Lil Wayne’s Hip Hop Ponzi Scheme
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Is Wayne’s auto-tuned voice and unhinged mindstate the rap version of Bernie Madoff’s friendly smile and upturned brow? Can this dude convince rutted superstar producers to reinvest in order to make himself rich? Judging by his most recent high-profile collaborations with Swizzy and Pharrell, the answer is yes. Swizz may not be venturing too far away from the Bronx bounce that made him a lot of money over the last few years, but the Space sample on “Up In The Club” is so cornily awesome you can’t really fault him for trying. And on the just leaked “Yes” with Pharrell, Rockstar P strays intensely close to dubstep, as pointed out by our good buddy Catchdubs, with a little Bomb Squad thrown in for fun. We know, of course, that these beats were probably not made with Wayne attached, but maybe just Wayne’s existence in the universe is making people want to do things they normally wouldn’t.
Download: Lil Wayne f. Pharrell, “Yes”
Download: Lil Wayne f. Swizz Beatz, “Up In The Club”
Video: Saigon f. Just Blaze & Swizz Beatz, “Come On Baby”
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It’s impossible to sustain excitement for Saigon’s album at this point but if it actually comes out in a month and is at least half-filled with songs as good as “Come On Baby” then we will ramp up the Saigiddy giddiness. Until then, here’s the cheap-but-effective video and the remix on which Jay-Z kills pretty much the entirety of American Gangster.
Saigon f. Jay-Z, “Come On Baby (remix)”
Video: Styles P f. Swizz Beatz, “Blow Your Mind”
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We don’t have firsthand knowledge that Styles P and director Todd Angkasuwan smoked sherm while conceptualizing this video but it seems fairly likely. Like dudes, why is Stringer Bell running from a dude on a dirtbike? And why is Sheek Louch dressed like a Girl Scout? Shark Week? What the fuck? Is this the best video ever? Probably not but whatever, we have dreams about talking penguins and shit.
