Forgive me for oversimplifying this, but pre-Carter III release, there were two main types of Lil Wayne fans.
The first type were those who had been there for a long time. People who bought/burned Tha Carter, learned about Weezy from the New Orleans scene, or those who got on board from his very early mixtapes.
These people liked Lil Wayne before he became Lil Wayne the icon, before he became Lil Wayne the GOAT, even before he became the Best Rapper Alive.
Whether they came to Weezy because he was a cute young kid with the very popular at the time Southern swag, or because they liked his unique energy and twist to his native bounce music, these fans have been around for a long time. Some of these fans didn't even like Mixtape Weezy because it wasn't Tha Carter I or II.
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>I miss The Carter 1 & 2 Lil Wayne đŻ
â Rablo Frescobar (@_Bred2winRJ) January 22, 2017
The second group is who I call the âDrought 3 Eraâ fans. You can call them âMixtape Weezyâ fans if you like, but I don't because although mixtapes were his clearest form of dominance, his guest verses were untouchable too. These fans (of which I am one) came to Weezy during the prime of his career. Lil Wayne had transformed into a brand new rapper with better metaphors, better flows, more style, and more swag. Mixtapes such as the Drought 3, Dedication 2, and a whole slew of guest verses earned Wayne the crown of the undisputed âBest Rapper Alive.â Even in those days people like Fat Joe, Rick Ross, and The Game, were admitting that Lil Wayne was the best.
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>All hail mixtape Weezy
â Kurt Rockmore (@KurtRockmore) January 24, 2017
There were also countless leaks of songs that were meant for Tha Carter III. These songs were fashioned into numerous non-consented mixtapes by various DJâs across the internet. These songs included everything from âIâm Rawâ to âAsk Them Hoesâ to many Weezy fans' favorite âLa La La.â
Those leaks culminated with Wayneâs official attachment to Tha Carter III with âThe Leakâ which included classics such as âIâm Me,â âGossip,â and âKush.â This was an incredibly frustrating time for Wayne, having to deal with leak after leak, but it was all worth it once he achieved truly monumental success with Tha Carter III.
Tha Carter 3 lead up and release ushered in a new era of Weezy fans. The onslaught of popular guest verses by Lil Wayne made him hot everywhere from middle schools through colleges across America, but the release of the mega-hit âLollipopâ changed the game forever and turned âLil Wayneâ into a household name.
Lollipop wasnât the only Carter 3 mega-hit, though. Hits like âA Milli,â âGot Moneyâ and âMrs. Officerâ were blaring out of car stereos everywhere, and radio stations were all playing Weezy as much as they could.
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>No one can righteously say that Lollipop by Lil Wayne isn't top 100 hottest songs
â Shayla (@shaylabellle) January 29, 2017
Wayne didnât let this time of ultra-popularity slip away. He struck while the iron was hot and in 2009 released No Ceilings, one of the greatest mixtapes of all time. No Ceilings could be heard in every college dorm room, house party, gym and car from Los Angeles to Amsterdam. College frat boys and athletes everywhere had anthems aplenty, and Lil Wayneâs dominance remained untouchable. Super Bowl 50 MVP Von Miller still uses No Ceilings as his pre-game music.
That period of musical dominance is what created the third type of Lil Wayne fan, the âbandwagon fanâ. Donât get me wrong, many of the fans Weezy gained in this period are still with him today. But the fan base that swelled so big to earn him another million copy-selling first week with Tha Carter IVÂ that it was soon ready to explode.
Many loyal fans still rode with Weezy during Sorry 4 the Wait, Tha Carter IV, IANAHB 1 & 2, and of course thereâs Rebirth. But the slew of people who had jumped on the bandwagon because of Wayneâs greatness began to jump off, and so began the exaggeration of his decline.
The main contribution that led to todayâs norm of hating on Lil Wayne was Lil Wayneâs greatness itself. It set the bar so high for what rap music could be that anything Wayne released that didnât reach that bar started to be slandered as trash.
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>No Ceilings was the best Weezy mixtape of all time... I will not debate this.
â Vee (@vjtx0) February 2, 2017
And then people started looking for new ways to set themselves apart from the crowd. Some people became bored with being a fan of the guy everyone else was a fan of. They started to branch out and support people such as Big Sean, J Cole, Kendrick Lamar, and many others. But no artist has come close to matching Weezyâs dominance.
Because of the extended lack of any other real rap superstars before Kendrick Lamar's emergence (Drake doesnât count here because in this regard heâs more pop), Lil Wayne became the New England Patriots, the New York Yankees. Because youâre on top, people want you to fall. People love to hate in this day and age. If they donât identify with you as an artist, they want to trash you.
Lil Wayne hating and trashing became almost as popular as loving him once was. All of the people who in the past would have been bandwagon fans were now becoming âbandwagon haters.â
Hating Lil Wayne became your way to show that you really know rap, that you actually have some culture. By saying you like âRun the Jewelsâ and donât really listen to Lil Wayne, youâre saying: âIâm better than other people because Iâm cooler than just being a Lil Wayne fan because everybodyâs a Lil Wayne fan.â
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>If you know music, you know that Lil Wayne SUCKS.
â Mary (@maaarypeps) January 11, 2017
Thereâs no major problem presented by haters in the grand scheme, thereâs always going to be haters no matter who the artist is. The problem for Lil Wayne was that it just became way too popular to say you donât like Lil Wayne in order to be cool. And eventually, the perception of Lil Wayne being trash became peopleâs reality, largely influenced by the media.
Once people said they hated Lil Wayne, the media wanted to give them what they wanted, hence all of the Weezy hate articles from some at Complex Magazine and other morons.
The perception became the âreality.â Because most people were saying âLil Wayne sucks,â it gained momentum, and eventually became what people stated as fact. Great Wayne verses like those on Deep, Only, and Mâs, were completely underrated and slept on. Even great entire projects like Dedication 5 were overshadowed. Sorry 4 the Wait 2 was so good it was basically an album, the entire mixtape was primetime Weezy from top to bottom. Free Weezy Album was an amazingly unique and exceptional Lil Wayne album. Yet despite such quality projects, the hate kept coming.
Did Lil Wayne have a period where he âfell off?â In a word, yes. Around the same time he started wearing moon boots and hats that looked like they were designed by a Tele-tubby, he also started taking it easy and phoned in some verses. Iâm thinking of the 2011-2013 era.
Letâs face it, while Tha Carter IV had some serious bangers, it also had some tracks that werenât up to normal Weezy par.
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>Nobody wants the carter 5 anyway. The Carter 4 was weak AF . #KeepThaCarter5
â _Blackefron (@_blackefron) November 2, 2016
But the real truth is that even mediocre Wayne is still better than 90% of the rappers out today, and the Lil Wayne that has been on display since late 2014 has been on fire.
We as Lil Wayne fans may be hopelessly optimistic about Weezy at times. Sometimes we say an average verse is good, and sometimes we say bad verses are good, after listening to them 20 times out of loyalty to convince ourselves. But donât ever second guess it, Weezy is the Greatest of All Time, and the hate he has received over the past few years has been enough to make anyone either retire or lose their sanity.
The optimistic Lil Wayne fan in me believes that he is about to go on an amazing run of new music once heâs free from his Cash Money nightmares. If that happens, many bandwagon fans will hop back on, and then a few years later, the hate will resume again.
Think of it like Tom Bradyâs performance in Super Bowl 51. When the Patriots were down 25 points in the 4th quarter, if you logged onto Twitter you would see the most slanderous of Tom Brady hatred. âWashed up.â âHe should retire.â âHeâs always been overrated.â
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>Tom Brady is the sports equivalent of Beyoncé. Both are overwhelmingly overrated by the masses.
â The Macho King (@Gritz_718) February 6, 2017
Then he led the comeback and won his 5th Super Bowl ring. Letâs hope Tha Carter 5 is Wayneâs crowning comeback/championship moment.
And to all the haters who donât appreciate the greatness that is Lil Wayne:
Fuck you.
We don't care.
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>If you don't fuck with up up and away by lil wayne then fuck you
â Zaddy (@Zadmire) February 2, 2017