Drake helps Li’l Wayne with his “Gonorrhea”

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Li’l Wayne (feat. Drake) – Gonorrhea

I guess I just assumed that, because Li’l Wayne has been wasting away in jail for the past x amount of months, he’d use the ample free time to cement his position as the premier mainstream rapper of the present day. Tough luck; “Gonorrhea” sees Wayne not at the height of his powers, but struggling to attain them. The problem is that, for an artist whose lyrical strength isn’t reliant on masterful cadence or storytelling ability but on Freudian free association and inventive wordplay, “Gonorrhea” has very little of either – Li’l Wayne’s best work is dependent on his ability to string together a series of punchlines that are disparate in subject matter but uniformly biting and clever, and then revel in the staggering momentum created by this relentless, confusing brilliance.

But on “Gonorrhea,” the wide variety of lame lines* – some of which he’s even pretty much dropped before (are the “life’s a bitch and so I actually fuck her like a bitch” verses a valid enough metaphor to bear repeating?) – prevents him from establishing any sort of momentum, and that, combined with an awful chorus (seriously? Who says “Wouldn’t wanna be ya,” much less on the hook of a comeback single?), means that “Gonorrhea” just kind of stumbles around for three minutes under the aggregate weight of a) its unimpressive words, b) its nondescript trap beat (nothing he hasn’t killed before, to be fair) and c) our (my?) own lofty expectations. Towards the end of the track, Drake makes a guest appearance, taking a break from buying cars and partying with celebrities and being sensitive to rap about buying cars and partying with celebrities – but the thing is, he absolutely flattens Wayne’s verses merely because he sounds like he gives a shit; in spite of banal lyrics about parking tickets, and stupid ones like “yes I’m with Young Money, tell them magazines stop asking me!” (nobody is asking you this), Drake flows smoothly and sounds engaged with the beat, while Wayne sounds aloof – as if he’s taken a few months off.

PS. In interest of continuing the parade of negativity, what’s up with the album art posted on Pitchfork? The bullshit sepia filter, the lame, picked and scraped diagonal block text? Looks like a Puddle of Mudd album cover or something. Yikes.

* Although I will get behind “zeta phi beta mothafucka” and “get your camp on” as two awesome zingers.