Dedication Vol.2 - Lil' Wayne & DJ Drama

...Stars**

22. “A Dedication After Disaster” (Lude)

23. “No Other”

The final track on the mixtape find the rapper doing a dedication to those caught up in Hurricane Katrina as you se that here you get a hardcore sample of UGK’s “Murder” brought together with some Jay-Z material for a killer tune that takes things to big places and brings you in through the way that he references the scenes he witnessed with more ...
...banger of a final joint.

**Five Stars**

24. “Outta Here” (Outro)

This, as the first in this series, is a killer mixtape from Lil’ Wayne and one that was great to build up early hype on the way to the release of “Tha Carter III” as you get him showing how well he can ride popular jams of the time to a great effect and come out with a series of pure bangers that you can’t do without (as a fan of his music).   ... more

“Dedication 2” came in 2006 as an official mixtape from the New Orleans, Louisiana-based Lil’ Wayne on the DJ Drama-hosted ‘Gangsta Grillz’ series. It came soon after he brought “Tha Carter II” and was seen to be the point when he was really able to reach out to many more listeners as from 2004, when he brought the first edition of ‘Tha Carter’ series, he had finally found his style of rapping (after doing it professionally since he was 12, and so had been doing it for 13 up to this point), but didn’t break through into around this time when he began collaborating with any rapper, R&B singer of Pop star he could to get his name out.

1. “The Best in The Business” (Intro)

2. “Get ‘Em”

He goes in hard as he drops this one and you finf that with it he gets in on some beats from the Diplomats and is seen to find his groove from the get-go to show how he hasn’t lost any of his energy once the last release and will persist extremely well with his hardcore material that is seen to breathe new life to the city that really started off the trend of utter wackiness in Hip Hop (when you consider how weak the material from Master P and his No Limit crew (aside from Mystikal) was through the nineties.

**Five Stars**

3. “They Still Like Me”

Here he hypes things even more as he gets in on Dem Franchize Boyz’ “Oh I Think They Like Me” and is seen to freestyle his way through the thing (as he claims to construct each and every track he has done from this period. With it you see that although he may bring up some of the themes from the last album tha he brought at the time, but he takes them in a fly direction so you can’t dwell on it too much.

**Five Stars**

4. “I’m The Best Rapper Alive” (Lude)

5. “Cannon” (AMG Remix)

After a brief break, you see that he returns by bringing a big remix as you see that with this one he s seen to be on a hype as he comes in with some Gangsta Rap material l (something that he toned –down on in later material) and works with the likes of Philly’s Freeway, Juice, Detroit Red and Willie The Kid for a powerful jam that keeps it going well and has all of them bringing something that you have to value.

**Five Stars**

6. “Workin’ Em”

With this one you get powerful material coming through as you see that on this one DJ infamous brings some incredible original beats on this one and it sees that it gives Weezy the chance to come out with some of his hottest rhymes as he adapts his approach to the rhymes and comes out with lots of emphasis on certain syllables, which come through on each and every line and with this simplistic structure it seems to roll out nicely.

**Five Stars**

7. “SportsCenter” (Lude)

8. “Welcoem To Tha Concrete Jungle”

After giving us a chance to understand just how into sports he is with both an interlude and some rhymes which incorporate these interest into them, you see that here he comes to do an early collaboration with Juelz Santana and you see that together they do big things that you won’t be able to feel do nothing but go hard and compliment the strengths of both of the artists effectively and promise lots for the future between them.

**Five Stars**

9. “Spitter”

In this one you see that you get him jumping on top of the banger that was Swizzy’s re-working of Biggie’s “Notorious Thugs” in “Spit Your Game”. With it you see that he comes out with rhymes which seem to bring together the typical Gangsta Rap themes to more general themes as he comes with intense rhymes to suit how Twista, Krayzie Bone and of course The Notorious One did before to come out with such a banger.

**Five Stars**

10. “South Muzik”

This one has him relaxing things quite a big and so it appears to lose a bit of the energy that it had going for it up to this point. I felt that as a result the quality decreased slightly here, although it shouldn’t really be seen as a proper let down as it is just a temporary shift to give you a chance to experience a larger range of what he is capable of as is gradually works towards bringing in a little classic ’94 OutKast material through subtle sampling.

**Four Stars**

11. “This Is What I Call Her”

As he samples Little Brother on this one, you see that with this one he comes out with one that says on the same sort of level, but he is seen to chance the direction of the raps by rapping towards a girl on this one (something that he would go on to do much more of). I felt that this one was able to bounce back from the last one back to the massively high standard that you tend to expect to get from him.

**Five Stars**

12. “Dedication 2”

Sampling Nancy Sinatra’s “Bang Bang”, this is the titular track to the album and one that seems to hit hard on the release, so much so that Drama has to pull it up for the hard rhymes that he comes out with as he references the events of August 2005 in his hometown as he goes in with some intense rhymes which seem to be guided by the way he gets on beats with a Hard Rock influence to them to give him what he needs to do the job.

**Five Stars**

13. “Weezy on Retirement” (Lude)

14. “Poppin’ Them Bottles”

After letting everyone know his plans on never leaving the raps game, you see that you get him going hard over Three 6 Mafia’s “Poppin’ My Collar” beats and with this powerful tune as he connects with the Memphis Rap scene and brings some of his own influence with it as he works with Mack Maine and Curren$y, two of the biggest rappers on his Young Money label for a well-rounded joint.

**Five Stars**

15. “What U Kno”

In an expected turn you see that DJ Toomp’s dingy beats are seen to be ridden by Weezy here as he gets on the T.I. joint and rhymes in a short recording about his heavy presence in the game and how it is only going to increase form this point (which it did) as he come with flows that really know other could have come up with, but has been seen to become much more popular since he broke into the mainstream.

**Five Stars**

16. “Where The Cash At”

Here he gets The Runners to come in a bring a straight killer of a tune as they sample Weezy’s “Fireman” on the hook and gets Curren$y and Remy Ma on the thing too to take it step further and to make for one of the heaviest joints on the whole mixtape. It hits hard with Curren$y’s dominance over the thing and the deep beats that the Floridian production duo bring to the table with this one.

**Five Stars**

17. “Ridin’ Wit The AK”

In this one you find that you get the hook of the original track (in this occasion The Purple Ribbon All-Stars’ “Kryptonite”) adapted to fit in wit the themes of where Weezy takes it, here he chooses to keep to the gun raps and seem to do well as he rides the fly Atlanta beats as he gets more assistance from young Money artist with Mabry and Mack Maine doing their thing over the track quite nicely.

**Five Stars**

18. “Weezy On The Streets Of N.O.” (Lude)

19. “Walk It Off”

Here you see that he goes in hard with some fun, club material here to force you to get your groove on. I personally felt that it was one of the biggest tracks on the thing and you see that with the funky beats that he is given on this one it means that he is able to come out with fresh rhymes which take things back to the style of the Louisiana Rap scene from a few years prior to the recording of this (as a few were able to find some quality within them).

**Five Stars**

20. “Hustlin’”

He gets on another predictable joint here as he gets the chance to more beats from The Runners and in this case the epic Rock Ross track of the same name is taken even higher as Weezy F. Baby gets on them and shows just how he gets his hustle on when he does thing. You get some of his non-sequitur flows that show you how after so long in the game he is beyond conventions and has to be seen as someone above the level of all others by this point.

**Five Stars**

21. “Gettin’ Some Head”

With this one he gets into some explicit material and goes in on one of the biggest joints (and one of the earliest underground hits from him as he jumps on Shawnna’s freaky groove with Pharrell Williams (as Skateboard P). It is one that hits hard on the mixtape and livens up the thing with its fresh beats and overall structure taken to a higher level with the flows that are given over the joint.

**Five Stars**

22. “A Dedication After Disaster” (Lude)

23. “No Other”

The final track on the mixtape find the rapper doing a dedication to those caught up in Hurricane Katrina as you se that here you get a hardcore sample of UGK’s “Murder” brought together with some Jay-Z material for a killer tune that takes things to big places and brings you in through the way that he references the scenes he witnessed with more general Rap themes added into the mix too for a banger of a final joint.

**Five Stars**

24. “Outta Here” (Outro)

This, as the first in this series, is a killer mixtape from Lil’ Wayne and one that was great to build up early hype on the way to the release of “Tha Carter III” as you get him showing how well he can ride popular jams of the time to a great effect and come out with a series of pure bangers that you can’t do without (as a fan of his music).  

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