The Inspiration: Lil Wayne [Poem]

To Lil Wayne,

Tune,

aka Young Carter,

your metaphoric lyricism’s

made me a lot smarter

I’ve never seen myself in the booth,

to tell the truth, but

your wordplay

has helped me in my poe-tray,

to go harder

I come across your metaphors,

& I can’t ignore,

& when I hear a bar

I explore,

& want more

this goes back to younger days

homie, you been flames

you fire, man

& since Fireman,

that ain’t changed

106 & Park

videos on replay

introduced me to some vibes

started sliding

“Go DJ”

rappers put in work,

but you worked much harder

& any rapper that tried to son you,

you out-fathered

as hard as you were,

you hit the Stu & went harder

& any bit of hate

thrown your way,

you Dodge’d like chargers

shoutout to the Carter

the series that had hooked me

ain’t listen to C1 till 11,

how long that took me

when I started vouching for Wayne,

they overlooked me,

till I started writing these rhymes

on paper, loose leaf

inspired by the run that you had

since [Da] Drought 2,

a run that last from then

till I graduated

high school

when Rebirth dropped,

people had sized you

like you were mental

like “What’s wrong w Lil Wayne

& what the heck has he been thru?”

but since The Block was Hot,

I envisioned that you would spin thru,

dropped Dedication,

went straight to

bodying [rappers'] instrumentals

C3 was monumental,

GOAT debates, they were done with

& when No Ceilings dropped

‘twas like

“Nah, nobody [can] touch him”

sooner after that,

dropped a line, you called Trukfit

and after Carter 4,

we peeped Baby &

couldn’t trust him

couple years w/o Weezy music,

who saw that outcome,

I wanted an X on Birdman's head,

something like Malcolm

cemented as a legend, your run

they couldn’t outrun,

& still went out your way

to give us [the]

Free Weezy Album

and with much Dedication,

you gave us two D6s

reminded me when you

dropped The Suffix

& Prefixes

My friends had told me that you fell off,

& you declined,

relinquished from those shackles

you finally dropped C5.

I was so ecstatic,

was jumping up knee-high

if you can’t tell,

I’m am to Wayne

like Beyoncé’s lil BeeHive

when you announced Funeral,

dawg, I got sad

If this the end of the road,

can’t complain, but I was mad

But then you dropped the deluxe

& that there had mad me glad

It was a Funeral for sho

'cause dead*ss,

that there was gas

It’s 2021 now

& I hope you got some more

these rappers ain’t on your level

not even the same floor

I hear you & Santana still working,

hope they ain’t rumors

'cause you gon always win in my book,

never a loser

they make fun off your dreads,

I assumed, it was depression

while also rapping

till ya dreads fall off,

'cause you’re a legend

Young Carter.