No but they act like it which is just as annoying.

How somebody at a major publication hasn’t put it together that Wayne’s biting Ol’ Dirty Bastard when he pulls his weirdo vocal tics, I’ll never know. It’s completely frustrating to me as an amateur historian that people don’t make these connections and act as if Wayne is re-writing the book on hip hop lyricism on the fly.

even though i don’t like the dude i think 50 Cent had a smart point with the whole “good rapper vs. good songwriter” deal with Wayne. that’s why people’re putting so much weight on “Carter III.”

as far as the leniency you’re talking about goes, if some of dude’s recent mixtapes/leaks were sold as actual studio albums you’d probably see people being more critical toward ‘em. i think part of it’s just a matter of people taking a more casual approach toward mixtapes, select critical hyperbole over “Da Drought 3″ aside.

I wanted to add to your point:

” but i can’t really get with the idea that he’d go from OK to great if he flowed and rhymed the exact same but about more important topics”

It’s not that Wayne isn’t good now–it’s that he’s only great is really, really small portions of his music. I listened to both Carter albums and both Dedications (roughly 80 songs, give or take). Out of 80, I’d say 20-25 had any replay value. It’s not his topics–he covers the same shit on every song. It’s the overall quality of songs that’s lacking with Wayne.

The problem is that no one on the internet seems to call out Wayne’s wack songs. He’s talented, has a weird ass voice, and experiments frequently with cadence, inflection, and flows, all commendable for any MC. But he has a shaky catalogue and an internet-only pedigree in the hip hop cannon. Nas and Jay catch SO MUCH SHIT on the internet with every release, whereas Wayne doesn’t.

Both Jay and Nas are at least top 10 all time with classics under their belt, and on a pure skill level they still bring it 10-15 years after they came out. But everytime they drop, people hate because it’s “not as good as Illmatic” nor as “introspective as Blueprint” or whatever. Jay and Nas do make bad songs and bad albums, and do get called out on it. Wayne doesn’t. That’s the problem.

Next flow please.

good or bad aside, i find it hard to believe you don’t find anything weird about lollipop. 50 would have spit weird sexual come-ons, but wayne is so confident (or arrogant) that he didn’t even feel the need to rap on the track. also, the hook is a joke (funny because its so lame) off of the black eyed peas’ “my humps”. how is that for weird?