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Life & Arts

Lil Wayne's latest leakage gets hip-hop world buzzing

Hip-Hop Update

Eli Jabbe

Lately, fans have been buzzing about The Carter 2.5, a collection of unreleased tracks that didn't make it on Lil Wayne's Tha Carter 2, which leaked onto the Internet last week. Tha Carter 2, the fifth album from Dwayne Carter, had unconventional chorus-less songs and a lengthy track listing at 22 songs. It is still in heavy rotation for many fans despite the fact that it was released in December.

This was the best album ever released on the Cash Money label, which was at its peak at the turn of the century with its materialistic music (the term "bling bling" originated from the label). On Tha Carter 2, fans noticed the absence of former Cash Money super producer Mannie Fresh, who produced countless hits for the label before departing last year. Wayne continues where he left off on Tha Carter 2, such as on the "Birdman Junior Pt. 2," where he continues his usual clever wordplay with lines like, "I spit cool bars like Klondike." The track has an unmistakable Mannie Fresh sound, and is just one of several Fresh-produced tracks on Tha Carter 2.5.

Another standout track is "Do What You Do," a retort to naysayers similar to Biggie's "Juicy" and Kanye West's "Diamonds," where Wayne says, "I'm gonna get by, I'm gonna get mine / So tell the haters I say that I'm doing just fine." Tha Carter 2.5 contains 18 tracks, including alternate versions of songs on Tha Carter 2.

Carter, a UH student, raised eyebrows a couple of years ago when he proclaimed himself, "the best rapper alive, since the best rapper retired" on Tha Carter, the 2004 album that introduced Wayne to national fans thanks in large part to the Fresh-produced "Go DJ." Of course, he was referring to another Carter: Shawn, aka Jay-Z.

Many are debating where Wayne ranks. A friend of mine, junior Brandon Chizer, is a fan of Wayne but feels he hasn't reached Jay-Z's level because "he has a lot of quotable lines while Jay-Z had whole quotable verses."

Another friend, sophomore Ryan James, said Wayne has always been underrated and has just now been embraced by the masses, saying, "His wordplay and style haven't changed, only his subject matter, and he is capable of artistic, unconventional, music, such as on the song ‘Shooter.'"

I haven't heard Wayne's whole catalog, but I feel he's one of the best emcees right now.Where are they now?

Lil Jon, the crunk music producer from Atlanta, exploded on the national scene in 2004 with multiple hits, but lately he hasn't even been mentioned when it comes to his city's music scene. Around this time last year, Jon (and crunk music) was at his peak, and the album Crunk Juice was in rotation. One overlooked song from the album was "Grand Finale," which featured legends from the East (Nas), West (Ice Cube), South (Bun B) and current King of the South T.I., and of course, Jon's ubiquitous shouting.

Since then, Lil Jon has been replaced by Young Jeezy in the "Atlanta artist with the most entertaining ad-lib" category, and crunk music has been replaced by snap music as Atlanta's staple. Snap music has produced various results: horrible (D4L's Laffy Taffy) and decent (Dem Franchise Boyz Lean Wit it, Rock Wit it). Both groups have also had beef over a dance move. (I'm not joking.) Jon has slightly re-emerged recently with "Snap Ya Fingers," a snap-style song featuring Sean Paul that has been a monster in the clubs lately.

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