Lil’ Wayne "Ride for My N****s"
Thursday, April 19, 2007
After revelling in Drought 3 for the past week or so, I’m of the mind that Lil’ Wayne is on the same level of brilliantly rampant personality contradiction as Ghostface, whose Fishscale was my favorite record of last year. As far as I’m concerned, there are no American pop stars with the sort of outsize personalities even close as interesting as Ghost and Wayne. But after Drought, Wayne just might (might) have one up on Ghost. He’s a relentless, prolific, often hilarious trickster figure from a city undergoing a reconstruction process that gives this mixtape its name. He’s not one to make entire concept albums about the post-Katrina war zone of New Orleans, but he’ll include one-off songs about it, and this one is more than enough. “Ride for My N****s” (mp3) is less a protest song than a call-to-arms, but one directed at himself. After an ominous series of pounded piano notes, the mix gets taken over by relentless synth-gusts, dark and menacing guitars, bell-tower clangs, handclaps, and synth-created choirs, like a post-apocalyptic church service. He marches around his neighborhood like an alternate-universe mayor, using his grotesquely raspy voice as a bullhorn to echo off building walls, making promises he’ll no doubt keep. Not the FEMA 1/2 acre and a trailer oath, of course; more the “Most likely I’ma die with my finger on the trigger” variety. Wayne’s survival kit is equally stocked with skillets and baggies as it is canned goods, and the status quo to which he’s looking to return isn’t the kind you’ll see on CNN. As he describes it, Wayne’s world is as upside-down as a refrigerator in a tree, one in which the border between water and land gets erased: “I’m probably in the sky, flyin’ with the fishes / Or maybe in the ocean, swimmin’ with the pigeons.” This sort of surreal, inverted world is the perfect sort for Wayne to take over and recreate in his own image: turning those refrigerators into bizarro-vending machines, and creating a Clipsian micro-economy that only recognizes certain citizens. “The sky is the limit”—fair enough, but where’s the sky?
This track is taken from the version without Birdman and Khaled, so the “official” release (ha) will be different. This one, from what I can gather (see below), will be better.
ELSEWHERE: I’m sure you’ve read it, but Tom’s take on Drought is the definitive one as yet.
and, no other rapper is more fun to watch rap.
i’m sure your aware of his recent bet freestyle, which is just insanity.
i mean, THE DUDE LAUGHS ON BEAT.
anyway, something tells me that when this is officially done and ready for consumption, wayne will put it up for free on the young money ent. website like he did with the lil weezyana tape.
okay, i get the entertaining-ness.
i get that he’s an interesting character.
and yeah, he looks real funny sometimes.
but seriously?
I just don’t get it, listening to him. Never have. Nobody’s ever been able to explain the appeal to me.
help?
not one to comment much on blogs, but heard you were from bloomington and had to say nice work … this album is incredible … check the review in the ids weekend coming on thursday … but i think the reference to donovan wasn’t my man leitch, it was mcnabb (of the eagles… hence the soup commercials with his mom reference) … and the beat is mr. jones by mike jones … but thats the point … he kills everyone at their own game … hope you’ve heard the rest, wouldn’t mind a post on “put some keys on that”
-peace
Treff,
You obviously haven’t heard enough of Wayne. The new None Higher mixtape, for instance, is quite amazing. This guy has incredible output with quality to match–he isn’t just a hip-hop Ryan Adams. I can’t wait to hear what Harvey has to say about this.
word, you said:
“Wayne’s world is as upside-down as a refrigerator in a tree, one in which the border between water and land gets erased: “I’m probably in the sky, flyin’ with the fishes / Or maybe in the ocean, swimmin’ with the pigeons.” This sort of surreal, inverted world is the perfect sort for Wayne to take over and recreate in his own image: turning those refrigerators into bizarro-vending machines, and creating a Clipsian micro-economy that only recognizes certain citizens”
i agree and like your point of veiw on the content of that verse… but in a more simplistic interpretation of that verse i think he could be using a duality and also talking about flying “fishscale” coke and swimming with hoes (pidgeons?) haha… anyhow i might be wrong, but i think he’s intelligent enough to pull somethin like that with the duality of his words..