Time Magazine Crowns Lil Wayne

July 14th’s edition of Time Magazine features the Cash Money Millionaire himself, Lil Wayne. This might come as a surprise to some; after all, Time’s cover has been graced by the likes of Mother Theresa, Ben Franklin, and Hitler. It is a stretch for Wayne to even be in the same breathe as the aforementioned, but American’s most famous news magazine saw something special in the 25-year old emcee that just sold 1.01 million copies of his latest album…in one week.

Just 20 words into the article, journalist Josh Tyrangiel compares Dwayne Carter’s raspy voice to “Red Foxx covering Bob Dylan.” He gives a brief synopsis of Wayne’s childhood and the early years with the Hot Boys, eventually crowning Weezy as the undisputed “best rapper alive.”

Regardless of what we might think about the emcees absent minded rhymes, its hard to dispute his genius, and being the “Dylan of his day” might not be that far fetched. Dylan’s most celebrated work dates back to the 1960’s, where he made a name for himself chronicling American unrest. Many of his tunes became anthems for anti-war and civil-rights movements. His music was never confined to a single genre, and his lyrics touched on everything from politics, and social commentary, to philosophy and literature.

Wayne comes along at a different time, but his influence is just as strong. Its hard to call him a writer since he does not write anything down, in fact, he claims all his rhymes are random streams of conscious thought. Freestyle or not, we are still coming back for more, craving those next 16 bars from a 14 year vet who is only now, at the top of the mountain. Kinda makes you wonder where he will go next.

One thing is for sure, wherever it is, we will follow.