“I can die now, rebirth mothafucka!” spits Weezy in “Drop the World”, which is literally the only gem you’ll find on Lil Wayne’s rock debut, Rebirth. It’s no coincidence that it’s also the only rap song that you’ll find on the record. Wayne’s over-confidence is what makes the hook to “Drop…” powerful, but the cockiness is unwarranted… he cannot quote unquote “rebirth”…. mothafucka.

So Wayne’s second life as a “rockstar” will presumably (and hopefully) be very short-lived. I found it funny that Weezy decided to start off the album with a song called “American Star”, because he was featured on the opener to Flo Rida’s Mail on Sunday, “American Superstar” (which is about ten times better than Rebirth’s opener). I kinda feel for this Shanell girl… sure her name might get recognized a couple more times after providing back up vocals on three Rebirth songs, but even a singer trying to get her name out there must have second guessed her involvement with this trash.

“Prom Queen” is, unfortunately, one of the better tracks on the album. I guess we all should have known that this was as good as it was gonna get with it being the first single and all. This song exemplifies something that makes Rebirth so bad… the vocals are treated like rap vocals… they completely dominate the songs. There are a number of things wrong with this. 1. Wayne can’t sing. 2. People want to hear the instrumentation in rock songs, which is what makes rock music so energetic. 3. Wayne can’t sing. 4. Even auto-tune couldn’t save Wayne’s vocals. The thing is, even if they had turned the vocals down a bit, I’m sure Wayne would’ve thrown a tantrum and switched producers, and the instrumentation on this album is so simplistic that it would’ve been too boring. So the whole thing was fucked either way.

“Ground Zero” is a sad attempt at a Rage-esque punk number. However, it seems the only thing Wayne has a gripe over is the government taking his money. Wow. Real punk rock, Weezy. I’m gonna be real, “Da Da Da”, “Paradice” and “Get a Life” may be the worst three successive songs I’ve ever heard on an album in my life. RnO readers know this is saying something, especially given the length of my end of the year album charts.

If you haven’t ejected the disc before “Drop the World”, I’m honestly quite surprised by your perseverance. The surrounding songs (“On Fire” and “Runnin”) aren’t the worst on the album, but you should know by now that that’s not saying much. In fact, if there were more catchy hooks like the one on “Runnin”, the album might have actually reached “listenable” status.

Features at the end of the record by Travis Barker, Kevin Rudolf, and Nicky Minaj couldn’t save this travesty. In fact, when Wayne brags, “And my nigga Travis Barker is my drummer mothafucka!” everyone just asks, “WHY?!?” And I really wouldn’t be able to give you a straight answer. Same with the very existence of this album. Sure, you can blame money, but this album won’t make much, especially given how much a new Lil Wayne rap album could’ve made. And yeah, Wayne said he was bored, so he wanted to make rock music, but the man needs to know his own strengths. He knows what made him famous, no amount of syrup and weed could make him forget that. Does this album just build anticipation for Tha Carter IV? I sure hope he’s not bored with rap anymore, because the nation is already bored as hell with his version of “rock”.

-Rather Red