I Am Not a Human Being

Following Rebirth, his divisive contrarian experiment in rock music, Lil Wayne aims to reestablish his credentials as a rapper’s rapper with I Am Not a Human Being. As great as the title is, the album is really meant to show that Wayne IS a human being, albeit an exceptionally adaptable specimen. Although it arrives at a less momentous stage of Wayne’s career, the album has everything that made Tha Carter III an artistic triumph. The beats are more bombastic, and the guest list more predictable, but the rhymes are more stunning and peculiar than ever. From “Hold Up”: “Shoot ya in your halo, shoot you like Halo / New Orleans A-hole, frio, fuego / All about my bread like bagels, they know / I'm raw like Quaaludes, ball like gay hoes / Weed so strong it’s like I twist tornados.” Wayne now raps with the teetering, unhurried attitude of someone who has already won, but whether it’s the clock-melting beat of “I’m Single” or the solo anthem “Bill Gates,” the rapper can still pull off feats of deranged bravado which other rappers are only able to imitate.