In Honor Of The Carter V Dropping Tonight, Let's Look Back At Some Of Lil Wayne's Biggest Bangers
There was a time in my life where I was borderline obsessed with Lil Wayne. My Xbox username was “LilWeezyanna22″, I had the VIBE November 2007 edition on my wall, that magazine listed the top 77 Lil Wayne songs of 2007. THE MAN DROPPED ENOUGH MUSIC TO HAVE HIS BEST 77 SONGS LISTED. I had a high school friend who drove a Benz burn me Drought 3 and I don’t think it came out of my car until that Acura died in 2013. I used to stalk DatPiff.com and hotnewhiphop.com and download anything with Wayne on it, and that is how my first 2 laptops were ruined. My high school girlfriend bought me “Like Father Like Son” for Christmas one year. “No Ceilings” changed my life for the better. I drove my moms minivan to a Best Buy in not a good part of town to pick up the Carter 3, I bought this t-shirt with his tattoos on it. IMAGINE ME WEARING THIS T SHIRT!
You kids nowadays don’t realize the HEAT this man used to release on his mixtapes, not just his CDs. When Wayne was at his peak, you could argue there was NO one better and I mean that. The lyrics this man would put in his songs were unreal, from the mid 2000s till recently there was really no one who could compete with Wayne on that front. Even the features he was on turned into fire (Jay Sean – “Down” may be a top 5 song of all time). Sure everything went down hill musically for him after he went to Rikers Island, but man was he on fire before that. I think he should have transitioned behind the scenes like Dr.Dre did and get even more rich off the his protege, Drake. But hey, who am I to tell Wayne not to put out music. He tried to do that hard rock, skater stuff and it was just awful, I mean really bad. He did have some awesome songs with YMCMB, “BedRock” is one of my favorites. I mean the guy brought us Drake, Tyga, Nicki Minaj, those are some huge names in music over the last 10 years, all thanks to Wayne. It’s also wild to me that a lot of you reading only know Wayne as the washed up guy in Chance The Rapper’s “No Problems” song, you really don’t know what a monster he was.
I’m insanely excited for Carter V to drop today, it’s been a long time coming. Let’s look at some of Wayne’s best songs.
Hustler Musik / Money On My Mind
A Milli
Speaks for itself. The first time you heard this in a car with subs, you thought your face was going to explode. One of my favorite music videos too, and I’m not sure why, everything about this song was is awesome. I still don’t know what it means but I said “okay you’re a goon but whats a goon to a goblin” at least 500,000 times after I first heard it. “But you like a bitch with no ass, you ain’t got shit.” is LOL funny to this day.
Apologize (Remix)
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This song was played in my car no less than a million times. The One Republic remix of “Apologize”, what a song. Everything is perfect about it, I love it.
Something You Forgot
Now this song. This song was unbelievable. The chorus has that 80s vibe to it, mixed with Wayne’s great lines, the best. My favorite parts were always “THE EMPIRE” getting dropped. This was my AIM away message way more times than I wish to admit. Give it a listen if you haven’t heard it before.
Lollipop
What a massive radio song this was, you couldn’t turn on any station without hearing this. This was different Wayne when it came out, more of a poppish song, but still ended up being fire because, well, it was Lil Wayne.
I Feel Like Dying
This was another song that blew your mind when you heard it with bass in a car. A banger.
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The Block Is Hot
Reaaaal early Wayne, Hot Boys Wayne. My little white ass used to run around yelling “THE BLOCK IS HOT” as if I knew what that meant.
Way Of Life
Absolute FIRE. Baby I’m a stunnaaaaaaa.
Go DJ
I wasn’t close to being old enough to get into bars when this song came out, but could only imagine how hyped your local dj got when he would throw this on. Manny Fresh with Wayne was an all time combo.
Shooter
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This was such a damn smooth song when it came out, and it still plays. This was one of my biggest summertime songs, just riding around blasting this. Hell of a song, the whole Carter II was a banger.
Stuntin Like My Daddy
I mean, what needs to be said about this. The beginning of this song is a hype machine. CASH MONEY STILL THE COMPANY AND BITCH IM THE BOSS. Love it. If I ever have a boy I’m making him walk into his first day of school every year with this song playing.
Let The Beat Build
After A Milli I think this was everyone’s favorite song off Carter III, and rightfully so. As the song is titled, just the way the beat builds is awesome. Talk about a summertime song, no better feeling then blasting this with a car full of people screaming the words.
Shine
“Okay, lets talk about this ice that I’m carrying, all these karats like I’m a fucking vegetarian” what a line, what a line.
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Right Above It
Obviously. Kane is in the building.
Anything off of Drought 3
I could do a whole damn blog on Drought 3, we don’t have time for that though. Him covering “Top Back”, “Upgrade”, “Can’t Stop Won’t Stop”, “We Takin Over”, and “I Can’t Feel My Face” will never stop playing in my head, gun to my head I think I know every word to this mixtape. He would put out his own bangers, and then let other people make hits, then make those bigger hits. And he was just straight up releasing them on the internet!!! Not selling them as albums, he was a GOD. For my money, this was the best mixtape EVER, not just by Wayne, I am including anyone else on this earth.
No Ceilings Mixtape
Again, any song off this mixtape could be on the top list but they’re all so good. “Swag Surfing”, “Throw It In The Bag”, “Poke Her Face”, “Ice Cream”, what a song list. I will never forget how hard I laughed when I heard “Wayne On Me”.
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I wish I could really listen every song that I want, we’re limited on time. I’ve fallen down such a deep Lil Wayne rabbit hole now, I don’t know if I’ll ever get out. Just listen to each song I listed and try and pick apart the lines he spits. They’re LOL funny and just the best. I miss old Wayne. Do I think Carter V will live up to anything he’s done in the past? Hell no, I’m expecting hot shit, but we’ve been waiting for it so long, I’m hoping it has a hint of the old Lil Wayne we had when we were growing up. I’m hoping its not the hard rock stuff he tried to do with “Prom Queen” and some of the other stuff, man was that bad.
I’m sure I missed a bunch of songs, but if you think any are big misses, let me know. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go listen to “We Takin Over” Remix for the 57th time tonight. Enjoy your Wayne Day.