Yesterday, a fan on
the Champagne n' Reefer facebook wall raised the question: “Who will replace Weezy?” For those who don’t know, Lil Wayne has been in jail since March 9th for a one-year sentence (though will probably serve only 8 months for good behavior) on gun charges.
Wayne is easily one of the most high profile rappers of the past five years, and, in the eyes of many, the best. Although he gained some serious mainstream recognition with
Tha Carter II, it wasn’t until a year later that Weezy’s produced his masterpiece:
Da Drought III. Though he has undoubtedly had some good work since then, it’s widely held that Lil Wayne has been slowly falling off, a fall which has culminated in his recent incarceration.
Taking a look at history, Wayne’s stint in prison has the makings to be a career-ender. Few rappers have gone to prison for an extended amount of time (after their rise to fame) and managed to come out with the same amount of clout and relevance in the game. Just look at Shyne. When first signed to Bad Boy Records, Shyne was hyped up to be the next big thing, even drawing comparisons to The Notorious B.I.G. Until his ten-year prison sentence, that is. Shyne was released from jail a couple of months ago and has released a handful of tracks, every single one of which has been proclaimed total shit by the greater rap community.
One of the first rappers who looks like he has the potential to break the trend of jail ending a rappers career is T.I. Just out of the pen, T.I. has already jumped right back into the game with a few new (solid) tracks and an upcoming album,
King Uncaged.
Back to the original question though: Who will take Lil Wayne’s throne? There are definitely a few criteria for taking the crown.
1. Recognition
2. Varied Flow
3. Clever Lyrics
4. Controversy
We’ll start off with recognition. A rapper’s gotta have a big name in order to fill
Weezy’s shoes. Though I’m a huge fan of up-and-comers J. Cole and KiD CuDi, neither of these rappers have proven themselves to have the staying power to sit at the top. Many would like to hail Drake as the immediate successor to the Young Money throne, but he hasn’t earned his place as king of the hill yet, either.
Wayne’s replacement must also have been in the spotlight recently enough for a power grab to be plausible, making a relatively short list: T.I., Young Jeezy, Lupe Fiasco, Eminem, Jay-Z, Kanye West and The Game.
Next up is a varied flow. About the only person I can knock off here is Young Jeezy; the rest have proven to be fairly capable of mixing things up.
Third: clever lyrics, a critical ingredient to Weezy’s replacement that many of the remaining contenders lack. T.I. and The Game are knocked out right off the bat. Their lyrics are all about name/brand dropping, which just can’t stack up against the lyrics of the greats. I’ve also gotta take Jay-Z out of the running here too. Though he definitely was a great lyricist in his heyday, Jay is past his prime and too old to vie for the top spot. Jigga's had his last big encore.
So that brings us to the final piece of criteria; controversy, and Lupe, Kanye and Eminem are the final three standing. Controversy is necessary to being great in the rap world. What great rapper has ever been unanimously liked?
As great a rapper as he may be, Lupe Fiasco is not a polarizing figure in the way Weezy is. He's got a pretty loyal fan following, but the vast majority of his songs aren't radio friendly, which definitely hurts his cause. He just doesn’t draw the same type of attention that’s necessary to hold it down at the top. Looks like the L.U.P-End for Lupe in this contest.
Kanye West is undoubtedly controversial. From his “George Bush hates black people” outburst, to shutting down Taylor Swift at the VMA’s, it seems as if Kanye is constantly in the middle of a media firestorm. Unfortunately, the Taylor Swift incident may have garnered too much negative publicity, knocking him out of the public eye as of late. There are reports of a new CD being released over the summer entitled
Good Ass Job, but he hasn’t dropped a new solo track in months, so the quality of his next CD is anyone’s guess making him a risky bet. And, sorry, Mr. West is gone.
That leaves only one man standing. Eminem is the most controversial character in rap history. He raps about rape. And murder. And drugs. Plus, he’s sold nearly 13 million worldwide. Oh yeah, and he's white. His next CD,
Recovery, is only two months away, and he’s been dropping random tracks over the past few weeks to start building up hype. The two most recent, ‘
Not Afraid’ and ‘Despicable Freestyle’, were both ill and showcased two completely differently styles of rapping. So is Marshall Mathers the next Weezy? Recognizable? Check. Mixes up his flow? Check. Clever lyrics? Check? Controversial? Check. Ladies and gentleman, looks like we have a new king of the rap game.
