Fanning the flames of an imminent Tha Carter VI release, Dwayne ‘Lil Wayne’ Carter Jr. has stormed into the rap game with a roar in the shape of his latest single, ‘Kant Nobody’. Produced by iconic American beats master Swizz Beatz and Avenue, the three-minute track comes laced with prominent samples from late hip-hop veteran DMX during an interview and of his 1998 track, ‘N*ggaz Done Started Something’.
Not shy with the drums, on a production level, ‘Kant Nobody’ has a rustic boom-bap texture synonymous with battle rap arenas and B-boy culture. From a sonic standpoint, there’s a sparseness about the arrangement of instruments, from the guttural drums to the ghostly harmony haunting the background punctuated by DMX’s interjections here and there.
The transparency of the sound gives the rapper, also known as Tunechi, leeway to flex his lyrical prowess, and he’s not reserved to admit it on the hook: “Swizzy gave me a headbanger, a neck-snapper (What? Ayo) / X-factor, make a rapper an example”.
From a lyrical perspective, Lil Wayne is intentional and direct. Although the ‘A Milli’ hitmaker has been covert about it, he has been anything but content with his placement among his colleagues on who’s the greatest rapper in history. After Billboard & Vibe placed him at the number seven spot – behind the likes of Jay-Z, Nas, and Kendrick Lamar – he went on to suggest that he is the greatest of all time. Such sentiments can be heard in the first verse where he raps, “Can’t trust my shadow, that’s a fact, I can’t get overshadowed”, alluding to his status in the game and how no one will ever top him from a musical standpoint.
Much like any other benchmark Lil Wayne track, ‘Kant Nobody’ is a pun-heavy and wordplay-laden affair. In every verse, Weezy’s antics are sharper than ever and might prompt a rewind for a closer listen just to catch everything from the man’s mind. From punchlines about Oprah (“Leavin’ b*tches on they own like the Oprah channel”) and Dahmer (“Yes, mama, I’ma eat you like Jeff Dahmer”) to the French language (“I’m just Weezy-We, on my ‘Excuse my French shit’ alright”), Wayne seems to be having fun. At forty years and over two decades deep in the game, he’s at his inspired best throughout each verse.
It’s no secret that rap is a sport of testosterone; no seismic event is ever met without a definitive response. From Grammy snubs to magazines misrating hip-hop music, it’s always fair game to rappers and hip-hop heads alike to weigh in on cultural gatekeeping. ‘Kant Nobody’ is just another knee-jerk response to recent events. It’s not exactly relevant, but it’s a solid reminder from Lil Wayne about who he is and that not every analysis should be taken seriously.
Listen to “Kant Nobody”:
