Behind The Music: Lil Wayne Was Not Quite Legendary
Weezy is the best rapper alive. We already know that. And unfortunately that seemed to be the only conclusion to take away from last night's hour long season premiere of Behind the Music. They did a serviceable job of tracing Lil Wayne's career path, and it really is a pretty show, with lots of nice images and good pacing and if you like the musician they are talking about then it also has a great soundtrack. Last night's episode had plenty of those little tricks the show likes to play, like running "Dr. Carter" underneath the segment about Wayne accidentally shooting himself when he was nine. (He still has bullet fragments close to his heart that don't move and won't hurt him unless he, in his own words, "get in a magnetic field.") But overall I think the show was a disappointment, Miss Katie. They kept his crazy to a minimum. There were no extended nonsensical mumble-riffs as promised in the advertising. And even if you are his biggest fan, you have to admit that Lil Wayne is a strange person, but not on this show. He was just a very hard-working performer, which is true, but there is more to talk about than that.
For one thing, they totally glossed over the Baby thing. Like, this is the story with Baby?
Uh...
I mean, sure. Whatever. But also no. Suddenly a nine-year-old boy went with you everywhere that you went? The end? It's not like the world has already forgotten the infamous photo.
I mean, I'm just pointing out that there are questions involved in the Lil Wayne/Baby relationship that are not that easily dismissed. Especially when Wayne has been one of the fiercest champions of the No Homo movement, but then continually does such eyebrow-raising stunts. Such as releasing his own line of male-rape condoms:
No mention of Strapped on Behind the Music, no sir.
It was also strange how they tried to pretend like Lil Wayne's brush with drugs was over? And not an on-going thing? Because that is how Behind the Music works and you have to have a story of redemption against all odds. Except that Lil Wayne is still drinking so much heroin out of styrofoam cups.
Yikes. Go ahead, Wayne. Drink whatever you want out of your cup, because you are definitely right that it is your cup. I'm pretty sure that when your family and friends expressed concern about your well-being, the issue of cup ownership was not the real problem. In any case, it is great that Lil Wayne doesn't do drugs anymore (Lil Wayne smokes weed ON THE SHOW, which I did not know you could do).
Probably the worst part of last night's episode was the shoe-horning in of Hurricane Katrina. Like, I have no doubt that Lil Wayne was affected by Hurricane Katrina, since he is from New Orleans. And I am sure he has done something to give something back to the community and help rebuild. But in his interview on the show he admits that during the storm he was in Miami, and his whole family was in Miami, and that he lost a $300,000 house and a few cars that he owned in New Orleans and that he didn't care. But the narrator is like "and then Hurricane Katrina changed Lil Wayne's life forever." Did it? Because he just said it didn't. Insert photo of George Bush. Boo.
This part was funny, in relation to Lil Wayne's on-going charge of gun possession:
Hahahah! I'm actually willing to believe that the gun didn't belong to Lil Wayne, but I am not willing to believe that it belonged to this guy. This guy? No. Dude in the Bruce Villanch glasses was not the one with the gun on Lil Wayne's tour bus. You don't have to take a bullet on this one, Farnsworth Bentley.
Anyway, if you did not know it before, after watching last night's documentary, now you do know: Lil Wayne is a famous rapper. The end.
POSTSCRIPT: Shout out to Sasha Frere-Jones!
Y'HEARD!
Posted by Gabe at 11:30 AM in Music Related Content, Train Wreck Documentaries
Tags: Behind The Music | Cash Money Records | Hot Boys | Hurricane Katrina | Lil Wayne | New Orleans
The New Yorker > Videogum
Score = -23
oh for crying out loud.
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Citizen Kane > The Dark Knight.
What's your point?
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Your comment gave me a nosebleed.
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This is a tricky comment. On the one hand, it's factually true. But on the other hand, it's stupid to have it posted here. And yet voting it down would seem to say I disagree with the statement. It's an existential dilemma. Tip of the hat to you, sir. However, I would assert that you should have simply said "New Yorker is da bomb, yo," in order to receive all the up votes.
Score = 15
This can be resolved by pointing out that even though the New Yorker—while long past its glory days—is usually a fine magazine, its respected pop critic Sasha Frere-Jones is a big dumb penis. DOWNVOTE, dru.
Also, Li'l Wayne, while talented and lovable, is kinda overrated? (But lovable! I love him. No homo. Okay yeah, homo.)
Score = 8
Oh good lord, thank you! I read the New Yorker avidly [I also drive a hybrid powered partly by gasoline, but mostly by my own self-importance] and EVERY single time Sasha Frere-Jones writes a review, it turns out to be mushy lame praise for either a) Obscure Indie band you should totally listen to they're so progressive and awesome they use xylophones man or b) Pop star that's actually much better than you think you closeminded hipster. Every once in a blue moon he throws in a bad review or a good band, but it's always soft, safe, boring writing.
He wrote an article about Nine Inch Nails in the current issue; what a waste of paper. He wrote two pages and said absolutely nothing about the band or its importance.
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Well, the issue before that, his article on Leonard Cohen was pretty good. Yay, Leonard Cohen.
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WUT?! Cortez Byrant is totally always strapped! Of course it was his.
Oh, you mean the gun? Oh, yeah, that was his too. Scrabble tournaments can get quite testy.
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woozefa > dru
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Woozefa, did you deny my friend request, or is it just sitting in your inbox, being silently ignored? Either way, :-(
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i have an inbox?
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A metaphorical one. :-( I can see this e-friendship is not to be...
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oh, don't get me wrong. we're friends...i'm friends with everyone.
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Lil Wayne, do you actually expect anyone to believe that the gun wasn't yours?
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i believe i have made my opinion clear regarding mr. wayne and his new orleans/katrina cred at this point. and i say: good day to you sir! I SAID GOOD DAY.
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"No homo began life as East Harlem slang in the early '90s, and in the early aughts it entered the hip-hop lexicon via the Harlem rapper Cam'ron and his Diplomats crew."
- Slate's own, Mr. Weiner ("huh hu, you said 'Weiner'" - Butt-head)
Thank you, Mr. Wiener. I will be adding this sentence to my lexicon.
Score = 7
Would everyone just see that it's HIS cup? That's not his gun, but oh my god THAT'S HIS CUP.
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hold on, did you make that Strapped thing up or is it real?
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Nope. He didn't.
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Yeah, he really did get raped by Dan Akroyd.
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I really wish that doing drugs and declaring yourself as such would make you the best at things.
Best neurosurgeon alive!
Score = 5
Wayne, said he wasn't affected by tghe storm because he only lost material possesions, then he found out people he knew drowned while trying to save their loved ones...this affected him greatly. The strapped condoms picture is not of him getting raped, he's getting arrested you idiots. Also, you could tell by how long they held the frame of his manager saying the gun was his that it was a little sarcastic. As if to say: "The gun was mine, or was it?" You don't drink heroin either, you drink promethizine. How's the suburbs treatin' ya folks?
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we get it. lil wayne is your boyfriend. you are a lucky dude.
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Ex-boyfriend...apparently I've been dumped for Baby Williams, but I am engaged to Toya Johnson, his babymama. Consolation prize I guess.
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I am thrilled your "Weezy is the best rapper alive" Google Alert brought you here. Please let me enlighten you about our friend Sarcasm. Sarcasm helps us Videogumonsters deal with the garbage that is presented (with a straight face) as "Reality." Lil Wayne's manager was not using sarcasm. He was doing a different thing, called lying.
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On an unrelated topic, I have been a long time admirer of your Murray JPEG. Thanks for the acids. Best episode ever.
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Well, thanks. You should consider registering and creating a super-duper avatar of your own. We welcome all monsters in this club, but prefer non-faceless variety.
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We know he isn't getting raped, it just looks that way. Also FYI, everything written on this website is well-researched FACT, not wonderfully snarky, comically exaggerated pop culture reviews.
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FACT? These are all opinions...my comments included. When it's obvious you have a bias against the artist up for discussion, it is hard to argue that these comments are FACT-based. Lil Wayne is prolific in his work ethic and is good at what he does. Yes, there are many more talented artists who could have a BTM special, but he was chosen because he is eccentric! He's like Mike Tyson, a car-crash you can't look away from. And whether you like it or not, he is winning. You don't like his music yet you still spend time talking about him on this site. He's in your head, bra! He's poisoning your children's feable little minds. Live in fear. HAha(sarcasm). What's this score thing all about on these posts? Is there a ref?
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Your sarcasm detector is so broken, it's fixed. (What?)
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it's obvious how touched he was by the storm by his numerous charitable donations to local and national relief organizations and the countless hours he has dedicated towards rebuilding his community via helping people get back into their homes. not to mention all of the donations he has made for the kids: helping to build schools, playgrounds, basketball courts. i could go on and on about- oh, wait. scratch all that. that's what OTHER musicians, actors, and wealthy people from new orleans- NAY, THE NATION- and even every day, common folk have done. he ain't done shit and until he does, i still say, GOOD DAY TO YOU SIR. and that goes for you, too. hows not knowing what you're talking about treating you?
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I heard initially Baby was the one raping Wayne in the Strapped ad. But then Paul Walker, actor and designer, photoshopped/glued on some random guy's face over Baby's face.
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Someone who is good at internet kung fu please insert a .jpg or .gif of Tom Hanks from The 'Burbs here! My thanks. KP, I think you have the honors.
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Thanks, again. You are officially the Pokemon Commenting Champion of my heart.
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Because I'm that person, yes you actually CAN drink heroin. It was first marketed as a cough syrup. Secondly, yeah he's drinking promethazine (an anti-histamine), but I think the important part of his drink is the codeine (the fun stuff). How's being wrong treating you?
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I think it's because Weezy said, "I don't care if it's heroin in my cup. It's my cup" in the clip. That's where the reference came from.
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dru ))>(( dru
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How Lil Wayne ever got to be so famous, and dare I say, respected, is beyond me. I think it's one of those least common denominator things. Like how so many people dig jello. It's colorful and wiggly, but what does it really DO?
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GABE! no comment on the end segment in which Lil Wayne claims to be a "true artist" who cannot help but make art?! For shame!
"If you give me a canvas, i will give you art." - the man who invented Bling Bling
and what about the part where Wayne's mother was so bored she wanted him to start fathering illegitimate children for her to take care of? what about the fact that the guy who saved Wayne's life as a child was named Uncle Cracker (or something) and had a Swedish Chef mustache?
Lil Wayne: Behind the Music was far more legendary than your recap would lead people to believe.
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Oh hey look someone (Lil Wayne's other boyfriend) looked up Promethizine on the internet! Was your query string: "what is it that you drink that is not heroin but is also heroin?" Obviously nobody thinks that you can actually drink heroin, but if they did it would not mean they are from the suburbs. It would mean they are ignorant and can not get a joke when it is plastered all over their face. This comment was made with contributions of viewers like you!
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That would be a sweet t-shirt:
"IT'S MY CUP F*** YOU."
all in big letters all big and bold...
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Am I the only one who thinks Lil' Wayne si NOT the best rapper alive? Like, not only not the best, but actually pretty fucking crap? It just pisses me off when everyone is having wet dreams about this guy when there are people like Talib Kweli who have been rapping for years, are clearly superior and get hardly any recognition. But hey, whatever.
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PS: Downvote away!
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You're going to take an upvote and like it, young man!
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Waitaminutewaitaminute WHAT? Strapped condoms? This is a real thing? Somebody reach me my blood pressure medication or codeine in a cup or my head is in a yogurt cup WHAT? This is an actual thing. Wow.
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Actually its promethizine with codeine, promethizine is just an anti-histamine, and if your just drinking that your an idiot with very dry mucus membranes.
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M@
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Between the comments and the slate article, I just read the phrase "no homo" so much that it started looking like some kind f Latin law term.
"no homo publico" -- "no public homosexuality"
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I can't wait for the Kanye West BTM, no homo.
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M@ you are stupid enough to believe that your intelligent.
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