I started this post last night, so I guess it was only fitting that the New York Times would post this article about Lil Wayne this morning. I tend to believe that by the time the New York Times gets around to reporting on a popular music artist, that artist's unique appeal or niche is so well known and traversed that it can hardly be considered news anymore. The Times are good at a lot of things and no periodical is good at everything, so it's obviously forgivable, but I have to admit, I really liked that article.

Lil Wayne is more than a little eccentric and he's probably deserving of plenty of the criticisms leveled at popular rap. He can be misogynistic and certainly references drugs and occasionally violence. But there's something insincere and playful about his discussion of these subjects and I don't think it's fair to put someone like him and someone like Prodigy in the same group. Then again, it's probably not fair to put him and Lupe Fiasco in the same group either, but that's a different point.

Lil Wayne has spoken affectionately about the strong women in his life and about the influence of his mother. As far as I know, he's never actually been involved in any serious violence and his drug dealing seems like it was for a very very brief period. He's been an artist since he was a teenager and I think when he raps about these topics, there's a noticeable cognitive distance from the subject matter. He's clever and I imagine he would be just as popular if popular rap subject matter consisted of different topics. It doesn't and this is the culture he grew up in and sprung out of and thus these are his raps. I just think it's hard not to get behind an artist who says he's the "number one Lakers fan: yellow bottle, yellow bottle; purple bag, purple bag."

This song works because everyone does their job exceedingly well. Even Mac Maine, whose verse is both somewhat offensive and not amazingly exciting, hits a tight flow approaching the hook. But I think DJ Drama is the strongest member of the supporting cast. The swinging horn track and and the gospel vocals give the beat a light bounce, which never really gets muddied by bad rapping or harshly contrasting subject matter, with the exception of the first part of Mac Maine's verse. The entire song is about drinking and smoking and neither of those activities are ever given the Three 6 Mafia smoke-weed-and-kill-someone treatment. They can be, and I believe they mostly are, celebratory activities and they most certainly are in this context. The vocal harmonies here remind me of "International Players Anthem" and I think it's fair to say that both songs benefit from that playful bounce, something that especially benefited a group like UGK. But "International Players Anthem" was not actually as celebratory as this and I think there the harmonies, while sounding amazing, didn't really play well with the lyrical content. "Poppin Them Bottles," on the other hand, sounds like a well-planned package.

"Poppin Them Bottles" - The Dedication 2