I always wanted to be a hip hop investigative journalist.

Been a fan of his music for years. Meaning, when Tha Carter came out, I was wondering where the tattoos and dreds came from. Needless to say, that was a long time ago. However, I’ve been waiting to scratch this Lil Wayne itch for a while.

So, yeah, I guess it wasn’t always cool to be in the Bloods.

Listen, I don’t really care. That much. I just began to ponder my iTunes library, which houses more than 405 D’Wayne joints. His flood of musical influence has come largely in the past 6 years, when everyone’s mp3 library became way more fed in the middle of the alphabet.

In an industry that supposedly prides itself on honesty, Lil’ Wayne honestly dreamt his modern day, red-synonymous persona sometime in between his 2002-2004 musical hiatus. And it obviously worked. He’s got more money than could ever be blown on marijuana, codeine and Louis Vuitton, and with the approach of Tha Carter IV, his career isn’t slowing down. No one questions the man.

I just think it sucks.

His inebriated, unorganized yet astonishingly lyrical complexities are all riddled with references to gang culture that don’t remotely resemble the foundation of his music, and likely, his life. He was once one of the coolest dudes for the fact that he was one of the youngest, yet most established MCs in the game (going strong since age 14). He makes a successful charge for the top charts in the mid-2000s, gathering a broad and diverse audience for his resurgence, and he’s rebranded a bonafide gang member. He’s been buzzing around the B-hive ever since. Was I the only one watching?

(Whoever made this video was too.)

I don’t want to shed too much unnecessary light on gangs. The broader issue that I’m tackling is that Lil Wayne’s audience should demand more from him. Intellectually. True, few can maintain his recording habits and lifestyle to build evidence and work of that magnitude. BUT, this is a smart guy, so I hope I speak for at least some minority that thinks his sound has been long-drowned, belligerent, moderately entertaining…shit.

Say, if by some divine miracle, I were to introduce someone to Lil Wayne that had never heard him before (booking next flight to the Amazon). What would I show them to say: Here’s a 15+ year veteran of the rap game, look what his ouvre has culminated to thus far. Hip hop observes, grows, matures, reflects and tells the whole story. What is your music doing, Wayne?

I want to hear some honest reflections about your life: beginning as a child in New Orleans; about a life more than half spent in the music industry, in which you continue to thrive in; about the trade-offs of growing up inside of tour busses and hotel rooms, as opposed to back home; about raising your daughter as a teenager, and what it’s like to be a father (of 4). Did you enjoy prison? I want to hear something, anything that is not a completely glossy or vulgar snapshot of your industry character.

Tha Carter Documentary attempted to dissect this persona.

It’s just days after the release of his latest mixtape Sorry 4 The Wait.

I, for one, am waiting for the day he intersects his ability to sell records with a project that sells me on his artistry less Weezy, starring D’Wayne Michael Carter Jr. instead.

I want more of this:

Peace