Lines express love for Mom, take joy in a little daughter, preach perseverance and criticize ivory-tower hypocrites slow to address social ills.
Listeners get pounded with f-words, crass anatomical slang and sexually descriptive lingo. Lil Wayne plays the lothario, whether stealing a man’s girl at a nightclub (“Got Money”) or seducing a female cop and making her wail like a siren (“Mrs. Officer”). The profane come-on “Lollipop” describes in graphic detail what he plans to do to a lover. Drug references range from sipping cough syrup (“Phone Home”) to smoking marijuana (“Don’t Get It”) to selling kilos (“Let the Beat Build”). Numerous cuts contain gangsta posturing and murderous boasts such as “We pop ’em like Orville Redenbacher” and “Slit your throat/ Have you smilin’ through your neck.” “Playing With Fire” states, “Where I’m from, you’re nobody ’til you kill somebody.” On “3 Peat” there’s oral sex as well as a threat to execute a rival’s grandma and kidnap his baby. The rapper calls women “b–ches” throughout and tells a sex partner she’d better not get too “Comfortable” in the relationship.
At 25, Dwayne Michael Carter is sippin’ on superstardom. That’s not a good thing. He has the words fear and God tattooed on his eyelids, but despite comparing himself to Martin Luther King Jr., this artist’s raunchy, misogynist gospel espouses thug hedonism.
Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.
