2. MS4:
Music:
Lil
Wayne
Lil Wayne – background details, style, genre and success
Biography:
A game-changing artist and an impervious celebrity, Lil Wayne began as his career
as a near-novelty — a preteen delivering hardcore hip-hop — but through years of
maturation and reinventing the mixtape game, he developed into a million-selling rapper
with a massive body of work, one so inventive and cunning that it makes his famous claim
of being the “best rapper alive” worth considering. Born Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. and
raised in the infamous New Orleans neighborhood of Hollygrove, he was a straight-A
student but never felt his true intelligence was expressed through any kind of report
card. He found music was the best way to express himself, and after taking the name
Gangsta D he began writing rhymes. Combining a strong work ethic with aggressive selfpromotion, the 11-year-old convinced the Cash Money label to take him on, even if it was
just of odd jobs around the office. A year later, in-house producer Mannie Fresh
partnered him with the 14-year-old B.G. and dubbed the duo the B.G.’z. Although only
B.G.’s name appeared on the cover, the 1995 album True Story has since been accepted as
the B.G.’z debut album both by fans and the Cash Money label. The 1997 album Chopper
City was supposed to be the follow-up, but when Wayne accidentally shot himself in the
chest with a .44, it became a solo B.G. release.
That same year, he officially took the moniker Lil Wayne, dropping the “D” from
his first name in order to separate himself from an absent father. He joined B.G., Juvenile,
and Young Turk for another Fresh project, the teen hardcore rap group the Hot Boys, who
released their debut album, Get It How U Live!, in 1997. Two years later, Cash Money
would sign a distribution deal with the major-label Universal. Mainstream distribution
would help that year’s Hot Boys album Guerrilla Warfare to reach the number one spot on
Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. In 1998, Lil Wayne would appear on Juvenile’s
hit single “Back That Thing Up,” or “Back That Azz Up” as it appeared on Juvie’s album
400 Degreez. Wayne would launch his solo career a year later with the album Tha Block
Is Hot, featuring the hit single title track. It went double platinum but the rapper was
still unknown to Middle America, since his hardcore rhymes and the rough Cash Money
sound had not yet crossed over. His second album, Lights Out (2000), failed to match the
success of its predecessor but it did go gold, and with an appearance on the Big Tymers’
hit single “#1 Stunna,” his audience was certainly growing.
While Fresh was primarily responsible for launching his career, Wayne was now
much closer to Fresh’s fellow Big Tymer and Cash Money CEO Birdman. When Juvenile left
the label, Wayne — or “Birdman Jr.” as he was calling himself — showed his allegiance to
his CEO by releasing an album with a title much hotter than Juvie’s breakthrough effort.
500 Degreez landed in 2002 and while it went gold, rumors began flying about Cash
Money’s financial troubles and possible demise. The rest of the Hot Boys had defected and
Wayne’s planned 2003 album was scrapped, coming out instead as an underground mixtape
called Da Drought.
Wayne became enamored with the mixtape world after Da Drought drew so much
attention from the hip-hop press. He used these underground releases to drum up
anticipation for his next official album, the breakthrough effort Tha Carter. Released in
2
3. MS4:
Music:
Lil
Wayne
2004, the album seemed familiar on one hand with Mannie Fresh’s production, but the
Wayne on the cover was a dreadlocked surprise, and the rhymes he laid on the tracks
showed significant growth. His marketing skills had become sharper, too, and it was no
mistake that the album’s hit single, “Go DJ,” mentioned hip-hop’s greatest tastemakers
right in the title. It reached number five on the singles chart, and with a guest shot on
Destiny’s Child’s number three single, “Soldier,” Wayne had officially crossed over. On the
flip side, his street cred was supported by a slew of mixtapes released in 2005, including
the popular titles Dedication with DJ Drama and Tha Suffix with DJ Khaled. Cash Money’s
future was no longer in doubt and traditional music business rules no longer seemed to
apply, as tracks would be leaked onto the Internet and various DJ’s mixtapes. “Get
Something” was another bold move, as a Universal-funded video was made without the
track ever seeing official release.
With his alternative marketing scheme working in overdrive, the 2005 landing of
Tha Carter II was a major event, selling over a quarter-million copies the week of its
release. “Fireman” and “Shooter” with Robin Thicke were released as singles, while the
album — which for the first time featured no Mannie Fresh productions — went platinum. A
year later he collaborated with Birdman for the Like Father, Like Son album, featuring
the hit single “Stuntin’ Like My Daddy.” His mixtapes were still flooding the underground,
including the stunning Dedication 2, which came with an iconic image of the rapper on the
cover plus the much talked-about track “Georgia…Bush,” a venomous response to President
George W. Bush’s handling of the Katrina disaster. With no official follow-up to Tha
Carter II in sight, numerous collaborative tracks kept the rapper in the mainstream with
“Gimme That” by Chris Brown, “Make It Rain” by Fat Joe, and “Duffle Bag Boy” by Playaz
Circle becoming three of the biggest hits.
Tha Carter III was promised for 2007 but didn’t arrive until a year later, setting
off Wayne’s infamous reputation of delayed releases. Part of the problem became
unauthorized leaks of the album’s tracks, something combated by the official,
downloadable EP The Leak released that same year. Preceded by the number one hit
“Lollipop,” Tha Carter III arrived in May of 2008, selling more than a million copies in its
first week of release. An appearance on Saturday Night Live and four Grammy awards —
including Best Rap Album — spoke to Wayne’s mainstream acceptance. He also performed
at that year’s Country Music Awards with Kid Rock, but rather than rap, he played guitar.
The guitar playing was part of Wayne’s new involvement with rock music, including his
help in signing Kevin Rudolf to Cash Money plus an appearance on Rudolf’s massive hit “Let
It Rock.”
His planned rock album was previewed with the 2009 single “Prom Queen,” but
when the album failed to meet its promised April release, the music press began to
portray the rapper as the king of missed street dates. Unconcerned, Wayne forged ahead
with his Young Money crew, releasing the aboveground single “Every Girl,” plus the official
album We Are Young Money that same year. His rock album, Rebirth, would finally see the
light of day in early 2010, which coincided with Wayne being sentenced to a nine-month
prison term for criminal possession of a weapon.
The rapper may have been behind bars on Riker’s Island, but that didn’t stop his
ten-song EP I Am Not a Human Being from seeing the light of day in September 2010. Tha
Carter IV was finally released in 2011 along with its lead-off single “6 Foot 7 Foot”. The
album reached the top spot in Billboard’s Top 200.
Source: AllMusic
3
4. MS4:
Music:
Lil
Wayne
Discography:
Studio albums
1999: Tha Block Is Hot
2000: Lights Out
2002: 500 Degreez
2004: Tha Carter
2005: Tha Carter II
2008: Tha Carter III
2010: Rebirth
2010: I Am Not a Human Being
2011: Tha Carter IV
2012: I Am Not a Human Being II
Industry and record label
He wasrumoured to have signed a new $150 million contract in summer 2012 with Cash
Money Records, recording under his own sub-label Young Money.
Young Money Entertainment
Young Money Entertainment, simply known as Young Money, is an American record label
and group founded in 2003 by Lil Wayne. The label is an imprint of Cash Money Records,
which is distributed by Universal. Cortez Bryant was originally the president of YM, but
Mack Maine took over in 2009 so that Tez could focus more on managing Young Money
artists: Lil Wayne, Drake and Lil Twist. Since 2003, Young Mula has been on a steady rise
to the top of hip-hop, starting from the streets of New Orleans to signing some of the
biggest names in music.
4
5. MS4:
Music:
Lil
Wayne
Listen to the extracts of 2 of Lil Wayne’s biggest hits, Lollipop, (which spent 6 weeks
at number 1 in the US Billboard charts in 2009. The single won a Grammy for Best
Pop Song in 2009) and Tha Block is Hot from his debut 1999 album, ranked number 50
on VH1’s greatest hip hop songs of all time.
Make notes on their generic style. What evidence of the commercialist, populist sound
is there in comparison to the older hip hop tracks we listened to last lesson?
5
6. MS4:
Music:
Lil
Wayne
Lil Wayne – Representation Issues
Representations of gender
The lyrics and videos of hip-hop stars are often associated with misogynistic values and
attitudes.
Definition: Misogyny is the objectification of and contempt for women.
Typically hip-hop lyrics are very negative towards women and this contempt is often
reflected visually in music videos.
In your analysis of Lil Wayne’s 6 Foot 7 Foot video consider the construction of gender
roles, and in particular how these are connected to concept of materialism (e.g. the
commodification of the female body). Make detailed notes below, analysing the shots and
scenes in the video which link to this.
6
foot
7
foot
lyrics
Six
foot,
seven
foot,
eight
foot
bunch
Six
foot,
seven
foot,
eight
foot
bunch
Excuse
my
charisma,
vodka
with
a
spritzer
Swagger
down
pat,
call
my
shit
Patricia
Young
Money
militia
and
I
am
the
commissioner
You
don't
want
start
Weezy
'cause
the
F
is
for
f inisher
So
misunderstood
but
what's
a
world
without
enigma?
Two
bitches
at
the
same
time,
synchronized
swimmers
Got
the
girl
twisted
'cause
she
open
when
you
twist
her
Never
met
the
bitch
but
I
fuck
her
like
I
missed
her
Life
is
the
bitch
and
death
is
her
sister
Sleep
is
the
cousin,
what
a
fuckin'
family
picture
You
know
father
time,
we
all
know
Mother
Nature
It's
all
in
the
family
but
I
am
of
no
relation
No
matter
who's
buying,
I'm
a
celebration
Black
and
white
diamonds,
fuck
segregation
Fuck
that
shit,
my
money
up,
you
niggas
just
Honey
Nut
Young
Money
running
shit
and
you
niggas
just
runner
ups
I
don't
f eel
I
done
enough
so
I'ma
keep
on
doing
this
shit
Lil
Tunechi
or
Young
Tunafish
Six
foot,
seven
foot,
eight
foot
bunch
Six
foot,
seven
foot,
eight
foot
bunch
I'm
going
back
in
Okay,
I
lost
my
mind,
it's
somewhere
out
there
stranded
I
think
you
stand
under
me
if
you
don't
understand
me
Had
my
heart
broken
by
this
woman
named
Tammy
But
hoes
gon'
be
hoes
so
I
couldn't
blame
Tammy
Just
talked
to
Moms,
told
her
she
the
sweetest
I
beat
the
beat
up,
call
it
self-‐defense
Swear
man,
I
be
seeing
through
these
niggas
like
sequins
Niggas
think
they
He-‐Man,
pow,
pow,
the
end
Talking
to
myself
because
I
am
my
own
consultant
Married
to
the
money,
fuck
the
world,
that's
adultery
You
f ull
of
shit,
you
close
your
mouth
and
let
yo
ass
talk
Young
Money
eating,
all
you
haters
do
is
add
salt
Stop
playing,
bitch,
I
got
this
game
on
deadbolt
Mind
so
sharp,
I
fuck
around
and
cut
my
head
off
Real
nigga
all
day
and
tomorrow
But
these
muthafuckas
talking
crazy
like
they
jaw
broke
Glass
half
empty,
half
full,
I'll
spill
ya
Try
me
and
run
into
a
wall,
outfielder
You
know
I'ma
ball
'til
they
turn
off
the
field
lights
The
fruits
of
my
labor
I
enjoy
'em
while
they
still
ripe
Bitch,
stop
playing,
I
do
it
like
a
king
do
If
these
niggas
animals
then
I'ma
have
a
mink
soon
Tell
'em
bitches
I
say
put
my
name
on
the
wall
I
speak
the
truth
but
I
guess
that's
a
foreign
language
to
y'all
6
7. MS4:
Music:
Lil
Wayne
Now consider the video to Lollipop (2008) and analyse the misogynistic themes in this video
and lyrics.
I
said
he's
so
sweet
Make
her
wanna
lick
the
rapper
So
I
let
her
lick
the
rapper
Shawty
said
l-‐l-‐lick
like
a
lollipop
She
said
l-‐l-‐lick
like
a
lollipop
Shawty
said
l-‐l-‐like
a
lollipop
She
said
like
a
lollipop
Shawty
wanna
thug
Bottles
in
the
club
Shawty
wanna
hump
And
oh
I
like
to
touch
ya
lovely
lady
lumps
She
wanna
lick
the
rapper
Shawty
wanna
thug
Bottles
in
the
club
Shawty
wanna
hump
And
ooh
I
l ike
to
touch
ya
lovely
lady
lumps
C'mon,
yeah
Okay,
lil'
mama
had
a
swag
like
mine
She
even
wear
her
hair
down
her
back
like
mine
I
make
her
feel
right
when
it's
wrong
like
lyin’
Man,
she
ain’t
never
had
a
love
like
mine
But
man
I
ain’t
never
seen
an
ass
like
hers
That
pussy
in
my
mouth
had
me
at
a
loss
for
words
I
told
her
to
back
it
up
like
burp
burp
And
make
that
ass
jump
like
shczerp
shczerp
And
that’s
when
she
said
I'm
lick
l ike
a
l ollipop
(Oh
yeah
I
l ike
that)
She
said
l-‐l-‐lick
like
a
lollipop
(Oh
yeah
I
l ike
that)
She
said
lick
like
a
lollipop
(Oh
yeah
I
l ike
that)
Shawty
said
like
a
lollipop
Shawty
wanna
thug
Bottles
in
the
club
Shawty
wanna
hump
And
ooh
I
l ike
to
touch
ya
lovely
lady
lumps
Shawty
wanna
hump
Shawty
wanna
thug
Bottles
in
the
club
Shawty
wanna
hump
And
oh
I
like
to
touch
ya
lovely
lady
lumps
Get
up,
like
you
make
it
up,
don't
stop
Drop
it
shawty,
drop
it
like
it's
hot
Drop,
dr-‐dr-‐drop
it
like
it's
hot
Do
it
shawty,
don't
stop
Shawty
said
the
nigga
that
she
with
ain’t
shit
Shawty
said
the
nigga
that
she
with
ain’t
this
Shawty
said
the
nigga
that
she
with
can't
hit
But
shawty
I'ma
hit
it,
hit
it
like
I
can't
miss
And
he
can’t
do
this,
and
he
don’t
do
that
Shawty
needa
a
refund
need
to
bring
that
nigga
back
Just
like
a
refund
I
make
her
bring
that
ass
back
And
she
bring
that
ass
back,
because
I
like
that
Shawty
wanna
thug
(Yeah
I
like
that)
Bottles
in
the
club
(Yeah
I
like
that)
Shawty
wanna
hump
And
oh
I
like
to
touch
ya
lovely
lady
lumps
Shawty
wanna
l-‐l-‐lick
like
a
lollipop
Shawty
said
I'm
l-‐l-‐like
a
lollipop
She
said
I'm
l-‐l-‐like
a
lollipop
So
I
let
her
lick
the
rapper,
like
a
lollipop
Shawty
wanna
thug
7
8. MS4:
Music:
Lil
Wayne
Representation of race
Theory
Racial stereotypes are among the most readily employed in the media. The origins of racist
ideology lie in colonialism, which represented blacks as ‘primitive’ and ‘savage’, and whites
as ‘civilised’ and ‘developed’.
Richard Dyer has argued that traditionally there are 3 main ‘myths’ that are ever-present
1.
2.
3.
The black person as troublemaker – News items present links between race
and crime. Problems are said to be due to the number of immigrants, the influx
of refugees, or the cultural identity of black people
The black person as entertainer – The classic example of this is the BBC’s
Black and White Minstrel Show in which white male performers put on black
face paint and pretended to be black. The highest achievers amongst blacks
(both in the UK and the USA) tend to be entertainers – actors, singers,
dancers, etc
The black person as dependent – The famines in Africa portray starving
children and the need for Western intervention to sort things out. More
complex causes and effects are brushed aside. These countries therefore lack
the competence to be self-sufficient and can only survive with Western
support.
As previously discussed, some critics of gangsta rap, such as black filmmaker Spike Lee,
have argued that some rappers play up to the stereotype of the black person as
uncultured and ignorant for the entertainment of a mass audience.
However, many rappers have argued they are simply reflecting the reality of life in inner
city areas.
Consider the music video for Drop the World ft. Enimen (2009). Analyse imagery,
narrative themes and lyrics, and then find evidence for the following 2 ways of reading
the text:
Evidence in support of Dyer’s theory:
8
9. MS4:
Music:
Lil
Wayne
Evidence to support an alternative, positive reading:
9
10. MS4:
Music:
Lil
Wayne
Representation of masculinity
Traditional representations of masculinity include qualities such as independence, pride,
resiliency, self-control and physical strength. These traits often become over-valued and
exaggerated, thus developing into qualities such as competitiveness, toughness,
aggressiveness and love of power.
Look at Lil Wayne’s album covers. How does he follow the traditional hegemonic
masculinity or how does he challenge it? Think about the videos we have studied and also
the album covers below:
1. Lights Out, 2000
2. Tha Carter, 2005
10
11. MS4:
Music:
Lil
Wayne
3. Rebirth, 2010
3. Tha Carter IV, 2011
4. Tha Carter IV leaked LP:
11
12. MS4:
Music:
Lil
Wayne
Consider the key selling points of Lil Wayne we have considered so far, and link these
to the following themes:
•
•
Traditional masculinity and male dominance
•
Materialism, success and wealth
Female objectification and commodification
12
13. MS4:
Music:
Lil
Wayne
Lil Wayne – Marketing Strategies
Lil Wayne and his feuds with other high profile rappers/artists have kept his name in the
public eye alongside his arrest and imprisonment for possession of a gun.
In August 2012, Lil Wayne was embroiled in a spat with a New York senator:
There's at least one New Yorker who didn't appreciate Lil Wayne telling the Big
Apple to go suck it.
New York State Senator Malcolm A. Smith was so incensed that the rapper told
MTV on Monday, "I don't like New York," Smith actually called a press conference in Times
Square to demand the hip-hop star apologize.
"I take strong exception to the words 'I don't like New York,'" the democrat told
reporters yesterday, adding that he was "shocked" when he first heard it.
Lil Wayne taking a break from rapping
Smith went on to suggest that if Weezy hates New York, "you don't have to come
to New York."
"You don't have to sell your products here. And perhaps we won't come to your
concerts," he noted.
He might have difficulty selling some members of his own family on the idea
however considering he admitted his 19-year-old daughter, Amanda, is a Lil Wayne fan.
Lil Wayne writing a book about jail time
Lindsay Lohan’s Strange Hurricane TweetAngelina Jolie Gets In the Halloween
SpiritKim Kardashian’s Sexy Mermaid Costume
And to be fair, the hitmaker hasn't had an easy time in the five boroughs
considering that in 2007, he was busted on illegal weapons possession charges and
following a guilty plea spent eight months locked up in Rikers Island in 2010. He also
wasn't thrilled this June when a New York City DJ dissed of his protégé Nicki Minaj,
prompting him to pull his Young Money acts out of the Hot 97 summer jam.
Still, given his neighborhood is famous for being the place that birthed such hiphop icons as Run-D.M.C., rap mogul Russell Simmons, Ja Rule and Young MC among others,
Smith wasn't taking Lil Wayne's insult lying down.
In a separate statement issued Wednesday and obtained by E! News, Smith noted:
"Millions of New Yorkers listen to his music every day. His comments outraged his local
fans and residents. The group today will be demanding an apology of the hip-hop star. Lil
Wayne has had misfortune in New York with recent gun charges and a jail sentence."
13
14. MS4:
Music:
Lil
Wayne
Lil Wayne and Pusha T begin feuding over new single "Exodus 23:1"
NINA MANDELL
Thursday, May 24, 2012
CAN'T WE all be friends?
Rappers Lil Wayne and Pusha T reignited a years-old feud over the latter rapper’s
new single “Exodus 23:1,” which was released this week.
The new track includes a line that many interpreted to be a slam against Lil
Wayne and artists signed to his label, MTV reported.
“Contract all f----d up / I guess that means you all f----d up / You signed to one
n---a that signed to another n---a that's signed to three n----s / Now that's bad luck,”
he raps.
While the line didn’t call Lil Wayne out by names, Weezy apparently took offense
at it and fired off a tweet on Thursday saying: “F--- pusha t and anybody that love em.”
The feud between the two rappers goes back to 2006 after Pusha-T’s group the
Clipse expressed their disdain for Lil Wayne and his attempt to “rap like Jay-Z, dress like
the Clipse, become a coke dealer after 5 albums, and now dress like Jim Jones.”
But MTV.com pointed out that in 2011, Pusha-T said they had reconciled after Lil
Wayne went to jail.
“There was definitely a time period when I felt a certain way [about him], but as
of right now I don't,” he told Complex magazine last year.
Other feuds:
50 Cent: After hearing word that Lil Wayne had written a ‘diss’ song for him after
50 Cent made some unkind remarks, 50 lashed out at Wayne first on August 17, 2007 with
the song "Part Time Lover. 50 responded to Lil Wayne in January 2009 in a song entitled
"Play This On The Radio. The feud ended after 50 Cent appeared and performed at Lil
Wayne's America's Most Wanted Musical Festival stop in Anaheim, California, in 2009.
Jay-Z: In 2011, when Jay-Z & Kanye West's single H•A•M was released, Jay-Z
insulted Lil Wayne's mentor Birdman. On August 24, 2011, a song called It's Good by Lil
Wayne (featuring Drake and Jadakiss) was leaked online and included Lil Wayne responding
to Jay-Z’s jibes.
Zack O'Malley Greenburg, Forbes Staff
INVESTING | 9/07/2011 @ 1:04PM |46,576 views
Why Lil Wayne's 'Carter IV' Outsold Jay-Z and Kanye's 'Throne'
The numbers for Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter IV came in this morning, and they were
staggering: 940,000 copies sold in the first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan, placing
the album firmly atop the Billboard 200 chart.
Tha Carter IV was Lil Wayne’s third No. 1 debut; remarkably, its first-week sales
total was more than twice that of Jay-Z and Kanye West’s Watch The Throne, which
moved 436,000 units when it hit stores last month. So how did the diminutive Young
Money/Cash Money star—who finished behind Jay-Z and Kanye on our annual Hip-Hop Cash
Kings list—manage to outsell a pair of heavyweights?
“I think just the hard work, all the years and everything we’ve been through as a
unit,” says Cash Money Records chief Bryan “Birdman” Williams, who was deeply involved
in the album’s production and promotion. “It’s our season, that’s just how it goes …
[Wayne] is the best doing it, and everybody is just starting to see it. I don’t think any
artist in the world is going to be as big as he’s going to be.”
Hard work and experience aside, there were a number of other factors that
contributed to the comparative success of Carter IV. Jay-Z and Kanye pursued a
14
15. MS4:
Music:
Lil
Wayne
complicated release strategy that included exclusive windows with Apple’s iTunes and
BestBuy, in part to safeguard against the possibility of a leak (and angered some retailers
in the process). The Young Money/Cash Money team did nothing of the sort, and didn’t
expend much energy on security, either.
Although Carter IV did leak a few days before its debut—unlike Watch The Throne,
which remained airtight—many people, including Lil Wayne himself, believe the leak
actually helped. Birdman agrees with that assessment, mostly because the leak occurred
too late to have large negative impact on sales.
“It always depends how much time you have with a leak,” he says. “This one was
two or three days. When you got a project like this and it’s three weeks to a month, it
can really hurt you … but in this case I don’t think the leak hurt at all.”
Another reason for Carter IV’s strong performance: Young Money/Cash Money
ditched the typical release cycle, instead dropping the album immediately after Lil
Wayne’s performance at the Video Music Awards last Sunday night.
“They didn’t really do it Tuesday to Tuesday,” says entertainment attorney Bernie
Resnick. “People were very much into the album, and [the label] didn’t try to guard it like
a big military secret.”
Resnick also wonders how much personality and perception played into the sales
of Watch The Throne and Carter IV, given the difference between the images of the
artists involved.
“The potential for negative perception of an artist is certainly part of the
sales equation,” he says. “I think that people perceive Wayne as a fun guy to be
around, and perhaps he takes himself a little less seriously than the Throne guys.”
Of course, there are other, more nefarious theories as to why Carter IV outsold
Watch The Throne. Some bloggers have suggested that Birdman is using his millions to buy
up copies of his pal’s album with the explicit goal of topping Kanye and Jay-Z, who may
have taken a shot at the Cash Money chief earlier this year. Birdman, however, denies this
notion.
“I don’t know where that came from, I ain’t buy no copies,” he says. “No indeed,
man, ain’t no way in the world, it’s impossible. Why would I do that? We got this money,
and this money here come hard.”
Though Birdman vehemently asserts that he didn’t make a dent in Carter IV’s sales
numbers, he admits he always makes a few token purchases when his artists release new
music.
“I always support my brand, our brand,” he says. “So whenever we have anything
out, I buy myself a couple albums for the homies, maybe two or three for myself.”
What impact would feuds like these and publicity stunts have on Weezy’s brand
image? How does it benefit his reputation in the music industry?
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Lil Wayne’s official website
Have a look at the website for Lil Wayne and make detailed notes below on the
content, appeal and target audience for the site:
Then compare this to the fan site,
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Marketing and brand through merchandise and sponsorship deals
Lil Wayne has many marketing and sponsorship deals.
• In January 2012 Lil Wayne officially launched his Trukfit clothing line
during Market Week in New York. The rapper hosted a private showing at El
Privado in the Hotel Americano where Young Money’s T-Streets, Lil Twist,
Mack Maine, Gudda Gudda and manager Cortez Bryant celebrated the
clothes, along with Twist’s 19th birthday.
The clothing line stands for “The Reason You Kill For It” which will be launched
at Zumiez stores across the nation, at Zumiez.com and Karmaloop.com.
Here is the company’s mission statement:
As a brand, TRUKFIT is a state of mind – it is about being yourself, having fun,
being free, being driven and being able to express all these elements and more. We
have many sides to our being and TRUKFIT describes them all. We have no
boundaries, rules, no gender distinction, no ethnic distinction, no demographic
distinction. We are young, fun loving, connected to each other and yet we are all
individuals. We are free to dream, to create, to fantasise and to explore.
See the JackThreads link on Lil Wayne’s new clothing line – what inspired the
name?
•
In March 2012, a link between Lil
Wayne and energy drink,
Mountain Dew was launched with
a Twitter tag of DEWeezy, with
an official launch at the Austin
music festival.
“Lil Wayne and his forward
thinking manager, Cortez Bryant
of Blueprint Group, were an
obvious choice for us,” says Derek
Jackson, Founder & CEO of Glu Agency. “Mountain Dew is an iconic,
cutting edge lifestyle brand and we could not think of a better merger
than with a superstar such as Lil Wayne who is constantly pushing the
envelope through his music and celebrity. I was really excited that Brett
O’Brien, Vice President Marketing, Mountain Dew and Flavors, had the
foresight and vision to make this amazing collaboration come to fruition.
What we have created is not your average advertising campaign, it’s all
based around cultural iconics. We don’t build brands, we build icons.
Additionally, philanthropic and social responsibility is the unwavering core of
this vision.”
In May 2013, Pepsi dropped Lil’ Wayne as a spokesperson for Mountain Dew
because of offensive lyrics referencing civil rights activist Emmett Till on
the song Karate Chop.
Lil Wayne has been fired as a Mountain Dew spokesperson amid
controversy over his crude lyrics involving Emmett Till in the song “Karate
Chop.”
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In a statement on Friday, PepsiCo announced that the rapper’s “offensive
reference to a revered civil rights icon does not reflect the values of our
brand.”
A rep for Lil Wayne attributed the parting to “creative differences.”
The controversy regards Wayne’s contribution earlier this year to Future’s
track “Karate Chop,” on which he raps, “Pop a lot of pain pills / Bout to put
rims on my skateboard wheels / Beat that p**sy up like Emmett Till.”
14-year-old African-American Till was infamously tortured and murdered in
1955 Mississippi after allegedly flirting with a white woman.
Back in February, Epic Records issued an apology for the lyrics and said it
would try to remove the leaked, unauthorized track.
Earlier this week, Lil Wayne himself sent a letter to the Till
family acknowledging the “hurt” he had caused.
His sentiments were apparently not enough to save his job.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
He has an exclusive trainer line with the brand Supra, announced in April
2012. See the video below on his new range for the brand, titled SPECTRE.
http://www.suprafootwear.com/news/2013/05/13/Lil_Wayne_Presents_SPE
CTRE_By_SUPRA_Video
He was also the voiceover for the energy drink Gatorade in 2009.
The website lilwaynestyle.com follows Weezy’s trends in fashion and offers
fans tips on how to recreate his look.
He has a line of customable t-shirts available on zazzle.com
He has a line of clothing under the title Rebirth
In 2007 he launched 2 clothing lines, Double U for women and Foreign
Money for men, but the company folded the same year.
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Using information from his videos and your knowledge of his image, create a spider diagram
below to sum up Lil Wayne’s brand image:
Bran d image
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How does Lil Wayne connect with his audience in the digital age?
3 Social Media Marketing Tips From Rapper Lil' Wayne
Posted by Eric Vreeland
Thu, Feb 17, 2011, blog.hubspot.com
Lil' Wayne is a well known rap star and also known for his brief stint in the joint for
weapons charges. Whether you listen to his music or not, you can certainly learn from
his Facebook marketing skills.
If Lil' Wayne hadn't already established himself as one of social media's elite, his most
recent overtaking of the Guinness World Record for most "Likes" to a post on
Facebook in 24 hours certainly did the job. Only hours after Oreo claimed the record
for themselves with 114,619 "Likes," Lil' Wayne and his fans obliterated it with a whopping
588,243. Now I know some of you are probably thinking, "well he probably just has a lot
more fans than Oreo," but that isn't the whole story. Oreo has 16,711,040 fans on
Facebook to Lil' Wayne’s 20,112,726, and although this is a significant advantage, it does
not completely explain why he got more than five times as many "Likes" on his post.
As an internet marketer having a social media presence isn't enough. The social media
landscape is always changing, and because of this it's important to understand the most
effective ways to utilize the tools available for your marketing efforts. Here are a
couple things all internet marketers can learn from Lil' Wayne’s success.
3 Social Media Marketing Tips From Rapper Lil' Wayne
1. Be Unique
Although there are thousands of rappers in the world, Lil' Wayne uses his uniqueness to
help him stand out in the overpopulated sea of lyricists. His love of rock music, the Green
Bay Packers, and his brief stint in jail are just a few of the things that Wayne uses to
distinguish himself from others.
Figure out what distinguishes you from the competition, and make sure you share this with
your audience. This will not only help you to attract a loyal following, but it will also
help you start ranking for long tail keywords that your competitors may not be focused
on.
2. Never Stop Creating Content
You would think that being locked up might put someone's rap career on hold. But instead
of slowing down, Lil Wayne seemed to work even harder while he was in prison. As well as
continuing to write songs, he also launched a blog called WeezyThanxYou because he
wanted his fans to know he loved them. As a result of his continued effort to share
remarkable content with the world, not only was Weezy able to maintain his fan base, but
he actually increased it!
Growing a following and attracting inbound links is a long gradual process. Don't lose hope
if you don't see immediate results. Quality and consistency of content creation is the key
to any inbound marketing strategy.
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3. Tell Your Fans What to Do!
Lil' Wayne shares a lot of exclusive content with his fans on Facebook. He also makes it
extremely clear to them how they can show their appreciation by including a simple "Like
this post" call to action in many of his posts. By telling his fans what to do next Lil'
Wayne is making his fan's lives simpler and helping them with the decision-making process.
This works incredibly well on his Facebook Page as we can see with all of his posts
including the most recent Guinness World Record post.
Don't make your visitors' experience more difficult by throwing a barrage of links and
choices in front of them. Provide them with valuable content and then offer them one
simple next step.
Listen to the interview with Lil Wayne’s tech prodigy Mazy Kazerooni, who
turned Lil Wayne into a social media network player:
http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=140036532&
m=140042752
What techniques are used to engage fans?
How does Lil Wayne sell products without annoying his fans?
How many fans does he have on Facebook?
What Lil’ Wayne Taught Me About Social Media
by CARTER THOMAS bluecloudsolutions.com 2010
Unless you have been living under a rock for the last 5 years, you’d know that Lil’
Wayne is probably the hottest thing to come through the music game since Biggie Smalls.
His fan base is incredibly diverse – pulling in people from every walk of life, every socioeconomic background , and every Facebook fan club. His twitter presence is so-so, knocking
down about half a million fans daily, but his Facebook page is unreal. 8.2 Million and
counting….all while he is in jail?
Let’s take a look at why this fan page is so successful. First and foremost, there
are consistent posts about things relevant to his brand. He gives exclusive insight to
footage and music and gives the fan base a look at what life is like inside prison. Where
else are you going to get a straight dialogue from Weezy besides his Facebook page? This
is him capitalising on his comparative advantage, the most important element when doing
anything related to marketing. There are thousands of musicians and rappers out there,
but only one has the story like his.
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When writing web copy, the biggest thing to keep in mind is the call to action.
Everything on a webpage should always be telling you what to do next. Wayne does this
perfectly by telling fans to Like posts and link to certain sites and comment on posts.
“Like this post if you like getting prison letters from Lil Wayne!” Similarly, almost all the
copy starts off with a “if you like _____, then like this post.” Brilliant.
From a web marketing strategy perspective, this creates a powerful tool for search
engine optimisation. Facebook Likes are becoming a new way to measure popularity the
way inbound likes and page rankings have traditionally been. By creating an environment
where Liking a post is the norm and the action, Wayne’s credibility goes up. The links he
put on that page all of a sudden have more value and become a better tool for leveraging.
Interactivity is important for creating consumer habits. By having this in place, Wayne
and Co are able to forecast future efforts and measure effectiveness of posts. Look at
the numbers of people that Liked certain FB comments – Young Money gets 32,000 Likes
and Twitter only gets 15,000. You can take that back to your social media manager and
talk about how maybe the Facebook Lil Wayne community is more interested in the hip
hop culture and less into the technology – translated into a focus on the Facebook efforts
which are obviously paying off. Literally.
Beyond anything else, Weezy has 8.2 Million fans because of his popularity outside
of Facebook. But with a web-marketing lens, you can actually use his profile as a
scorecard for what works on Facebook and what doesn’t. The analytics are sitting right
there in front of you with the number of likes and the number of comments. If you have a
business or an event or anything with a fan page, go out and find the biggest, most epic
Facebook page out there and study the metrics they are seeing with much bigger
numbers. This will give you the best foot forward. Don’t reinvent the wheel – build a V8.
Explore Weezy’s Facebook page and note down how he engages with fans & how he
uses brands and product placement on the pages:
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Audience reach and appeal
(adapted from www.wsws.org)
The overwhelming popularity of Lil Wayne makes it clear that gangster rap is a cultural
phenomenon. As the numbers indicate, gangster rap is currently embraced in the US and
around the world by an economically diverse and multicultural fan base. Gangster rap’s
popularity, in particular, has soared to levels not seen since N.W.A. helped invent the
genre 15 years ago. Although the real-life tragedies of Lil Wayne fit nicely into the
popular, cartoonish image of the black ghetto experience, the profit motives of the record
industry, not ghetto life, have played the definitive role in the construction and
development of the genre. ‘If an artist makes more money talking about being a thug and
his realness in the street, then he’s going to do more of that because that’s where the
success is,” said MC Search, best known from the group 3rd Bass and now a radio DJ in
Detroit. “They will do what sells.”
Since the late 1990s, major labels wasted no time snapping up as many independent
gangster labels and rappers as they could. Since then, the once-underground gangster rap
phenomenon has been almost completely absorbed into, and centralized under, the
command and guidance of corporate conglomerates.
Rap is now big business, and young rappers stand to make as much as star athletes in
some cases.
A 2003 Boston Globe article reported that “Today 70 per cent of hip-hop is bought by
white kids.”
The rap industry is increasingly aware that their audience is not just black citydwellers, as pointed out by Erik Parker of Vibe magazine: “You don’t necessarily need the
white face to cross over to the non-urban audiences.... Before you had Eminem as a huge
success because he’s a great rapper and he’s white. Now you have artists such as Nelly
(and 50 Cent) crossing over—black artists doing black music. I do think that rappers are
more conscious of a growing market and they’re creating records to accommodate that
market.” Despite the fact that rappers are just now becoming conscious of their audience,
the audience has been influencing rap music’s content for some time.
The fact that gangster rap has a racially diverse audience and enjoys enormous
sales indicates that, although the impetus and content of gangster rap may have
originated in the desperation and of the inner-city population, it has won an audience with
youth from many distinct racial and, more importantly, class backgrounds.
There is, doubtless, a considerable section of the rap audience that enjoys the
music on a different level altogether. In gangster rap, the backward youth (black or
white) can find all of his/her stereotypes about men, women, life and even blacks,
validated. The gangster is the rugged individual who wins at the end of the movie, he
solves his problems with mindless and brutal violence and is greatly respected for it by his
community; he treats women like dogs and they love him for it and, most importantly, he
values wealth and power—and gaudy displays of it—above all else. He is a reactionary
myth.
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This begs the question: What do young people from so many different backgrounds all
find attractive about gangster rap, and artists such as Lil Wayne? Write up an
analysis of this, using audience theories.
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Critics’ responses
Responses to Carter IV:
The rapper's album dropped Sunday after his performance on the MTV VMAs
On Sunday, Lil Wayne released his ninth studio album, Tha Carter IV. And, the morning after its
midnight release, the album's deluxe edition was the top iTunes download, while the standard
version sat in the fourth spot.
Lil Wayne's I Am Still Music Tour to Undergo Set List Change-Ups
But, reviews of the rapper's first post-prison musical creation (he served eight months at New
York's Rikers Island penitentiary for weapons charged) are mixed. Here's what the critics are
saying.
The Washington Post reviewer Chris Richards calls the album "disappointing" and highlights a
specific verse that seems to inform then entire creation. "He suffers some Freudian slippage on
the second track, “Blunt Blowin,” which mutates Aerosmith's “Dream On” into a club-friendly
shape. “I stick to the script/Imemorize the lines,” he raps. “Cause life is a movie that I've seen
too many times.”
However, USA Today seemed to disagree, saying the album's delayed release was worth
waiting for. "He comes armed with a steady stream of punch lines ("When it Waynes, it pours")
over banging beats. And though he shares the mike with a roster of guests that include Rick
Ross, Cory Gunz, Jadakiss, T-Pain and Tech N9ne, they're just icing on the cake."
"Weezy doesn't have the same speed-demon intensity he had five years ago - and he's
just as casual and sloppy about his approach to official album releases," says Rolling Stone. "So
Tha Carter IV has experiments that fail, as well as a pair of star-studded guest track s where
Wayne doesn't appear at all. Yet even the failed moments sound like nobody else - check out
"It's Good," with its threat to kidnap Beyoncé so Jay-Z can pay the ransom money. That's
impressively tasteless, if nothing else."
"No one comes out of prison the same way they went in," writes The Boston Globe. "He
got through that prison sentence 'like a subject and a predicate,' he rapped. But it’s not
convincing, and when you listen to “Tha Carter IV,’’ his eagerly awaited new album released
today, it’s evident he’s not the same person, let alone the same rapper. ...With “Tha Carter
IV,’’ there are only traces of the playful wit that made Wayne so interesting to begin with."
Spin declared Tha Carter IV the beginning of the rapper's end, saying, "Lil Wayne is not
yet 29 and has been recording professionally almost exactly as long as West. But he is now,
officially, on the other side of greatness. ...Some will point to the clunking nature of various
"Carter IV rhymes as proof that his powers have faded, and lazy hashtag raps and puny puns
abound, sure. "Have it your way -- Burger King." "Light that Ashton Kutcher." "I tried to pay
attention but attention paid me / Haters can't see me, nose-bleed seats." But he's never been a
rigorous editor -- a groaner or two always got through.
(Hollywoodreporter.com)
Why Lil Wayne’s ‘Tha Carter IV’ Almost Sold A Milli
Lil Wayne‘s Tha Carter IV leaked with a resounding
thud. Critical response was quick and overwhelmingly
negative, popular reaction seemed mixed at best —
#thingsbetterthancarteriv was a trending topic on Twitter
for a little while.
By all accounts it seemed like the first step
towards Wayne’s creative downfall. And yet it
Soundscanned 964,000 units in its first week of release.
This is a pretty unbelievable number, so much so that
many armchair internet critics were accusing label head Bryan “Baby” Williams of buying copies
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in bulk himself. (The conspiracy falls short of logic, especially since 300k of those sales came
directly from iTunes, which would’ve required Baby to have either some particularly slick hackers
or an army of credit card holders on his team.) To put things in perspective: that’s only about
50k shy of the first week numbers Tha Carter III did, despite significantly diminishing
album sales overall in the four years since. If we were to factor for deflation it seems like
he’s more popular today than he was at the height of so-called Wayne hysteria. He’s once again
rewritten the rapper career arc, turning what should’ve been the beginning of his seemingly
inevitable popular dip into a second commercial peak.
It’s the second highest debut of the year, falling just short of Lady Gaga’s Born This
Way. That record was pushed over a million through 99 cent Amazon.com specials and weird
telephone plan tie-in purchases. Wayne did his numbers with good old fashioned, full-price
music sales. Despite all of his many missteps, Wayne is arguably the most popular albumoriented American music performer. He’s undoubtedly the most popular rapper, by a gigantic
margin, having nearly doubled the first week sales of that little very important collaborative
album that those other two most popular rappers released just a few weeks prior.
But why? How could a record that was so universally written off in our world (be that
your ‘our’ is the rap world, the critical world or the internet music world) go on to be more
popular than he was in the first place? While we thought Wayne was falling off, he was merely
broadening his brand. Where we saw his atrocious rock project Rebirth as just that, it only
served to convert more casual outside listeners. While we laughed at his zebra-print jeggings
and late-in-life skateboarding failures as a sad bid for youth relevance, young people somewhere
saw all that as a the very picture of relevance. While we saw his jail stay as a missed
opportunity, he used it as a promotional push. While he was locked up he had two of the
biggest pop rappers to emerge — Drake and Nicki Minaj — under his vanity label umbrella and
constantly singing his praises. The beyond-middling rosters at Kanye’s G.O.O.D. Music and Jay’s
Roc Nation could provide this vicarious boost. And while Watch The Throne is all crit-bait album
oriented art rap, Wayne is in the preferable position of having actual radio hits – “How To
Love” and “She Will” both hovering around the Top 20.
We don’t want to admit it, but this is how you sell records today. For all this talk of the
underground internet music conversation shaking the very foundation of the industry (Hooray for
that indie rock band that won that thing!), the divide between the “serious” music listener and
the popular one has never been wider. Radio listeners still buy albums and you still need a
major label push to be on the radio. Point-of-purchase impulse buys by casual fans at Target
checkouts drive the industry more than any amount of buzz. Like Eminem before him, Wayne’s
been able to exploit this audience through the sheer force of ubiquity. His radio presence and
cross genre saturation has helped him to touch as many of these low investment listeners as
possible and now that he’s got their ears he’s charismatic enough to sell them anything. Even
this, a mostly middling and straightforward rap album. This is how the industry still works. Pop
stars are going to sell records to pop audiences until the day the earth burns out and right now
Wayne is the best and biggest pop-rap star we’ve got. The quality of his music is irrelevant to
that truth.
(MTVhive.com)
Responses to I am not a Human Being II, finally released in March 2013, were mixed:
Lil Wayne's 10th album I Am Not A Human Being II has spent a full week on the charts
and the final tallies are in. Though his first-week numbers didn't match up to Tha Carter IV's
monstrous sales, he still landed at #2.
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In total, Wayne pushed 217,000 copies, earning him a spot below Justin Timberlake's
latest album The 20/20 Experience, which easily remained at #1 with 318,000 additional copies
sold after getting close to a million in week one.
In 2011, Weezy's LP Tha Carter IV bowed at No. 1 with 964,000 copies in its first week.
The prequel to his current project, I Am Not A Human Being, landed at No. 2 with 110, 000 in
2010 as a digital-only release, before leaping up to claim the top spot two weeks later with
125,000 sold after the physical CD hit retailers.
(rapfix.mtv.com)
Lil Wayne’s focus may have shifted away from music since he picked up a skateboard, but
he still keeps pumping out albums. The Young Money chief, who once proclaimed himself the
“best rapper alive,” delivers his 10th album I Am Not a Human Being II to stores today.
Weezy surrounds himself with everyone from Drake and 2 Chainz to Nicki Minaj and Trina
on the follow-up to 2010’s I Am Not a Human Being, which features the singles “No Worries” and
“Love Me.”
Was he able to deliver a winning sequel? The critics weigh in.
Rolling Stone: This is exactly the record you’d expect to hear from Weezy in 2013: a
solid album by a brilliant MC who’s half-interested. 3/5
Los Angeles Times: I Am Not a Human Being II shows us Lil Wayne responding weakly to
the unsettling prospect of weakness. Beneath the bluster, he might know it too. 2/4
USA Today: He used to boast that he was the best rapper on the planet. He’s surely not
that on this sequel to 2010′s platinum I Am Not a Human Being,which was released while he was
in jail. It is solid, though, often entertaining in the crass, lewd and rude way that’s uniquely
Wayne. 3/4
New York Times: He still radiates exuberance and ecstasy and rebelliousness, the
hallmarks of his rise to hip-hop’s creative and commercial peaks. But the words he puts together
don’t shock the way they once did.
Newsday: Good thing those rumours about him being in a coma and near death from too
much cough syrup abuse turned out to be false because this would be one embarrassing
final statement.
(http://www.rap-up.com)
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