do you consider Lil Wayne southern rap?
 

was talking with a friend this weekend, and he was saying his favorite southern MC was Lil Wayne, and I know he's technically from Louisiana, but for whatever reason (his style/sound, I guess) I never really considered him "southern rap." am I being dumb?

Yeah he's def southern rap

What kind of question is this?

lol it's a pretty straightforward question. and like I said, I may just be dumb, but when I think "southern rap," Lil Wayne does not come to mind. IE I immediately think Outkast, Scarface, Luda, etc, whereas I've always put Wayne in his own, amorphous category.

so apparently I'll change my question: how unreasonable am I being to think like this?

Ummmm yea

OK GUYS I OBVIOUSLY DON'T LISTEN TO SOUTHERN RAP.

but here's what I mean. Eminem is from Detroit - the midwest. Do you consider him a midwestern rapper in the same way Nelly and the St. Lunatics are? Are Pitbull and T-Pain southern rappers in the same way Ludacris and TI are? IE, the type of music they make, not just the geography from which they come.

Or am I just this stupid, which is certainly a possibility.

I literally had this exact convo w a friend years ago

I was like.......yea....he's from the south an all but that's an east coast style that he's proposing

This was back wen the carter dropped around same time as the franchise boys an the majority of popular southern rappers were all making line dance songs an weezy was dropping intricate schemes that'd make rakim smile.

thank you, @Bags. take this rep.

for what it's worth, I'm still not sold that he is or isn't southern rap stylistically, since that's not an area I'm knowledgable about. just don't think it's as simple as where he's from

T.I. is more stylistically similar to New York rappers than Lil Wayne, though. Scarface is more than either of them.

yes and no - and again, I haven't listened to a TON of TI - I think he's obviously influenced by the east coast lyrically, but his production and actual accent make me think southern rap immediately when I hear him. he's more like the south's take on an east coast MC, imo. There's just not a whole lot I find to be southern about Wayne's style. I wouldn't pin him to another region, though; he has his own unique style.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjL-3Rlwh8U

Lil Wayne's verse:

No one on the corner has swagger like moi
Chu'ch
But I'm too clean for the choir
I require, what I desire
I got stripes: A-di-das
Mamis scream, "¡Papi, no mas!"
Run up in your shit, just me, no mas
Runnin' this shit like I got four thighs
No one has swagger like these four guys
Now when it comes to styles, I got several
Sharper than the swag or dagger all metal
And my jewels blue and yellow
The type of shit that make 'em call you Carmelo
Rules as follows stay true to the ghetto
Write your name on the bullet, make you feel special
Ha, what the fuck you boys talkin' about
I know it's us cause we the only thing to talk about

T.I.'s verse:

You can go see Weezy for the wordplay, Jeezy for the bird play
Kanyeezy for diversity, and me for controversy
All my verses picture perfect, only spit to serve a purpose
You ain't livin' what you kickin' then you worthless
Looking from the surface it may seem like I got reason to be nervous
Then observe my work to see that my adversity was worth it
Verses autobiographical, absolutely classical
Last thing I'm worried about is what another rapper do
Ain't nobody hot as me
Even if they rap they ass off, blast off and have outstanding quality
Sell a lotta records, I'll respect it and salute that
But spitting real life on hot beats I'm the truth at
You kick it like me, no exaggeration necessary
Livin' revolutionary, nothin' less than legendary
Gangsta shit hereditary, got it from my dad
Flow colder than February with extraordinary swag

I'll say this though, since you're a smart, articulate dude who knows a shit ton more about music than I do @Certain, who would you say embodies southern rap? from there, I can listen to more Wayne and form a better opinion.

I'm just not about the idea that complex lyricism is an East Coast thing. And I say that as a New York native.

The South's greatest rappers are Scarface, Andre 3000 and Bun B —all absolutely great lyricists with complexity on the same level as their Northeast and West Coast counterparts. T.I., Ludacris, Lil Wayne, Chamillionaire and more followed right in their footsteps. Now there's Big KRIT and Jay Electronica.

Obviously, the South also produced Master P and Dem Franchize Boyz. But the Northeast produced Diddy.

Being a Southern rapper means you're a rapper from the South. That's it.

There's a difference between a big krit track an a weezy cut tho

Big krit SCREAMS south to me. From the beats to the subject content to the southern twang. I mean it just FEELS southern everything about it.

TI bodied that song

fair enough, though I don't agree. I think there are sonic differences regionally that matter more to me when categorizing people (IE Dr. Dre vs. Premo vs. Timbaland), and I definitely think complex lyricism started in NY and is thus a defining feature of east coast rap (though it can certainly be argued that it only originated there because the entire genre did + NYC has always been an artistic hub in general). like, no one would ever hear Biggie and think "hmm, I wonder which part of America he's from?" Same with Snoop and Scarface. but Wayne is kinda anyone's guess cuz he's all over the map in terms of his sound.

whatever, I've probably put way more thought into this than it deserves. at least Bags makes me know I'm not retarded, which is weird to think lol

Wen u identify w bags u have gone full retard

good god. next thing I know I'll be understanding uh-oh's political leanings and thinking Cronus is a down-to-earth cool guy. logging off of NC for a while

oats if you need any lessons in my political leanings HOLLA

but i see what you are saying. personally i thought the carter waynes were good, but i appreciated him more when he was a young hooligan over shitty manny fresh beats. that is much more of an embodiment of a southern rapper imo, it was also before i tried making music, and before i let elitism into my brain to poison my views on music instead of just appreciating it for what it is.

its not only how he writes that made him seem like he wasnt the prototypical southern rapper, but also the production. the carters and other random shit he's done has heavily featured production similar to east coast and even midwest soulful sampled shit, bangers etc. where as people like ti have had those too, they still will give you the thumping 808 music and shit

that said so does wayne. but its usually other peoples beats with the exception of his super hits like a milli and the like. on mixtapes he frequents southern bangers though hearkening back to his grimey new orleans roots

which leads me to another new orleans rapper briefly mentioned

jay electronica. i wouldve never known he was a southern rapper if he didnt mention being from new orleans. he's honestly the most refreshing stylistically in at least the last decade, his intricate flows over ridiculous NY beats is the breath of fresh air hip hop needs.

nothing about him is southern rap except the fact he's from the south.

i think oats is perfectly fine in this assessment and certain is just playing the overly knowledgable card.

all throughout the history of music regions have developed "sounds". when listening to soul music for example there were distinct regions with distinct sounds (mainly from the studio musicians and producers involved) from muscle shoals in the south to the stax sound of memphis to motown in detroit, chicago soul etc. all had distinct sounds within the genre

same with hip hop. lil wayne definitively ventures from the south sound. as does scarface and others. but oats is on point.

now lets talk about abolishing 98 percent of the government

This.

Tho I'm of the opinion that TI bodies most collabs he's on, and is in general one of the best rappers out there.

Dude's crazy.