Lil Wayne has been an innovative figure in rap ever since his debut in the late ‘90s, and with his new album Funeral, he is showing everyone how he made it to the position he is currently in, while also showing zero signs of slowing down.
Released at the end of January earlier this year, Lil Wayne’s new album Funeral is an hour and sixteen-minute collection of fresh bars and new ideas from the New Orleans rapper. Consisting of 24 tracks, Funeral melds classic rap and modern trap together. It does so through the use of samples and mixture of old-style beats with new trap elements, like fast kicks and powerful 808s. Some tracks, like “Mahogany” and “Mama Mia” feature Wayne spitting bars back to back, refusing to let up, while others, like “I Do It” featuring Big Sean & Lil Baby, have Wayne taking more of a backseat and allowing his protegees to shine. As the album goes on, Wayne keeps the listener satisfied while still getting his personal messages across. On the eighth track “Bing James” featuring Jay Rock, Lil Wayne gives a 24 second moment of silence for former NBA player Kobe Bryant, who passed away just days before the album’s release, which is a nice, heartfelt addition to the album. While Wayne keeps his sound fresh and interesting, the album unfortunately suffers due to the runtime.
There is no doubt that Lil Wayne shows up to perform on his new album Funeral, but the long runtime proves to be a major weakness for the project. After a few listens, the songs begin to meld together, all consisting of Wayne spitting bars over unique trap beats. Songs like “Sights and Silencers” featuring The Dream, and “Never Mind” show a side of Wayne that has rarely been seen before, spicing it up with R&B and classic trap sounds. This is unfortunately overshadowed by the rest of Funeral’s back half, as the New Orleans rapper fails to switch up his flows. There is barely any difference between “I Don’t Sleep” featuring Takeoff, and “T.O.” featuring O.T. Genasis, with both consisting of generic trap beats, quick bars from Wayne, and a mediocre verse from each rapper featured.
Despite Lil Wayne bringing the heat on Funeral, the album falls flat during its back half due to a lack of variety on the songs. The bars and beat selection keep the album in good graces, somewhat, and if a few tracks were cut, Funeral would go down as one of the better projects in Wayne’s discography.
Favorite Tracks: “Mahogany,” “I Do It” (feat. Big Sean & Lil Baby), “Sights and Silencers (feat. The Dream)
Rate: 6.5/10
Comments