Lil Wayne, Hip Hop, and how life informs art

April 17, 10:55 PMNew Orleans Literature ExaminerNordette Adams

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Having read yesterday that rapper Lil Wayne was sexually assaulted as a child and recalling that he is from New Orleans, I've been mulling him over. Whether we approve of rap or not, think it's art or don't, rap lyrics still fall within poetic literature. So, how has Lil Wayne's life informed his art?

Looking at some of Lil Wayne's lyrics, such as those for "A Milli," off his CD Tha Carter III, I can see that his life, what he's been exposed to as an African-American male and as a son of New Orleans, influences his work, even in word choice. Using the French word derriere for a woman's behind, for instance, reminds us New Orleans is associated with French culture, but then he misspells the word, reminding us that he's a high school dropout and that education systems all over urban America are in trouble.

Like a street corner musician who plays jazz by ear, he's an untrained writer, spelling by sound, crafting by instinct. Creative writing teachers today don't hold poor spelling against writers from certain backgrounds as they once did. Most likely Lil Wayne would be included in that group, a gifted young man who tuned out lessons at Eleanor McMain charter high school at age 14 to rap.

By 16 he was at a Cash Money Records party in NYC hanging with P.Diddy. A YouTube video shows him at The Tunnel NYC, and while the title says he was 14, I think Birdman of CMR identifies Wayne as 16.

Here's a video interview with Wayne, born Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr., in New Orleans, September 27, 1982. It's a public relations mini-biography but still covers his drug use.

The video doesn't mention his being sexually assaulted by a 14-year-old girl when he was 11, and I suspect that's because it's not something a tough gangsta rapper wants to publicize even though he was pressured to talk about it on Jimmy Kimmel Live last month. I wonder how that experience may have also influenced how he looks at women beyond the stereotypical misogyny of ordinary rap.

In his music we see often the minimization of females and fewer hints of NOLA with references to where he grew up, Hollygrove, for instance, mentioned in "The Block is Hot" and in some of his other pieces as well. He also uses New Orleans phrasing. In "A Milli" he has a classic bit of New Orleans colloquial speech, "Who dat." If you've heard it elsewhere, it's most likely been in the question "Who dat say dey go'n beat dem Saints?" In "A Milli" Lil Wayne uses the phrase to hype himself, a common rapper practice:

They say I'm rappin like BIG, jay, and tupac
Andre 3000 where is eryka badu at
Who dat
Who dat said dey gon beat lil wayne
My name ain't Bic but I keep dat flame man
Who dat one dat do dat boy ya knew dat tru da Swallow
And I be da s**t now u got loose bowels
I don't O U like two vowels
But I would like for u to pay me by the hOUr
And I'd rather be pushin flowers
Then to be in the pen sharin showers
Tony told us this world was ours
And the bible told us every girl was sour
Don't play in her garden and don't smell her flower
(lyrics from "A Milli" by Lil Wayne)

Also in these lines we see a glimpse of the misogyny in which he and many other male rappers invest themselves. He defends it, as do many men of all socio-economic backgrounds, with "the bible told me so." 

Interestingly, he acknowledges in the lines that men are at the top of Hip Hop and subtly belittles the work of Erykah Badu, a black female recording artist who reveals a womanist philosophy in much of her work. Certain kinds of men will never gravitate to Badu's music.

I definitely cannot say that all rappers have been molested by an older female before they reach their teens and such experience colors their work, but I think Lil Wayne's early sexual encounter shows up in his lyrics. Read more about his discomfort talking about the assault at Blogher.com.

If you like angles on New Orleans literature, culture and history, such as poet Walt Whitman's connection to the city or spoken word artist Taalam Acey's recent visit to New Orleans Youth Slam, then please follow my examinations here at this link. You may also subscribe. More on Lil Wayne's New Orleans next time.  Part 2