Roots

It's often in the talks how rappers represent their hometowns by wearing city-signature attire, or organizing special concerts in their cities etc. More or less, every rapper has some memories with his birthplace: 1st recognition, 1st rap battle, 1st label contract signed, or a memorable concert. Cultivating the connection with the city that patronized the rapper's rise to glory has become somehow important to showcase publicly. Popular term -- to rep -- describes certain actions the rapper undertakes to represent his hometown. True story, it's extremely hard nowadays to find example of a rapper that shuts down relations with his city and people completely; rhymers rather try to pride themselves on their town on every occasion they can get. One performer has taken this trend to another level, Dwayne Carter his name, demonstrating overwhelming attachment to his roots.

Lil Wayne was a different musician just a few years ago. We already mentioned on this blog that various mash-ups with other music genres aren't generally optimal and beneficent for rap. Well, Weezy's adventure with rock aspects clearly causes even more negative reactions, mainly in terms of used adjectives. Here is a sample of this... peculiarity. Today, more & more voices describe Wayne rather as a disparagement to the rap franchise. Main accusations; too commercial, too controversial. But coming back to the first sentence and the main topic.

Lil Wayne was a different musician back then. When Catrina struck in 2005, it left Weezy's New Orleans completely devastated. As the hurricane passed through the Gulf Coast region, the city's federal flood protection system failed, resulting in the worst civil engineering disaster in American history. During that time, Wayne completely surprised me, both with his extreme devotion in reppin' and helping his hometown, but also with an exceptional set of tracks he created to describe the tragedy. He really was a lyrical monster, a person with visible and audible talent -- he was on some kind of mission. He impressed audience with unparalleled maturity. These 3 songs really take me back to the harsh times shortly after the cataclysm, they really get to the listeners:

Wayne during the concert in New Orleans, 2006

"If I had one guess than I guess I'm just New Orleans"
Aggregating all this: numerous dedicated concerts, fundraisers, constructive criticism towards the authorities, and last but not least, heart-throbbing loyalty to The Big Easy. He was there for NOLA. Now he is on the loose searching for the way back to the condition that awaken his best abilities as a rapper and human being. Such affection and devotion for his roots will never, should never be forgotten.


So "Weezy F baby, and don't forget the F baby".