Lil Wayne and One of the Greatest Style Adjustments In Hip Hop History
Lil Wayne’s rap career has gone through many phases. He’s one of the few MCs to successfully make the transition from a teenage sensation — he was 16 when he appeared on Juvenile’s 1998 classic 400 Degreez — to rap superstar.
Some 20 years after his debut, Wayne continues his verbal output with the recently released Dedication 6: Reloaded mixtape. Wayne’s historic transition involved more than a predictable growth in subject matter. It incorporated a full blown adaptation of style and lyrical delivery rarely seen in hip-hop.
On the 2009 single “D.O.A (Death of Auto-Tune),” JAY-Z, while expressing his disdain for the audio-processor, proposed sending the track to the “Mixtape Weezy.” While for many of his younger fans this called to mind the phenomenal Dedication series that began in 2005, those of us who came of age in the late 90s and early 2000s remember his original switch-up that put him on the map as not only one of the most versatile southern MCs but one of the best in the entire game.
In the late 90s, Cash Money Records was most well-known for Juvenile’s hit singles “Ha” and “Back That Azz Up” and B.G.’s “Bling Bling.” To rap along with the Hot Boyz involved training your voice in the ways of southern delivery. Wayne’s flow, instead of overdosing on loaded metaphors…
