ALBUM RATING: 6/10
ALBUM GENRE: Hip-Hop/Rap
Album Stream Link:
I usually start with an introduction but Lil Wayne needs no introduction 😏.
Wayne announced an album was coming days before its official release, no one saw it coming seeing as he just had ‘Carter V’ late 2018 and dropping a whole ‘nother 24-track album a year after would seem a bit of a rush. It would all make sense though, seeing as Wayne said he had conjured up Carter V years before its official release and it was delayed due to his legal issue with Birdman.
‘Funeral‘ is Wayne’s 13th studio album and the 37 year old’s projects don’t really stir up excitement as it used to but intrigue rather. What else is Lil Wayne up to? Has he switched up his flow? Is he embracing the new rap culture? Does he still have the ability to wow us? 🤔
Lil Wayne honors Kobe Bryant’s recent passing in Funeral with a 24-second pause at the end of track 8 “Bing James (feat. Jay Rock).” and that’s just one of the few beautiful sparks of the album. RIP KOBE BRYANT 🙏🙏🙏💐
Based on the natural Wordplay game we know Wayne for? Prepared to be wowed. Based on embracing the new rap culture and flow? Not so much.
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Funeral is an Okay album. Definitely not one of his best projects in his discography, and I’ll tell you why.
Lil wayne gave his best on this album or he tried to, we got WAYNE, wordplay at a 💯 as always but we’ve had 12 albums of amazing wordplays, something needs to change – or rather, something needs to be added. It was an attempt in embracing the modern rap culture but while the flip change of name from ‘Funeral‘ to ‘Lil Wayne‘ on the album cover art wowed a few, it ended up being an epic fail🙁. Seeing as the app used in making that was told all over social media. Also the Album Cover art ended up being way too basic.
Secondly, I’ll never understand the idea behind naming this Project ‘Funeral‘, just three or four tracks is in line with the proposed Dark-theme ideology, rather, it’s a mixture of several themes or concepts, there are even rap lines that talks about Wayne getting high off drugs and being a gangster and getting alive, I’m like whaaa😳? Ain’t this supposed to be ‘Funeral‘ album?. It’s all so confusing with the album not throwing out an idea of a general message being passed🙁.
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The 24-track album has got average Production at best and a feature list that, in truth, could have been better. 24 songs is a lot and you could feel the taste of the album sour out as you get into the bottom half of the album, a similar situation happened in the new Eminem album.
“I know that time change, I don’t think that I’ll change” Wayne raps on ‘stop playin with me’. A line that defines this album.
At the end of the day though, Lil Wayne is Lil Wayne, Funeral might not be a masterpiece, but it’s got its hits and a lot of misses but the hits are sick jams 🔥
There are quite a few songs that are really good on this project. That’s the joy of listening to an album, you could still fish out a couple of Relatively good songs off a bad or average album.
Here are ALBUM TALKS™ top 5 rated songs off Funeral:
5.) Trust Nobody (ft. Adam Levine)
An emotional song that tells Wayne’s story of trusting people and ended up getting disappointed. Adam Levine did just the bridge and chorus as expected and was decent.
I’ve been lookin’ at the stars and they don’t glisten for me
Lil Wayne raps on ‘Trust Nobody’
I’ve been lookin’ in the mirror, he don’t listen to me, sheesh
The arrangement of this song is similar to Wayne’s ‘Nothing but Trouble (Instagram Models)’ with Charlie Puth. The bass, drums and guitar are well arranged and Adam Levine’s voice just comes out clean. Simple but one of the best produced songs on the album.
4.) Dreams
Wayne starts this singing lines like a nursery rhyme but came alive when the beat switches up around 25 seconds into the song. From 0 to 100 real quick!! , only Wayne could do that.
A regular Hip Hop sound with repetitive bass and drum chops. Wayne becomes wild and goes hard as usual with punch lines. A song that the DJs would love due to its hard bass.
3.) Harden
At last, a soulful Loop with a bass guitar and faint hi-hats cymbals in the background. Wayne does soul rap and pours his heart out on this one and talks about reaching out romantically to a girl he’s had relations with before and getting his ‘shot blocked like Harden’ (Getting declined)
A nigga been wishin’ that I could reverse it
I know it don’t help it, I know I look selfish
And looks are deceiving, but you lookin’ further
And you lookin’ past me, I’m just a has-been
Lil Wayne on ‘Harden’
The vocals chop at the interlude just adds a certain type of vibe that I’ll never complain about. Brilliant production from a brilliant producer, STREETRUNNER.
2.) I Do It (ft. Big Sean & Lil Baby)
Could as well have been number one because damn🤯! This song gets better after every play! It’s intro sees Big Sean do the hook and chorus with a short verse while Lil Baby cuts him off without warning. This is the highlight of the song, it’s simply breathtaking, Big Sean and Lil Baby’s combined flow wasn’t a combination I thought I needed.
If you weigh me down then I gotta remove you
Big Sean on the Intro to ‘I do it’
If you in my way, then I gotta go through you
Lil Wayne joining Sean later in the chorus was a blemish, he atones for it with an excited switch up after a melodic flow. A basic beat with magic rap😍.
1.) Funeral
The album’s opener. Wayne started like a house on fire 🔥 ,the traditional sound of a lighter getting lit and:
Welcome to the Funeral, closed casket as usual
Lil Wayne’s opening Line of ‘Funeral’
Rather than his Funeral, he’s talking about the Funeral of someone, his hater maybe? A rival nigga? Who knows. Not His’ though, Wayne ain’t about to die soon.
He starts with singing on a quiet tone but the beat switches and the song comes alive and the drums come halfway through the song, you begin to feel your head moving to the bass, this is where Wayne goes full throttle, there’s so much passion in his voice and ends the song with the line ‘in other words, the nigga dead‘. Haha
Production is decent but it’s Wayne’s brilliance that catches our attention on this one!
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Album Talks™ 
the issue with the dark theme ideology of the album’s title “funeral” not rhyming with tracks in the album, not too surprised ’bout it tho….Lil Tunche has passed his prime.
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