ACL Live Review: Lil Wayne
NOLA rapper brings the uproar
By Kahron Spearman, 10:05AM, Sun. Oct. 14, 2018
Rumors of gunshots at Atlanta’s A3C Festival brought a recent Lil Wayne appearance to a swift end. ACL Fest could not, would not be spoiled by mere cocksure bros and vomiting, underaged girls. The unusually grand return of Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. continued at his punched-in, 7pm HomeAway slot on Saturday.
Serving as something of a replacement from Childish Gambino, the legendary New Orleans rapper kicked out the trap jams and mostly stayed out of the way of his own momentum. The irony, of course, is that Wayne never left. It wasn't as if he had been in exile.
Long gestating, recent No. 1 charter The Carter V has whirled the 36-year-old MC back into the stratosphere. Armed with DJ T. Lewis and a drummer, Wayne strolled down memory lane while dipping into his latest biographical installment.
Ripping “I’m Goin’ In” from his late-Aughts heyday, he began building out his show, jumping from track to track with little delay. The scattering bass kicks in the Swizz Beatz-produced “Pistol On My Side (P.O.M.S.)” followed. A bit of the Rick Ross-featured “John,” at least the ridiculous Polow Da Don production of it, made the show cut.
Wayne classics “Go DJ,” “Lollipop,” and “A Milli” were predestined and got the massive crowd’s nostalgia whipped to near fever pitch. Even so, the wildly positive reception of his latest rumbling smash, “Uproar,” proved most entertaining.
Here in 2018, we have a brand new generation enjoying an updated, Swizz Beatz version of “Special Delivery,” a classic by bad boy rapper G. Dep from 2001. In other words, it’s the turn of the millennium all over again. What a time to live in – both then and now.
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Lil Wayne, ACL Fest 2018, ACL Music Fest 2018, Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr., Childish Gambino, Swizz Beatz, Rick Ross, G. Dep, Polow Da Don