Spring Break
Pop Culture
by Paul Gale
Arts | 11/11/08
Posted online at 1:38 AM EST on 11/11/08
Fear not, readers: Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. is not dead. On Kineticnorth, an expertly crafted hoax site that allows users to create their own BBC-look-alike articles, a customer created a viral site stating that Wayne had been shot on Nov. 1 six times during a skirmish between the famed Bloods and Crips. This shocking news led legions of Wayneheads to cry out to the world, using those two incomprehensible words: "RIP WEEZY." This scare made me look at a world without the esteemed Weezy F. Baby.
The death of Lil' Wayne would be a terrible loss to the music world. He is an amazing artist, both in the quantity of his releases (over 135 songs in 2007!) and the quality. Still, like all showmanship rappers, he has yet to fill the big shoes that comprise his persona. I don't care how many albums Tha Carter III moved, the "best rapper alive" can do better.
But as we all know, death creates immortality among rappers, as with most artists. Death would fill the void in those aforementioned shoes. People would imagine how great he could have been and exaggerate how great he once was. I mean, who knows which bargain bin 2Pac and Biggie would be in now had they not been shot and killed.
Since the spread of the hoax, Kineticnorth has been "suspended for billing, abuse or copyright infringement reasons." But dead or alive, Lil' Wayne is pretty impressive. He is constantly at work, in the studio more than most of his peers; his frequent releasing of excess material has started a mixed tape phenomenon throughout the entire rap industry. Not to mention his Dadaist rhymes, which are unbelievable, as well as unrivaled. A master of the metaphor, he miraculously gets away with ridiculous rhymes, relying on cute wordplay.
But, even with all of this genius being taken into account, Wayne would not be the best rapper dead, no matter what those gigantic murals and crudely crafted T-shirts would say.
The death of Lil' Wayne would be a terrible loss to the music world. He is an amazing artist, both in the quantity of his releases (over 135 songs in 2007!) and the quality. Still, like all showmanship rappers, he has yet to fill the big shoes that comprise his persona. I don't care how many albums Tha Carter III moved, the "best rapper alive" can do better.
But as we all know, death creates immortality among rappers, as with most artists. Death would fill the void in those aforementioned shoes. People would imagine how great he could have been and exaggerate how great he once was. I mean, who knows which bargain bin 2Pac and Biggie would be in now had they not been shot and killed.
Since the spread of the hoax, Kineticnorth has been "suspended for billing, abuse or copyright infringement reasons." But dead or alive, Lil' Wayne is pretty impressive. He is constantly at work, in the studio more than most of his peers; his frequent releasing of excess material has started a mixed tape phenomenon throughout the entire rap industry. Not to mention his Dadaist rhymes, which are unbelievable, as well as unrivaled. A master of the metaphor, he miraculously gets away with ridiculous rhymes, relying on cute wordplay.
But, even with all of this genius being taken into account, Wayne would not be the best rapper dead, no matter what those gigantic murals and crudely crafted T-shirts would say.
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