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Chief Keef DECODED: The Tantric Mantras of a Burgeoning Rap Guru

CHIEF KEEF DECODED: The Tantric Mantras of a Burgeoning Rap Guru by Kreston Kent, author of  The Literary Genius of Lil Wayne: the case for Lil Wayne to be counted among Shakespeare and Dylan At first, Chief Keef sounds like a mumbling, repetitive drone; but once you catch on, Chief Keef will stop you in your tracks and captivate you. His celebrity is bewildering to the outside observer, but his success is not an accident: Chief Keef is no flash in the pan . His rap has a mysterious, elusive, but undeniable genius to it. Keef is not a literary genius; there will be no comparisons to Shakespeare and Dylan here. I find no overarching literary merit and precious few literary devices in his rap. But Chief Keef is an arresting* lyrical genius. *no pun intended The same two aspects of Chief Keef's raps that will initially drive you to dismiss him (as a lucky oaf who won the fame lottery) are actually the keys to his virtuosity: The first key aspect ...

Weezy's "Start a Fire" full of allusions, multi's

Start a Fire wasn't released in time to make it into " The Literary Genius of Lil Wayne ," but it serves as yet another example of Wayne using sophisticated literary devices on his tracks. The section headings here correspond to chapter titles in the book: Lil Wayne, Folk Artist: In the last release, "Off Day" (which is analyzed in the book), Wayne alluded to his early track (feature) "Back That Azz Up." This time, with "Start a Fire," he hearkens back to "DontGetIt" from Tha Carter III, repeating "They Just Don't Get It" in the chorus, whereas " DontGetIt" begins with the line "Stood in the heat, the flame." Both songs feature late-50's and 60's references: "Great Balls of Fire," quoted in "Start a Fire," and Perry Mason, cited in "DontGetIt" both premiered in 1957. Lil Wayne riffs on the famous pun from The Beatles' 1969 track "Co...

How A Stereotypical White Girl Fashion Reporter Got A Baseless, Ignorant Article About Lil Wayne in England’s Most Prestigious Newspaper

How A Stereotypical White Girl Fashion Reporter Got A Baseless, Ignorant Article About Lil Wayne in England’s Most Prestigious Newspaper by Kreston Kent In Friday’s The Guardian newspaper, fashion writer Morwenna Ferrier departs from her usual fashion reporting beat to go after Lil Wayne, repeating a prevailing and egregiously ignorant narrative that Lil Wayne is experiencing a “tragic decline” in his career. The article, “Lil Wayne: the tragic decline of a hip-hop trailblazer,” fails to display even basic knowledge about Wayne’s actual output and instead repeats tired, clichéd falsehoods. An advertisement posing as an article Ferrier’s article is actually a thinly veiled promotional advert (as they call it across the pond) for her coffeetable picture book about Wayne. Indeed, Ferrier opens her article by noting “I can’t say I wrote the book on Lil Wayne but I did write a book,” with the last two words linked to the storefront selling her book online. We...

Kreston Kent

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