Wayne’s pre-Carter II output is as overlooked as Tha Carter III is overrated. Lately, I’ve been unnaturally obsessed with “Shine” from 2000’s Lights Out.
As Tal Rosenberg pointed out, back then, “Wayne was just firing off words as if he had them stored in the magazine of a machine gun. “Shine” is one of Mannie Fresh’s most drugged-out, wacky, cartoonish rap songs, and Wayne’s verse is hilarious (“All these carrots like I’m a fuckin’ vegetarian”). The song is closer to Carl Stalling than it is to most contemporary rap music.”
Lamentably, if the Rebirth rap-rock guru released a song entitled “Shine” today, it would probably be a Collective Soul cover.
Download:
MP3: Lil Wayne ft. Hot Boys-“Shine”
