I’ll admit that I was skeptical about Rebirth being that it’s Wayne’s rock album debut and the majority of the initial feedback I found via the internet was almost entirely negative. I even had my roommate check it out, who has been a big Wayne fan from the get-go, and he straight told me that it was “wack”. With that said, I found Rebirth overall to be thoroughly enjoyable. I downloaded the album onto my phone through an Amazon app for $9.99 and after I finished listening to it I didn’t regret dishing out the money to buy it.
Unfortunately, I don’t think that this album is going to get the appreciation that it truly deserves. I mean it sold pretty well in the first couple of weeks, but it hasn’t received too much love. Your typical Lil’ Wayne fan may be left somewhat disappointed, but that is almost solely due to the fact that this album is exactly what he says it is…a rock album, through the eyes of Lil’ Wayne anyway. Although there are raps placed strategically throughout some of the tracks ie: the Wayne/Eminem track “Drop the World” is an excellent display of both of their lyrical ability. The other side of the spectrum, being rock, has seemed to pass it off as a poor attempt from Lil’ Wayne to be something that he is not. This is not the case.
If Rebirth deserves credit in any particular area it would be in Wayne’s creativity and ability just to do something that he himself wanted to do. I listened to the album in its entirety several times through and the more I did, the more I enjoyed it. Each track has a different rock vibe, for instance one track included guitar cords with a Nirvana-like sound while another contained riffs similar to a Blink-182 jam. My only real grievance would be that Wayne should’ve collaborated with more of today’s rock-stars, if only to help his cause with more of the traditional rock and roll audience, so in that area he falls short. He does, however, give production credit to Patrick Stump (Fallout Boy) and Travis Barker on a single track each. Wayne also used the album to showcase some of his label-mates like: Kevin Rudolph, Nicki Minaj, and Shanell aka SNL (who appears on three tracks). To anyone looking to check out some of the tracks the following are the some of what I found to be the best: “Paradice”, “On Fire”, “Drop the World” ft. Eminem, “Runnin” ft. Shanell aka SNL, “One Way Trip” ft. Kevin Rudolph, and “Knockout” ft. Nicki Minaj.
If you do decide to take some time to listen to Lil’ Wayne’s Rebirth I would recommend that you listen to it all the way through a few times before you pass judgment because it’s sure to grow you. Like Wayne says on the track “One Way Trip”: “I get better with time/and time is forever/so just sit back and watch my time get better”.
Rebirth receives a PARL
Rating System:
P…Horrible
PA…Tolerable
PAR…Good
PARL…Excellent
PARLÉ…Classic
Parlé Album Pick…
Lil’ Wayne f/ Kevin Rudolf – One Way Trip
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