Yes, I'm reviewing Dedication 5. I'll be honest, I don't even know what to say about Lil Wayne anymore. He has really become a joke in hip-hop with his past few projects, most notably I Am Not a Human Being 2. His past few mixtapes were also pretty bad, as was Tha Carter IV. With that being said, there is pretty much no denying Wayne is one of the most successful and creative rappers ever when you look at the full catalog. The first three installments of Tha Carter series were all great, and so was some of his earlier stuff like 500 Degreez and Tha Block is Hot. When I listen to these projects, it makes be believe Wayne may still have something left in the tank, because even as recently as 2008, Lil Wayne was just so consistently great.
As per usual with the Dedication series, Wayne spits over some of the hottest beats in mainstream hip hop, as you have tracks like UOENO, Bugatti, Levels, Fuckin Problems, and more. Wayne has a history of rapping pretty nicely over these mainstream beats, so I was excited for these tracks. The first song on this mixtape was a very unusual one titled I'm Good, which just ended up being a two minute Weeknd track with no Lil Wayne at all. Wayne finally starts rapping on the third track, which was over the Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe instrumental. I personally think any rapper in the world could go over this beat and I would enjoy the song because of how much I love the beat. Wayne doesn't do it much justice, though. I wasn't really feeling this. I was pretty excited when I saw New Slaves on the tracklist. Wayne's flow was actually pretty good on this song, but his stupid lyrics are still there. I will say this song gets better as it goes on, as Wayne seems to get more focused as the beat progresses. Next, Wayne goes over the beat for Type of Way, a track I have hated for a while now. Wayne at least does better than Rich Homie Quan, but I still wasn't a fan of this song. It was way too long and his lyrics were just awful.
Lil Wayne finally gives me something impressive with his freestyle over the Started From the Bottom. He sounded really good on this one, sort of like a flashback. His flow was on point and his lyrics actually were pretty solid. Wayne sounded really focused on this one and I almost like this one as much as Drake's original. Another one that I thought was decent was Bugatti. Wayne's flow was really good here and the whole song was just catchy and fun. The one track that took me by total surprise was CREAM. Wayne going over such an iconic beat was odd, but he actually performed way above expectations for me. He sounded awesome over this beat and I was actually really feeling this song a lot. Other tracks where I think Lil Wayne had respectable performances in would be UOENO, Still Got That Rock, and Itchin. I didn't really mind Wayne on these songs at all. They were fun to listen to and Wayne really improved his flow.
I do have my complaints with D5, though. There are way too many songs for one thing, as there were many mediocre tracks as well as pointless interludes. Wayne also didn't do much for me lyrically, which was expected but I was still disappointed. This was because every few tracks, he would give some nice lyrics and make me think he was turning around, then just throw another stupid punchline at me. As far as features go, It was pretty much a mixed bag. T.I. was very solid on his two appearances, and I totally didn't mind Chance the Rapper on You Song. That is pretty much it for good features, though. Rappers like Vado, Euro, Kidd Kidd, and Gudda Gudda pretty much didn't have to be there.
DEDICATION 5 WRAP UP
+Wayne really gave me some vintage spitting on a couple tracks
+He still showed that he can really go over a wide variety of beats
+A definite improvement over I am Not a Human Being 2
-far too long
-Wayne was still pretty poor lyrically
Best: Started, CREAM, Bugatti
Worst: Live Life
Lil Wayne- Dedication 5
6.2/10
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