The bad boy image of a rock star must have been what Lil Wayne was hoping to achieve in his debut rock album Rebirth. The 27-year old rapper, soon to be jailbird, attempts to branch out into territory where few rappers have crunked before: rock. The album title is delusional if its goal is to get anyone to take him seriously as an artist outside of his rhyme schemes.

Starting with the phrase “I’m a dope boy with a guitar” on the initial track “American Star,” you have to wonder if Lil Wayne thought that he was trying to be the American equivalent to Nickelback. And he would have succeeded in this if Nickelback used auto-tune and sang alongside Eminem (who isn’t even great at his supposed genre, so why Lil Wayne would even reach out to him is beyond me).

The computerized voice of Lil Wayne truly exemplifies his belief that if he shrieks, he has made a rock album. Besides that, the only discernable word is “motherfucker,” not the greatest transitional step away from rap. The only song that is semi-describable without subtitles would be “On Fire.” However, it is too similar to previous works.

The main problem for anyone who is a fan of rock music is the abundance of horrendous guitar riffs, if you would be kind enough to bestow that title upon the screeching strings being played. It is a completely over-computerized guitar sound that comes off as sounding like a cheap knock off of electronic music.

As stated before, Rebirth is filled with featured artists such as Eminem, Nicki Minaj and J.U.S.T.I.C.E. Most of these artists dominate each of the tracks, leaving Lil Wayne to sound like an effect that was pasted into each track as a last-minute addition. Whether this has anything to do with his use of auto-tune is unclear, but when the words are obscure to begin with, he does become more of a sound than an actual form of musical expression.

While this album does fall short of Lil Wayne’s hopes to dominate a new field of the music world, it is pretty certain that he will pick up right where he left off as a king of the rap world once his incarceration period is over. “I don’t like to stop… I believe you stop when you die,” said Wayne to Rolling Stone magazine in a recent interview. This album can be seen as a quick pit stop on Lil Wayne’s continual journey in the changing geography of the rap world.

Before Rebirth, Lil Wayne tried out his craft in pop by collaborating with Jay Sean on his Billboard Top 100 song “Down.” Between this and Rebirth, one has to wonder if Lil Wayne is done with his rap career for good? Undoubtfuly no.

D for Dumb