Artist: Lil Wayne

Album: Sorry 4 the Wait

Record Label: Young Money Entertainment

Soundwaves: 1.5/5

Sounds Like: Lil Wayne at his nasally worst

Politically charged, socially aware or at least dance-worthy: criteria set by hip-hop forefathers Public Enemy and A Tribe Called Quest and utterly nonexistent in Lil Wayne’s latest fiasco.

An apology of sorts for the heavily anticipated and long-delayed ‘Tha Carter IV,’ Wayne’s mixtape ‘Sorry 4 the Wait’ is one of the rapper’s weakest and laziest releases. With two lackluster albums separating the critically acclaimed ‘Tha Carter III’ from its follow-up, only Wayne’s apology to fans seems to keep him the game. Littered with secondhand beats and braggadocio-laden lyrics, the mixtape is devoid of carefully constructed beats and Wayne’s electric guitar. Instead, the rapper resorts to hand-me-down samples that don’t quite gel with his flow.

The mixtape’s opener, ‘Tunechi’s Back,’ is a grandiose orchestral mess, meshing a string orchestra with Wayne’s punchless punch lines and lyrics that keep the censor bleep working overtime.

Wayne only invites two guests onto his mixtape, but both are head-scratching decisions that stop any rhyme, reason or sense of flow the mixtape creates dead in its tracks. In his latest plug for his record label, Young Money Entertainment, Wayne brings on labelmate Gudda Gudda on ‘Throwed Off.’ Though he boasts ‘I could do this s**t eyes closed/nothing to it,’ sounding exactly as off-key as listeners would expect a rapper named Gudda Gudda to sound. Internet phenom Lil B outdoes Wayne’s nasal delivery on ‘Grove St. Party,’ despite unnecessary spoken interludes and expletive-laced mumblings of his own.

One of the more redeeming factors of Lil Wayne’s music is his ear for good samples. In past albums, he has sampled everything from the theme song of ‘The Office’ to Alicia Keys, but even that skill falls to the wayside on ‘Sorry 4 the Wait.’ Apart from a handful of beats stolen from lesser-known rap artists, including Big Sean and Waka Flocka Flame, Wayne pilfers the instrumentals from two songs adored by mainstream radio and uses them poorly. The title track borrows from Adele’s bluesy ‘Rolling in the Deep,’ which at first sounds out of place backing a frenetic flow from Wayne. Surprisingly, it packs the biggest punch on the album, second only to the raw energy of ‘Inkredible Remix.’

The puzzling sampling keeps running rampant on ‘Run the World (Outro),’ a verbal thank you to everyone on the album, most of whom probably don’t appreciate Wayne’s shouted gratitude put to Beyonce’s ‘Run the World (Girls).’ Nevertheless, it’s ironic to hear Wayne scream ‘hit a b***h with a car bomb’ pierce through Beyonce’s feminist anthem. Apparently, Lil Wayne doesn’t understand that most people skip the credits of a movie for a reason. Not even his rambunctious flow can salvage the tedium of listing a bunch of un-noteworthy names.

The wait shouldn’t be what Lil Wayne apologizes for. He should feel sorry for releasing a subpar mixtape to tease what should be his magnum opus. It is hoped Wayne has devoted more time and energy to his next studio album than to this bland throwaway.

ervanrhe@syr.edu

Published on August 5, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Erik: ervanrhe@syr.edu | @therealvandyman