Respect Authority

In the opening of “Hailey’s Song,” Eminem, who had already broken down barriers in the rap world by virtue of being white (and lyrically innovative), says “I can’t sing/I feel like singing/I wanna fuckin’ sing.” And at the end, after what is a vocally atrocious but still very endearing song, he says “I told you I couldn’t sing/Oh well, I tried.”

Were “Hailey’s Song,” in all its experimental glory, an entire album – it would be Lil Wayne’s Rebirth: daring, bold, endearing, and not entirely …good.

As a preface, I should say I’ve been listening to an illegally downloaded ultimate version of Rebirth, which includes all of the tracks officially released this week, as well as a few that had been leaked months ago and were later pulled from the CD. In all, after more than few delayed releases, Weezy popped out nearly two-dozen songs for Rebirth, which was marketed as (and is) the rapper’s attempt to merge his own hip-hop style with rock influences. I don’t have the energy to figure out which songs were part of the final release and which weren’t—moreover, all of the songs were arguably intended for inclusion on a professional album—but I figure having a few extra ones to go off of just means Wayne gets a more comprehensive chance at impressing me.

In some ways, Rebirth is impressive, and if any mainstream rapper were to attempt the integration of rock and rap, I would argue Lil Wayne is definitely up to the task. His style of rap, especially on Tha Carter III, is fairly unique already, in that many of his songs have kooky hooks, or no hooks, and he isn’t afraid of alternating the speed or tenor of his rapping, even in the course of one song. In short, Wayne never really followed rules, so ignoring them entirely doesn’t seem a stretch. Indeed, some of the songs on Rebirth—“American Star” and “One Way Trip” among them—could have easily been songs on Tha Carter III. And others, like “Prom Queen,” “Knockout” and “Hot Revolver” are pretty inspired mixes of rap and rock.

Further, and without getting all wishy-washy, there’s something to be said for the fact that he even tried. Though music has become nothing if not more egalitarian over the last decade, the line between rap and rock is still pretty solid. Both make it into Top 40, but in a sort of mutually exclusive way, much as Z100 manages to follow Taylor Swift with Linkin Park. For Wayne, who after the wild success of Carter III could have easily coasted with another solid rap album, to even attempt something as brave as Rebirth is, in my book, admirable. It shows a respect for music as a whole that not enough artists even bother faking.

But all ass-kissing aside, Rebirth still feels like something of a missed opportunity, and for several reasons. The first is that despite altering the backgrounds, hooks and rhythms of his songs, Wayne does little to alter his voice. In fact, he seems to go further in the other direction, employing Autotune with a fervor only paralleled by T-Pain himself. I’m not a huge fan of Autotune to begin with, in rap or pop music, but while it’s mildly bearable in the context of a bass beat and other studio enhancements, as a part of rock songs it’s woefully inappropriate …sort of like a guitar’s distortion pedal, but for your voice. The fact that Wayne’s idea of “singing” is to simply shout while rapping only makes matters worse.

But what bothers me more than the Autotune—which, let’s face it, is too ubiquitous to condemn at this point (unless you’re Jay-Z)—is that virtually no members of the rock community are featured on Rebirth. This is particularly surprising considering Lil Wayne’s long history of cameos on songs from rap, rock and pop artists. Blink 182’s Travis Barker plays drums for one song on Rebirth, but frankly I would have expected more from Weezy, who is arguably the feature-slut of the music world. Having contributions from bands like Fall Out Boy, Modest Mouse or The White Stripes would have done a lot for the credibility of the album, and I dare say having their pop/punk/rock influence would have probably helped make the songs more accessible. Instead, songs like “Get a Life” and “The Price is Wrong” sound like Wayne just read “Rock Songs for Dummies.”

Ultimately I like Rebirth – it’s refreshing, especially after Jay-Z’s The Blueprint 3, which though awesome, is very much a straight rap album. Further, Rebirth adds to the perception I have of Lil Wayne as someone who’s more concerned with besting himself than anyone else. Unfortunately, Rebirth doesn’t best Tha Carter III, or even Tha Carter II. Instead, it seems more like a prolonged and experimental jam session with a truly gifted rapped but not-so-stellar rocker.

But oh well, he tried.