Lyricist of the year! Song review and musings on my thug life

This is so funny and frankly a little scary to me at the same time I had to break my bloggin silence and post something about it. Lil Wayne has been named lyricist of the year by BET

I can hear it now: a smattering of applause followed by a collective 'huh? Who dat?'

Background: Let's talk about me for a second, shall we?  I've always appreciated a wide variety of music. From the sweeping sonatas of Beethoven to the mind bending solos of Jimi Hendrix and nuanced horn phrasings of Coltrane and Davis to in your face lyrics of the disposable heroes of hypocracy and public enemy. Most who know me would agree I appreciate a lot of diverse acts.  I played in rock bands in high school and college ( and after).  As a kid I took drum lessons and as a child of the 80's ( and Yo! MTV raps) I was one of millions of  kids who lived no where near NYC or compton who appreciated  Run DMC, Houdini, FatBoyz and later Tribe called Qwest, De La Soul, Digable Planets, NWA, Beastie Boys and more and even later Outkast, Snoop, Dre, Lupe Fiasco and more.

For the most part, I like the rhythms and beats and I'm amazed at the cadences and rhyming ability to tell a story that usually had little to do with my life as a white kid growing up around Atlanta. I appreciated these groups as talented artists that moved me whether black or white ( and made me laugh or made me feel cool or took me to another place) the same way that the beatles, led zep, stones, pink floyd, clash, bowie, devo, cure, cult, rem, pixies, red hot chilis, fishbone, fugazi, beck, 9inch nails, stp, nirvana, libertines, miles, brubeck, monk, ponty, coltrane, willie nelson, ray charles, sam cooke  etc.  Sometimes you can't explain why you like music, it just speaks to you, even if in a language you don't understand...even if the guy singing claims to be a dude from another planet. Side note, in 8th grade I wanted my name to be ziggy.

Now, back to the subject at hand.  I know many of you don't know much about Lil Wayne. I certainly did not until my lovely wife came home from a gals trip out west singing the lyrics to " A milli"... her rendition, fascinating and funny in itself.  Its a catchy little ditty about making lots of money and driving fast cars and being around beautiful women, among other things...So, she is singing  and talkin' about how funny the song is...." I Dont owe you like two vowels". I'm intrigued, but I am on a self imposed 'no more buying digital music downloads' kick.  So, later that week,  we were headed to an art opening in Grant Park ( i'll save that for my next blog which is currently scheduled for Jan 09 but you should check out inhabit atlanta for the latest in around town activities) driving in the car and she says "lets turn on the radio and see if we can hear A milli." To which I replied "yeah right". Of course, to my surprise and her delight, the first station we flipped to we heard it....
WOW. The bass boomin' , the looped computer voice dronin' ' a milli, a milli, amilli' in a

 ratt-ta-tat cadence that seems annoying at first then puts you into a trance. I'm thinking ok, I can dig this.. Then some of the raunchiest lyrics get spit that I've ever heard. Raunchy, but funny, like 'omg, did he just say that?' and "how did he think to rhyme 'two vowels' with 'loose bowels'"? Ingenious!? Hits you in face and grabs you by the gut. His voice like an old man who just crawled out of a gutter after being on a 4 day bender drinking glenmore ginn and smoking 2 packs of marlboro reds (and probably more).

When we got home that night,Kell downloaded and played the clean version for me.
I of course downloaded the explicit version to see what I was missing. This post could also serve as a warning: drinking and web surfing often lead to purchasing items that are not supposed to be purchased under someone's self imposed non purchasing ban, yet I digress.

Amilli, Amilli .Again the bass and rythm put me in a trance.. the lyrics are on the edge, taunting me and pushing me to question my boundaries of good taste.  Like a kid who has learned a curse word and knows its wrong. Like Milton, is it more fun to be naughty than nice? I couldnt sing this song on the street without getting arrested. ( doesnt mean i dont like it).  Now I know many (most?) rapp artists  sing about the thug life (please lets not get into a debate about rapp vs hip hop here)  and this means a whole shift in lexicon directed to its audience with songs about whos got the most money, biggest ___ , most women, fastest car and has sold the most dope before shooting bullets  into someone else's derriere because of some act of disrespect. I get it. But as much as I 'get it' that this is what this genre is about I keep thinking, a) what does this say about me that I like this? and b) what does that say about the state of music? and finally c) how can I be so disconnected from the lyrics of the song in nearly every way but still like the song?

 Isn't this the essence of entertainment? To be transformed in character, place and time. To escape, if alb-eight for a 3 min interlude?
For many, Music has always been about revolution and making the older generation feel uncomfortable and making people think...
YES, I'm getting old...music is changing and so am I.  But has media's view of art has changed too? Lyricist of the year? Who am I to say? I'm not here to judge. The song is funny but its certainly not for everyone, especially kids. DL at your own risk. It may shock you, it may rock you.

Either way LW is living the life. His life.  Instead of playing music and being a rock star or doing something creative,  I'm  stuck here in the corporate world and he's a 'young money millionaire, tougher than nigerian hair' whose 'criteria compared to (my career) just isn't fair.' True that Lil Wayne. Double True! No fair indeed. He's got 'a million here and a million there'...which for me, is really here nor there?  Sure you may feel silly like me,  when you drive up to a red light with LW pouring out of your open window so commuters in cars around you can hear it in all its glorious nastiness. But inside you're bouncin' and livin' your own life.

Enjoy.

p.s. For those of you who wonder why I even keep this blog and what the heck I do all day if I'm not busy updating you on the titillating minute by minute goings on in my daily life, take heart:  I'll be launching a website soon relating to a new business endeavor and it will feature a blog. And NO, it has nothing to do with my thug life.