Lil Wayne is the Lifeblood of the Rap Industry

Whether you know him as Lil Wayne, Dewayne Carter, Weezy or any of the other frequently changing pseudonyms used by the rap Juggernaut known as Lil Wayne, one thing I'm sure you know is that he currently is the man to be in the rap industry. Although he has been a part of the industry for more than half of his 26 years of life and released his first album at the tender age of 12, Mr. Carter only recently became the rap phenomenon he is now and his coming of age was perfect timing for the industry. In the last year or two, the hip hop community at large has noticed a dwindling amount of album sales, mostly in part to the lack of substance and heart put into the music produced today. Most modern rappers unfortunately fall into this category of excessive "bling", superfluous misogyny, and sub par lyrical abilities but there are some who take the good and bad qualities of the craft and turn them into something that interests everyone and one of those people is Lil Wayne.

Hip hop, just like any other industry in this world experiences its ups and downs, its peaks and valleys, and its rises and falls in popularity and currently its' in a pretty big slump and one of the only people giving the industry life support is a five and a half foot tall, heavily tattooed, dreadlocked uber rapper by the name Dewayne Michael Carter. Although debates rage daily on whether or not Wayne's efforts are hurting or helping hip hop, one thing is sure- wayne equals success. Not since Tupac has there been a rapper who effortlessly releases as much music as Lil Wayne. He easily releases upwards of half a thousand songs a year and does so without burning out. Of course he has his hits and misses, one should only expect this given the quantity of music that pumps out of that man's vocal chords, but the majority of his music is easily twice as good as that of any other rapper in the game. I can honestly say that my day isn't complete without a daily dose of new Wayne material. Every day I get up and check the internet to see if a new Lil Wayne song has been released and then immediately download it and I know I'm not the only person addicted like this either. Although some people feel Wayne is over saturating the market with music whereas other people say he is the lifeblood of the industry and because of this tit for tat debate I have compiled the top five reasons Lil Wayne IS the rap industry.

Quantity of music released-

Lil wayne is not only a human music machine but a human hit factory as well! There is no one and I mean no one who can keep up with the pace of Lil Wayne, for God's sake, the man has a studio in his home, on his tour bus and in his shower. All he does is record and release music and he does it without writing any of it down. It takes most rappers many months, if not years to compile enough music to fill an album and then when the album comes out it is horrible, yet Wayne can put out a song a day and have the vast majority of them better crafted and more lyrically amazing than his peers in the industry. Other rappers who have worked with the man will tell you that he is a machine and impossible to keep up with. Add to all of that the fact that he does all of this while heavily under the influence of narcotics whose side affects include drowsiness and incessant sleeping.

Quality of music released-

As I stated earlier, Wayne's catalogue of music is impeccable whether you are speaking about his commercially released albums-of which he has six or his numerous mixtapes which have been regarded as better than any commercial albums that were released during the time frame. Unlike most rappers who are one dimensional and only know how to rap about one thing whether it be women, drugs, violence or excessive jewelry, lil wayne, like Tupac before him, is a multi-dimensional performer whose songs hit every facet of life. Do you like ostentatious odes to bling? If so then take a gander at Lil Wayne's Juvenile assisted song "bling bling". The phrase "bling bling", which was created by Lil Wayne, got so big that it was entered into the Webster Dictionary. Are you more of an educated, refined person? If so then listen to "Misunderstood". On this 8 minute long track, Wayne sits down and talks about among other things politics, Al Sharpton, race relations, education, the reformation of drug statutes, pedophile laws, prison over crowding, etc... If those subjects are a little too hard hitting for you, then I have just the song for you..."Got Money". Now this song is lively, full of allusions to squandering money and club hopping, etc... What about the plight of poverty stricken America? Take a listen to the "Dear Summer" freestyle or "Georgia Bush" to listen to Wayne's take on things. All and all, there isn't one facet of life in general that one of Lil Wayne's songs don't' touch and this capability makes him essential to hip hop.

Success and Commercial Appeal-

How many rappers sold at least one million albums in 2008? Three. That's it, only three. T. I. , Kanye West, and of course Lil Wayne. T.I. sold 1.5 million off of the buzz from his federal weapons case as well as his impending prison bid, Kanye barely broke the one million threshold with his completely vocoder assisted album which I don't know whether or not can actually be considered rap due to its heavy slant towards R&B, and Wayne sold an impressive 2.8 million copies of his album Tha Carter III. If Jay-Z had of released a cd last year then all four of the artists on "Swagga Like Us" would have gone platinum, but anyways, Lil Wayne sold more albums than the number 2 and 3 combined. He sold almost 3 million albums which is amazing enough in this economy but when you add the fact that he leaked nearly every song on the album prior to release and still sold that much is unbelievable. And in typical Wayne fashion, he released a new song the day after he released his album and then stated that he was already working on Tha Carter IV which will be released in late 2009, as well as an album with T-Pain titled "T-Wayne: He rap, he sang", an album with Juelz Santana titled " I Can't Feel My Face", a potential album with Lloyd, as well as an a rock album titled "Rebirth" which will be released in August of 2009, an R&B album titled "Luv Sawngz", and album with his rap group Young Money. How many artists do you know who can work on seven albums at once and still have enough material to release a new song every day?

He is releasing a rap album, rock album, and R&B album all possibly in the same year! That is completely unprecedented and possible un-reproducible by anyone else in the game. Lil Wayne is the main draw in the hip hop industry and the one keeping it alive. Because of the versatility he has, there is nothing that he can't do and because of his skill he will continue to keep the entertainment world on its feet and the industry booming.