hate on him.

Besides the looming problem of oversaturation, I think this new endeavor shows that Wayne is starting to crack under pressure.

This “rock” nonsense raises a question: why do these artists achieve blockbuster success in a genre and then pull a 180 and do the very opposite of what made them famous in the first place?
I think it’s because they realize they aren’t as good as they claim to be.

Think of it like this: We’re in a recession. John Q. Musicexecutive sees that Lil Wayne sold a gazillion copies in his first week, so they pressure the little gremlin to release a follow-up. The so-called “best rapper alive,” who knows it’s only a matter of time before his 15 minutes are up, knows that he’ll probably wind up releasing crap and so he slaps together a “rock” CD instead. That way, when people criticize it he can say they didn’t understand his “vision.” Right, Mr. West?

Wayne would have been better off laying low for a year, releasing a ton of mixtapes and then popping back up in 2010. But what do I know? “Prom Queen” is awful, but so was that “Mrs. Officer” song and I know many grown women who thought that was poetry.

Do you think Lil Wayne is headed toward disaster?