Jay-Z might be redefining the growth of rap music these days, but Lil Wayne is redefining the growth of rappers.
He doesn't just want to be one of the greatest rappers of all time, but he wants to be classified as a musician.
It explains why we've watch Weezy go from Magnolia style rapping to carving a name for himself in Rap/Rock,
and now recently into R&B with the song "How To Love" [click here to listen to it].
He explains it all to MTV's Sway in an interview after Weezy's taping of Unplugged:
“I can tell you that I’ve never had a single like it, and it’s an amazing song. It’s an amazing song.
You know that if you come to a Lil Wayne show two years from now, you already know that ‘I’m gonna get rap — some of the best rap — I’m gonna get some guitar, I’m gonna get some singin’, I’m gonna get some dancin’, I’m gonna get some old-school music, and I’m goin’ to a show tonight.’ And I think that’s where this song is directing me to.
I am a musician, and a few years back, I noticed that I wasn’t just a rapper. And I noticed that I didn’t want to do this just to rap. I do want to go down as one of the greatest rappers of all time, but I also want to go down as one of the greatest musicians of all time. When you think about it, Tupac is just known as a great rapper; Biggie is just known as a great rapper, Jay-Z — just known as a great rapper. I want to be known as that rapper that turned it all the way up and became the face of the music. When they make a billboard and put whoever they gonna put up there to define the word ‘music,’ I wanna be there.”
Sober Weezy got his goals in tact! He never explained this transition in his career when he was inebriated on his drugs. It's great to see artists like Jay-Z and Lil Wayne striving to take their music to higher plateaus instead of regressing the genre. This is how Hip-Hop transitions and grows!
