Review: "Funeral" Album by Lil Wayne
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Lil’ Wayne is back at it again with his thirteenth studio album, a monumental 24-track masterpiece titled “Funeral.” While that Adam Levine track had us shaking our heads, the majority of this album was a complete home run that rarely relied on hooks. It was hard to pick our favorites with so many gems, but these are the DCWS must-listen tracks off “Funeral.”
The intro track, “Funeral”, has an instrumental back beat and tinkling piano with strings, bringing us back to old school Lil Wayne with a solid introduction. Thankfully, he doesn’t rely excessively on autotune for this one. As soon as the bass hits, so does Wayne’s signature flow, updated to fit in with the 2020 trappers while paying homage to his past and reminding us that he hasn’t left us.
While the “Mahogany,” produced by Mannie Fresh, is lyrically impressive with its haunting female vocals in the background, the following track called “Mama Mia” is what really catches our attention. With its savage , sharp-edged strings. Wayne’s delivery sounds like something out of a “Black Swan” horror scene as he taunts, “Your partners is poodles/Your bears is cubs/Your crocodile's toothless/Titty-f**k your baby mama/She breastfeed your child while I do it.”
“I Do It” is a standout track where Big Sean nearly steals the spotlight. He adds a dose of radio-friendly catchiness with that low swinging, effortless flow and a drunken chorus that soon becomes addictive to listeners, rendering the Lil’ Baby feature slightly extraneous.
“Stop Playing With Me” harkens a 2006-2008 Weezy that reminds us of a better time when Drake and Lil Wayne used to collaborate and inspire each other. We also get an adorable mini shoutout to his fiancé La’Tecia with the beginning line “I got a plus-size model, but she my lil’ mama.”
“Clap For Us” brings back the notorious Lil’ Wayne twerk anthems against an organ-filled beat change. Paying homage to his fellow New Orleans legends and the genre of New Orleans bounce, the rapper sampled Big Freedia in the track as well. This is definitely going to be the club jam of the summer.
One of his tracks is simply titled “Piano Trap” which sums up the mood of this whole album. This song conjures of a past era of raw mixtapes and classic hip hop chops. A triumphant beat supports the keys, while Wayne hits us with classic one-liners like “I’m on cloud 9, n**ga, you just on iCloud”, and “took a few L’s, without em I couldn’t spell life,” bringing us back to the metaphorical swiftness that became synonymous with the rappers’ career.
“Ball Hard” continues a tough piano theme with a an O.G key change. Here, Lil’ Twist snags a feature, and while lyrically he can’t compete with Wayne, the unique, high-pitched timbre of his voice adds even more depth to this track that takes it back to the streets.
In a landscape of overproduced hip hop tracks, this Lil Wayne comeback reminds us of a foolproof formula - stick to the basics and maintain originality. In a sea of unoriginal rappers, Wayne steadily keeps raising the bar. Even if this entire album was acapella, it still would have banged.