The Lil Wayne Discography, pt. 2 - Lights Out

In my last one of these, which I uploaded two or three weeks ago, I expressed my contempt for Lil' Wayne's debut solo LP, Tha Block Is Hot, an album that I found to be both boring and terrible simultaneously. It wasn't awful enough to be entertaining, nor was it bad enough to be a notable release in the genre. But it also wasn't quite good enough to class as mediocre - instead, this album was very bland with an unfortunate amount of terrible moments, most of which were in the form of a chorus or uninspired guest verse. The one positive I could take from the album aside from the slim pickings of highlights was the fact that Wayne himself was the best part about it. I mean, he wasn't great - the subject matter was often dull and he didn't do much to elevate that content in a funny or meaningful way - but he was serviceable most of the time, and I did enjoy a decent amount of his dirty South flows. He also was clearly a lot better than some of his Cash Money brethren, which did allow him to stand out on some of the group tracks on the record. 

It's for this reason that I haven't lost hope when it comes to Wayne's second effort, Lights Out, an album that has a cover which actually seems to have been made with the idea of coming across as menacing in mind - the graphics are still bad, but at least this cover doesn't make me want to stifle a laugh, like the one for Tha Block Is Hot did. This album is actually one of the projects I am anticipating most in this run-through of Weezy's discography, since I like the title, and I also enjoyed the song "Wish You Would" a decent amount - a song I checked out randomly when I first made the decision to listen to a bit of Wayne's work. And, while it's still as bloated as a 50 year old man from Alabama, this tracklist does at least appear to contain less in the way of features - that's a good thing when the go-to guests on the last album were Birdman, BG and Mannie Fresh. One big negative of this album is that it's once again produced in its entirety by the aforementioned Mannie Fresh, who's production on the last album was bloody abominable for the most part. That little statistic doesn't exactly fill me with hope, I'll tell you. 

Still, as you can tell, I am interested in this project, and I intend to go into it with an open mind once again. Yes, the debut was pretty whack, but Wayne's had time to grow since then, and so maybe it'll pay off this time. Maybe, just maybe, this album will be good. We can hope, can't we?

All songs are produced by Mannie Fresh. 

1. Intro (Watch Them People)

Some ominous music plays in the background as a man with that stereotypical White American voice says some swearwords at me. How nice. 

2. Get Off the Corner

The first actual song on here was also one of the singles, and despite Wayne's insistence on squeaking out some of his vocals as if someone was pinching his neck at random moments in the verses, the track as a whole is actually pretty great. Mannie Fresh's instrumental on this track is engaging, and keeps things interesting by continuously switching up every eight bars or so, and while some of his vocal inflections were questionable, Weezy's flow was nice on here, and his lyrics weren't half bad either. "Ball 'til I fall, one thing, I ain't tryna fall" was a personal favourite, but there were lots of other great bars on this track too that are worth going into for. And yes it goes on for too long, I know, but the track almost does justify it, which is more than can be said for anything on Tha Block Is Hot. This is a pretty dope cut. 

3. On the Grind

Another fairly good song, although I can't say I enjoyed it as much as the opener, and that's all thanks to the absolutely horrific chorus, which easily stands as one of the weakest I've heard on any song, ever. I mean, the opening line to said chorus is literally "I tell 'em waahhh!!", and when your host gangster rapper is making baby noises that can never be a good sign. Ignoring the horrible chorus, the verses on this song were actually really dope in my opinion, with nice flows and lyrics about drug dealing, and the instrumental was dope as hell, probably the best element of the track. Yeah, I actually liked this song. 

4. Hit U Up (feat. Hot Boys)

Surprisingly great for a posse cut consisting of Cash Money artists only. The instrumental on this track could have used a little more variation during the verses, as it didn't feel energetic enough to carry through the song's five minute duration, but that's not a huge issue since the instrumental itself isn't really that bad. The verses on this one come from Turk (who I actually thought was Wayne at first since they sounded so similar), Juvenile, B.G. and Wayne himself, and out of all of them I honestly think our host did the best, despite some pretty random and nonsensical lyrics in there ("I'll turn your forehead to a pussy boy" being a prime example). The chorus was also solid, and the three other artists did their thing, especially Juvi, who in my opinion seems to be kind of an overhated rapper. This was pretty solid. 

5. Everything

Bit more of a sappy one here, as Weezy dedicates this one to his deceased stepfather, affectionately referred to as Rabbit throughout the track. There were a couple of emotional tracks during the previous album, but none that appeared this early on in the tracklist, and I actually think that this song would have worked better if it had appeared a bit later in the album, but whatever - it's still good, if definitely not the best song here. The main issue is that I feel like Wayne doesn't necessarily do these softer cuts as well, and also the production doesn't feel rich enough to warrant any emotions coming through on my part. I will say, however, that the chorus on here did kind of get to me, especially the repetition of "I know". Yeah, this song is great, but not really the best emotional song you can find out there. 

6. Fuck Wit Me Now

Damn, that song was good. On this one, Weezy really speeds things up with a flow that almost reminded me of Tech N9ne at points - and if you know me, then you know that that's a good thing. The instrumental on this one from Mannie was excellent too, with these intense synth sounds and fast-paced drums that make this sound much more modern than it really is. And that hook was phenomenal too. And finally, this track didn't feel like it went on for too long, like most of the other songs so far have. Yeah, there isn't much else to say - this is definitely my favourite track so far. 

7. Lil One (feat. Big Tymers)

I must confess that when I saw that Big Tymers feature, I was pretty worried that we were gonna be in for something whack, but I was proved immensely wrong on that account by this song right here that creatively and musically blows pretty much everything on Tha Block Is Hot out of the metaphorical water. This track seems like a Cash Money version of Jay-Z & Memphis Bleek's "Coming Of Age", in that it reads as a conversation between Lil Wayne and Birdman, with the former being the little kid on the street, and the latter being the big time hustler who's already made his fortune. The pair even have little arguments at points, which was fun to hear, and my God is this beat nice. This was another massive highlight for me. 

8. Break Me Off (feat. Big Tymers & Unplugged)

Aside from the last line of Mannie Fresh's verse, which I've got to say made me laugh, everything else here was utterly horrific, especially Lil Wayne's opening verse, which literally made me want to punch the dude in the face with a metal glove on. Oh, and the beat on here was pretty cool too - a bit overly loud, maybe, but still enjoyable enough. Unfortunately, the sexual subject matter, grotesque and mostly unfunny lyrics, and rubbish chorus from Unplugged completely ruined this one. Still, it's taken us to track 8 to find a stinker, which is waaay better than what we had with his debut. 

9. Skit

A humorous skit in which the guy from the intro tells us to stop bootlegging cassettes and get the damn CD already. This was actually pretty funny, if overly explicit. 

10. Wish You Would

This was the one song I had already heard from this album, and I still think it sounds good today. The instrumental is like a slightly less brilliant version of the one on "Back That Azz Up" by Juvenile, and Wayne makes full use of it, utilising some of his dopest flows and rhyme schemes yet to threaten the listener with gun violence and the other things you can pretty much expect of Wayne at this point. This song isn't the most thought-provoking or interesting thing you're going to find, but it is at least entertaining, and I'm pretty sure that's all this album aims to do anyway. 

11. Grown Man

Aside from the intro being pretty much corny as hell, this song was actually really stellar in my opinion. On this track, Weezy talks about similar subject matter to that on "Up To Me" from his last album, only here I think he tackles it better, and over some more powerful production too. Honestly, this is one of the most thought-provoking and expensive sounding beats Mannie Fresh has made throughout the course of these first two albums. And rest assured Weezy does his thing on this one too - his verses are pretty great, with lots of nice lines (as an example - "y'all don't really know me, you just know about me") and a chorus that really sticks with you. Yeah, this was a really potent track. 

12. Shine (feat. Hot Boys)

The big single from the album, and if I'm honest I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand the chorus is pretty catchy, Juvenile sounds good on this beat and the instrumental is really unique on this album. On the other hand, the beat is way too repetitive to last well for five whole minutes, Weezy's verse straight up fucking sucks, and as a whole this song felt almost like the music to a 1990s cheap video game, only with more profanity. I don't know, man. This song just kind of weirded me out, but it also wasn't exactly bad, so that's something. 

13. Jump Jiggy

Well that's an interesting song title. This smooth cut with it's incredibly sweet production from Mannie Fresh was presumably one intended for the clubs, albeit the small Caribbean ones you see in James Bond movies. Unfortunately, Weezy doesn't entirely do the beat justice, as the chorus on this thing is both repetitive and horrible, which for obvious reasons isn't a good mix, and the third verse is vulgar in a nonchalant way, making it pretty difficult to listen to. Still, Wayne's first two verses and the beat keep this one well away from being considered bad in my eyes. 

14. Realized

This is one of the most aggressive cuts on the whole album, and also one of the most notable for including a pretty interesting Master P diss that utilises a fill-in-the-blank to full effect. The fact that the two most money hungry and generic labels of the late '90s and early 2000s actually had beef is pretty funny to me - still, I suppose it's better than the two working together. Anyhow, I liked this track a lot, as Mannie's beat was dark and effective, the chorus was nice, and there were some dope lines in here too, especially "Weezy got more white than the Backstreet Boys", which almost made me laugh out loud in the college library. This song is dope. 

15. Tha Blues

On this one, Wayne attempts to re-create a similar tune to "Lights Off" from the last album - a track with a soft guitar based beat that contradicts said beat lyrically by being all about guns and murdering you muh'fuckers. He needn't have bothered with that though - largely because "Lights Off" was kind of a terrible song, but also because I wasn't entirely sure about this one either. This album is getting ridiculously long at this stage, and this track is the first to make me feel that length. I don't dislike this song at all, but I don't think I'll find any replay value in it either. 

16. Let's Go (feat. Big Tymers)

Sporting a title straight out of the Big Book of All Things Generic, this song was actually pretty great, even if Birdman's presence brought it down a bit for obvious reasons. I mean, this guy literally sounded like he was going to fall asleep on the song, and you can't blame him - imagine having to recite these lyrics while drunk, high, carrying a body bag AND ordering several expensive watches online! Still, I absolutely loved this beat, and I really liked Wayne's performance on it too. Even the hook was great. A surprisingly really enjoyable song.

17. Biznite

A terrible, terrible song in which Wayne accounts three meetings with women - sorry, "Biznites" - that all end with him telling them they're a good for nothing piece of shit. I mean, Wayne's sleepy delivery is bad enough, but my God could you get any more misogynistic? This song is absolutely horrible. 

18. Act A Ass (feat. B.G.)

Over an instrumental that uses the same sample as Tech N9ne's "Planet Rock 2K (Down South Mix)", plus a bunch of other random sound effects that don't really work in context, Wayne and B.G. describe their favourite sexual moments and acts. The song sounds like falling into a pile of sweets, mashed up courgettes, horn beetle grubs and pieces of 1958 machinery, and that's to say - it's a complete mess. Not much else to say here really. 

19. Beef

Wayne chooses to end the album by reinforcing the idea that he is a hardcore thug that's not to be messed with - 'cause, you know, we hadn't heard enough about that on the album yet. The track itself doesn't entirely suffer from the redundant subject matter, though - Weezy's actual flow is slick as hell on here, and I must confess that I adored Mannie Fresh's triumphant instrumental, which pretty much felt like the perfect music to close off any album with. I wasn't in love with the content on this one, but I think it was presented in such a way where the song managed to work anyway. A good way to close the album. 

Even though it had obvious flaws and isn't a great album by any means, Lights Out is, at least in my opinion, a huge improvement over Wayne's debut Tha Block Is Hot. The project does admittedly carry over quite a few of the flaws of that album, however, so let's get those out of the way first. Flaw number one - this album is way too long. 75 minutes for 80% thug lyrics and 20% personal content can get pretty tiresome, especially in the second half when it feels like every song is about the same thing, and even before then it wasn't like I was ever interested in the project's direction. And the second major issue is that the songs themselves are all too long as well. With the exception of the intriguing "Lil One", every song here follows the same basic structure, and this is a problem when each song is between 4 and 5 minutes, and doesn't follow any kind of storyline or theme that's worth spending the time on. Oh, and did I mention the redundancy of this project's subject matter? So yeah, this album is nowhere near perfect, and if you're looking for a truly interesting front to end listen then you'd better turn elsewhere. So, what exactly does work? Well, for starters, Mannie Fresh's production here is a huge step up from what we heard on Tha Block Is Hot - it's actually crazy how much this man improved in the course of one year. I mean, these beats aren't perfect, and a lot of them still sound ever so slightly cheap, but the melodies are great, the bass is always pounding, and the drums are brilliant too. I honestly don't think there was a bad beat on here until we got to the utterly cacophonous "Act A Ass", and that was right at the end anyway! And then we have Wayne - where the man was merely a mediocre rapper on the last album, here he proves to be more than that, offering lots of pretty great punchlines and dope flows that keep things interesting for the most part. Aside from the content itself, Wayne's presentation is fun, well-timed, and often impressive to listen to when you consider that he was only 18 years old at the time of recording. And for every bad chorus on here, there's a great one to follow. So while this album isn't a great front-to-end experience, it still proves entertaining for the most part, and individually most of the songs work well. Yeah, this is a cool album in my opinion. Nice work Weezy!

Best Track: "Grown Man"

Worst Track: "Biznite"

73%

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