Lil Wayne: A Thug to a Skaterboy

(http://www.buzzfeed.com/gabb/lil-waynes-fashion-1998-vs-2011-1d9g)

Lil Wayne entered the rap game in the late '90s, and has been relevant ever since. He has managed to stay popular for over a decade because he has gone through multiple changes both in his art and his fashion style.  For this post I am strictly going to talk about how Lil Wayne's fashion style has changed so drastically.

Lil Wayne used to be a straight thug.  He dressed in baggy clothes, wore multiple chains, and a bandana.  His notorious dreadlocks that are hanging down his back today merely reached the bottoms of his ears back in the day.  A major factor that plays into this style of dress is the fact that the '90s were the decade of gangsta rap.  This would explain why Lil Wayne dressed like a thug: it simply was the style.

Today in the age of frat rap (white-boy fraternity music) and pop/radio rap (rap that has a nice beat but no deep lyrical content) Lil Wayne has shifted his style to match the popular trend associated with this kind of rap, which is "skater".  The skater style is extremely in right now, and as a result Lil Wayne now dresses in tight pants, colorful tees, and has created his own skater brand called Trukfit.  He is currently learning how to skateboard, and in an interview when asked about skateboarding he said that he picked it up because he never truly had a childhood since he started rapping at an early age.

Lil Wayne simply is trying to stay keep up with changes in the rap industry, and he has lost and gained fans as a result.

The Persona of Wiz

(http://www.wizkhalifa.com/sites/wizkhalifa.wmg-gardens.com/files/affac14409dd39d6625b792dec1d2a1a.jpg)

Every rap artist has a persona.  The development of the persona does not occur overnight, but as a rapper gains more popularity they stick with the persona that their fans love.  Wiz has developed into a "weed" rapper which has drastically changed his flow over time.  Flow is the combination of rhythm and lyrics in a rap song.

Wiz originally rapped to beats that were upbeat, had a heavy, frequent bass, and this encouraged him to spit his lyrics much more rapidly.  The lyrical content was different early on as well because his lyrics were much more thug-like, rapping about money, guns, cars, and the like.  Wiz now raps solely about his lifestyle of smoking weed and drinking gin.  In turn his beats are much slower, relaxed, and have a cloudier feel to them, almost as if the track was laced with marijuana smoke.   He even sings in his songs now giving it a much more soulful quality.

Wiz Khalifa's persona is one-of-a-kind, and that is part of what makes him so popular to kids today.

(2006)

(2012)

Wiz Khalifa-Rising Stardom

(Photo: http://www.xxlmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/wiz-khalifa-2010-feat.jpg)

As 2009 turned into 2010, Wiz Khalifa started putting out more and more music to satisfy his growing fan base.  As I mentioned, the term "Taylor Gang" was born and he used it as a reference to both a certain lifestyle (smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol) and it was also the name coined for his loyal fans.  2009, in my opinion, was the release of Wiz Khalifa's best mixtape to date and that was "Flight School".  I had a much similar reaction to this mixtape as I did to the first Wiz Khalifa song that I ever heard.  Every single song I loved, which is rare for me.  I tend to be picky when it comes to rap and rarely do I hear an artist use a great beat paired with some great lyrics.  To date this is still my go-to mixtape if I want to listen to Wiz Khalifa.  Around this time he also released another quality mixtape called "Star Power".  Although I didn't love every song like I did "Flight School", there were still some quality songs that showed how "hungry" Wiz was for that fame.  For example in his song "Star Power" on the mixtape, the chorus talks about how he has put in a ton of work and is finally seeing it pay off, both literally and figuratively.  

His songs started to show more and more how important marijuana is in his life because every song basically talked about it.  For example in his song "Dreamer" off of the "Flight School" mixtape, the first line of the first verse says how he "wakes up every mornin' to a fat blunt". But even as a non-user I could still vibe out to these songs and appreciate the fact that this was a man who loved music and was finally seeing fame.  Another great thing about Wiz is that he kept up a youtube page and would occasionally  put out videos titled "Day Today".  This allowed fans to get an inside look at Wiz from when he had nothing and was traveling around in a sedan with his friends as a way to get to and from performances, to now when he is staying in penthouse suites, with a trophy girlfriend, and traveling in a tour bus.  Check out Wiz on youtube to see videos that date back to over three years ago.  As a sneak peak to my next post, here is a perfect example of showing how Wiz has changed.  

(From Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZSHmRDHO08&feature=plcp&context=C3776188UAOEgsToPDskLd8ldNunVWYWvHkB_HldhV)

(From Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nbe-BWmKw60&feature=plcp&context=C37a108cUDOEgsToPDskIpJRHmJ3FtjnA7wSNLAeTV)