Rebirth (Lil Wayne album)
Encyclopedia
Rebirth is the seventh studio album
by American rapper Lil Wayne
, released February 2, 2010, on Cash Money Records
, Young Money Entertainment
and Universal Motown. Originally set to be released in early 2009 before several delays, the album was produced primarily by Cool & Dre
, DJ Infamous
, DJ Nasty & LVM
, Kevin Rudolf
, and J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League
. Rebirth was promoted as Wayne's rock music
debut, though it includes some hip hop
tracks.
The album debuted at number two on the U.S. Billboard 200
chart, selling 176,000 copies in its first week. It became Wayne's seventh top-ten album in the United States and produced four singles that attained Billboard
chart success. Upon its release, Rebirth received generally negative reviews from most music critics. It has been certified gold
in sales by the Recording Industry Association of America
, with domestic shipment of 500,000 copies.
. The album was supposed to be released December 21, 2009, but Wayne pushed the date back. A week before its first scheduled release Amazon
accidentally shipped 500 copies of the album to customers who pre-ordered it. On January 23, 2009 Wayne told MTV
that the album will not be a re-release, but will be his rock album debut. The album was originally scheduled for an April 7, 2009 release, however it went through multiple release dates and was finally released on February 2, 2010. Young Money
artist, Shanell
, stated that the delays were due to Wayne's desire for the album to be "perfect".
The first single, "Prom Queen
", was produced by Infamous
and Andrew "Drew" Correa. The song made its official debut on January 27, appearing on Wayne's MySpace page. Wayne performed the single live for the first time during a concert in San Diego, which was streamed live by Ustream
on AT&T’s FREEdom of Choice and Mobile Music Facebook pages that evening. "Prom Queen" peaked at No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100
charts.
Lil Wayne stated he collaborated with Fall Out Boy
for his album, while he also lent his vocals for their Folie à Deux album. According to a Rolling Stone
article about the album, so are Lenny Kravitz
and Pete Wentz. He will reportedly pay homage to the Beastie Boys
, and a song that involves him rapping over stringed instruments, described as being similar to Coldplay
's "Viva la Vida" will be on the album as well. Young Money artist, Shanell, has been collaborating with Wayne on the album. She has been credited for her vocals on a track called "Most Wanted Rockstar" which may appear on the album. Eminem
has been confirmed to have an appearance on a track titled "Drop the World".
Birdman had confirmed that Tha Carter IV
will be packaged with Rebirth as a double disc album. However, Wayne denied this idea saying that "Tha Carter IV deserves Tha Carter IV". He went on to say that We Are Young Money may be packaged with Rebirth. However, in November 2009, Wayne said that the albums would be released separately. Billboard magazine received an e-mail from a customer of online retailer Amazon.com
stating that Amazon.com shipped copies of Rebirth as early as December 14. Amazon shipped about 500 pre-ordered copies and blamed a "shipping error". Young Money Entertainment
president Mack Maine
stated that the album would have different tracks than that of the leaked version.
", was produced by the duo of DJ Infamous and Drew Correa, notable for producing the Grammy nominated track from Tha Carter III, "Mr. Carter
". Production is also expected to come from Cool & Dre
and Develop. Birdman also stated that the album will feature a song entitled "I'm Not Human". It has been speculated that the album may be shelved due to less than positive feedback from fans and the media, as well as the lead single, "Prom Queen," having quickly fallen off of the charts shortly after entry. Despite the shelving rumors, Lil Wayne released the single "Hot Revolver
" to iTunes on March 17, 2009. On August 18, 2009, in an interview, Wayne confirmed that the album is completed and he is continuously working on Tha Carter IV
for the time being. On the single "On Fire
" produced by Cool & Dre, Lil Wayne has been said to play the guitar; he plays bass in "Da Da Da". Most of Lil Wayne's vocals are recorded using AutoTune. He considered naming the album: "Rebirth Of Auto-Tune".
" (feat. Shanell
), the lead single released from the album, was released on January 27, 2009. It peaked at No. 15 on Billboard Hot 100
being the highest charted single from the album. The video features members of Korn
. "On Fire
" replaced "Hot Revolver
" as the album's official second single due to "Hot Revolver" 's absence from the album. "On Fire" was released on December 1, 2009. It peaked at No. 62 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song contains samples from Amy Holland
's song "She's on Fire". "Drop the World
" (feat. Eminem
) was released as the album's third official single on December 28, 2009. It peaked at No. 18 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was praised by critics as the album's highlight.
"Hot Revolver
" was intended to be on Rebirth. The single was released on iTunes
on March 17, 2009. It reached No. 33 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number No. 54 on the Canadian Hot 100
. The song did not appear on the album and was replaced by "On Fire" as the album's second single. "Da Da Da" was released to the U.S. iTunes
store on December 1, 2009. The song failed to chart. A music video was filmed in February 2010. "American Star" (feat. Shanell) charted at No. 91 on the Billboard Hot 100 following the album's release due to strong digital downloads. "Knockout
" (feat. Nicki Minaj
) debuted on Billboard Hot 100 at No. 44 following the album's release due to strong digital sales. A song titled "Fuck Today (Rebirth Mix)" (feat. Gudda Gudda) was released on iTunes to promote the album's release on February 2, 2010. The song reached No. 76 on the Billboard Hot 100.
chart with sales of 176,000 copies, exceeding expectations. It serves as Wayne's seventh U.S. top-ten album. It also debuted at number 1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
and the Top Rap Albums
. In its second week it fell to number 4 on the Billboard 200 selling 89,024 more copies making its total sales so far 265,400. On its third week it fell one spot and brought its total sales to 324,470. On its fifth and sixth week it stayed at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. It remained at number 1 on Top Rap Albums for six straight weeks. Rebirth also entered at number 24 in the United Kingdom and at number 86 in France. On March 5, 2010, it was certified gold
in sales by the Recording Industry Association of America
, following shipment in excess of 500,000 copies. As of September 5, 2011 the album has sold 775,000 in the USA.
, which assigns a normalized
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
score of 37, based on 21 reviews, which indicates "generally unfavorable reviews". It is ranked seventh on the site's list of worst-reviewed albums. Los Angeles Times
critic Jeff Weiss called Rebirth "one of the worst albums of the year so far". Chicago Sun-Times
writer Jim DeRogatis
gave it 1 out of 4 stars and described it as "a wildly misguided experiment". NME
s Sam Wolfson gave Rebirth an 4/10 rating and wrote that Wayne "doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing". Allmusic's David Jeffries gave Rebirth 2 out of 5 stars and described it as "a loud and ignorable bore". Christian Hoard of Rolling Stone
gave it 2½ out of 5 stars and perceived Wayne's "very questionable taste in rock" as its weakness. Joe Clay of The Times
panned Wayne's singing and songwriting, calling his lyrics "devoid of humour and imagination". HipHopDX.com columnist Alex Thornton viewed Wayne's taste in rock music as poor, writing "he’s mistakenly emulated the worst of the genre instead of digging a little bit deeper into something with a real soul". The Guardian
s Alexis Petridis gave the album 2 out of 5 stars and wrote "Given that everyone knows Carter can do so much better than this, it all smacks a bit of condescension, of locating a different audience, then talking down to them". M.T. Richards of PopMatters
gave it a 4/10 rating and described its music as "an endless stream of abysmally written, Auto Tune-drenched nothings".
The Village Voice
s Christopher R. Weingarten wrote that Wayne's lyrics "still walk some fascinating line between signifying unmistakable genius, curious savant, or total dick", but viewed the album as lacking substance, stating "Wayne's big problem is that he seems to like the idea of rock music more than any actual rock music itself". The New York Posts Dan Aquilante gave the album 2½ out of 5 stars and wrote "he does rap on the record, but that may not satisfy hard-core hip-hop fans who may view this as traitorous rather than musically adventurous". Despite writing favorably of its few raps, Robert Ferguson of Drowned in Sound
gave Rebirth a 5/10 rating and found fault with its "overblown choruses and riffs". USA Today
writer Steve Jones gave it 2 out of 4 stars and wrote "Rebirth is neither well-conceived nor artfully delivered". Pitchfork Media
's Ryan Dombal gave it a 4.5/10 rating and called it "an unlikely, unqualified, and quite unbelievable rock album". Slant Magazine
's Jesse Cataldo gave the album 1½ out of 5 stars, calling it "a total misperception of what makes a rock record" and describing its sound as "mostly unrecognizable, a twisted amalgam of tacky set pieces collected from throughout the genre's history". Nathan Rabin
of The A.V. Club
viewed its sound and lyrics as clichéd, writing that it "plays like an over-the-top parody of a rock album".
Giving the album 1 out of 4 stars, Chicago Tribune
critic Greg Kot
panned Wayne's stylistic change and described his lyrics as "crushingly banal". However, RapReviews writer John-Michael Bond gave it a 7/10 rating and found Wayne's attempt at rock music interesting, calling the album "uneven" with "moments of genius". In contrast, IGN
's Brian Linden viewed the album's musical concept as flawed and Wayne's lyrics as its major flaw, writing "It's as if the rock backdrop somehow exposes every songwriting flaw and lays it bare". Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly
gave it a D+ rating and compared Wayne's decision to record a rock album to basketball player Michael Jordan
's attempt at baseball, stating "Jordan returned to the basketball court after one ill-fated season in the farm leagues; we can only hope for the same for Wayne". The Washington Post
s Allison Stewart called Rebirth "profoundly, irretrievably awful" and "very much a thing unto itself, without a reason in the world for existing". In a generally unfavorable review, Jon Pareles
of The New York Times
wrote that its lyrics "stay dutifully on topic" and found "how it reveals a rapper’s view of rock" as interesting, writing "For Lil Wayne rock is bombast and cliché in which high-school traumas are avenged, heaven and hell are frequently invoked and existential predicaments are taken seriously". Despite the generally negative criticism towards Rebirth, several music critics wrote favorably of its single "Drop the World
" and Eminem
's verse on the song, viewing it as a highlight on the album.
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
by American rapper Lil Wayne
Lil Wayne
Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. , better known by his stage name Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. At the age of nine, Lil Wayne joined Cash Money Records as the youngest member of the label, and half of the duo, The B.G.'z, with B.G.. In 1997, Lil Wayne joined the group Hot Boys, which also included...
, released February 2, 2010, on Cash Money Records
Cash Money Records
Cash Money Records is a record label founded by brothers Bryan "Birdman" Williams and Ronald "Slim" Williams. Today it operates as a subsidiary of Universal Music Group, and is distributed by Universal Republic Records as of 2011...
, Young Money Entertainment
Young Money Entertainment
Young Money Entertainment is an American record label founded by rapper Lil Wayne. Young Money's president is Lil Wayne's lifelong friend Mack Maine. The label is an imprint of Cash Money Records and is distributed by Universal Republic Records...
and Universal Motown. Originally set to be released in early 2009 before several delays, the album was produced primarily by Cool & Dre
Cool & Dre
Cool & Dre are a team of hip hop producers from Miami, Florida, consisting of Marcello "Cool" Valenzano and Andre "Dre" Christopher Lyon.-Epidemic Records:...
, DJ Infamous
DJ Infamous
Marco Rodriguez-Diaz, better known by his stage name Infamous, is a Grammy winning record producer and three-time world champion DJ.-Biography:Infamous is a Miami Based Music Producer most known for his work with rapper Lil Wayne...
, DJ Nasty & LVM
DJ Nasty & LVM
DJ Nasty & LVM are a hip hop production duo consisting of brothers DJ Nasty and LVM . They are best known for working with today's biggest urban music artists such as Blood Raw, Ace Hood, DJ Khaled, Plies, Ludacris, Young Jeezy, Lil Wayne, Brisco, Flo Rida, Rick Ross, Birdman, 8Ball & MJG, Juelz...
, Kevin Rudolf
Kevin Rudolf
Kevin Rudolf is an American singer-songwriter and record producer signed to Cash Money Records. Rudolf is mostly known for singing and producing rock/pop music...
, and J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League
J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League
J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, which stands for Just Undeniably Some of The Illest Composers Ever, are a Grammy winning group of producers and instrumentalists from Tampa, Florida. The group consists of members Rook, Colione, and Kenny "Barto" Bartolomei. Most recently, they have been producing for Drake,...
. Rebirth was promoted as Wayne's rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
debut, though it includes some hip hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
tracks.
The album debuted at number two on the U.S. Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
chart, selling 176,000 copies in its first week. It became Wayne's seventh top-ten album in the United States and produced four singles that attained Billboard
Billboard charts
The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine...
chart success. Upon its release, Rebirth received generally negative reviews from most music critics. It has been certified gold
RIAA certification
In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards...
in sales by the Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
, with domestic shipment of 500,000 copies.
Background
The album was originally thought to be the re-release of his triple-platinum album Tha Carter IIITha Carter III
Tha Carter III is the sixth studio album by American rapper Lil Wayne, released June 10, 2008 on Cash Money Records. It follows a long string of mixtape releases and guest appearances on other hip hop and R&B artists records, helping to increase his exposure in the mainstream...
. The album was supposed to be released December 21, 2009, but Wayne pushed the date back. A week before its first scheduled release Amazon
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
accidentally shipped 500 copies of the album to customers who pre-ordered it. On January 23, 2009 Wayne told MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
that the album will not be a re-release, but will be his rock album debut. The album was originally scheduled for an April 7, 2009 release, however it went through multiple release dates and was finally released on February 2, 2010. Young Money
Young Money Entertainment
Young Money Entertainment is an American record label founded by rapper Lil Wayne. Young Money's president is Lil Wayne's lifelong friend Mack Maine. The label is an imprint of Cash Money Records and is distributed by Universal Republic Records...
artist, Shanell
Shanell Woodgett
Shanell Woodgett, known simply as Shanell or SnL is an American pop artist and songwriter. She is signed to Young Money Entertainment, an imprint of Birdman's Universal Republic Records-distributed Cash Money Records.-Biography:...
, stated that the delays were due to Wayne's desire for the album to be "perfect".
The first single, "Prom Queen
Prom Queen (song)
"Prom Queen" is the first official single off of Lil Wayne's rock album, Rebirth. The track is produced by DJ Infamous and Andrew "Drew" Correa. The song is written by and contains backing vocals from Shanell Woodgett. The song made its official debut on January 27, appearing on Lil Wayne's...
", was produced by Infamous
DJ Infamous
Marco Rodriguez-Diaz, better known by his stage name Infamous, is a Grammy winning record producer and three-time world champion DJ.-Biography:Infamous is a Miami Based Music Producer most known for his work with rapper Lil Wayne...
and Andrew "Drew" Correa. The song made its official debut on January 27, appearing on Wayne's MySpace page. Wayne performed the single live for the first time during a concert in San Diego, which was streamed live by Ustream
Ustream
Ustream is a website which consists of a network of diverse channels providing a platform for lifecasting and live video streaming of events online. Established in March 2007, the site has over 2,000,000 registered users who generate 1,500,000+ hours of live streamed content per month with over ten...
on AT&T’s FREEdom of Choice and Mobile Music Facebook pages that evening. "Prom Queen" peaked at No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
charts.
Lil Wayne stated he collaborated with Fall Out Boy
Fall Out Boy
Fall Out Boy is an American rock band from Wilmette, Illinois, formed in 2001. The band consists of vocalist, guitarist and composer Patrick Stump, bassist and lyricist Pete Wentz, guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer Andy Hurley. The band released five studio albums from 2003–2008...
for his album, while he also lent his vocals for their Folie à Deux album. According to a Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
article about the album, so are Lenny Kravitz
Lenny Kravitz
Leonard Albert "Lenny" Kravitz is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and arranger, whose "retro" style incorporates elements of rock, soul, R&B, funk, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, folk and ballads...
and Pete Wentz. He will reportedly pay homage to the Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys are an American hip hop trio from New York City. The group consists of Mike D who plays the drums, MCA who plays the bass, and Ad-Rock who plays the guitar....
, and a song that involves him rapping over stringed instruments, described as being similar to Coldplay
Coldplay
Coldplay are a British alternative rock band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London. After they formed Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the group as a bassist and they changed their name to Starfish. Will Champion joined as a...
's "Viva la Vida" will be on the album as well. Young Money artist, Shanell, has been collaborating with Wayne on the album. She has been credited for her vocals on a track called "Most Wanted Rockstar" which may appear on the album. Eminem
Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...
has been confirmed to have an appearance on a track titled "Drop the World".
Birdman had confirmed that Tha Carter IV
Tha Carter IV
Tha Carter IV is the ninth studio album by American rapper Lil Wayne, released on August 29, 2011 through Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Records and Universal Republic Records...
will be packaged with Rebirth as a double disc album. However, Wayne denied this idea saying that "Tha Carter IV deserves Tha Carter IV". He went on to say that We Are Young Money may be packaged with Rebirth. However, in November 2009, Wayne said that the albums would be released separately. Billboard magazine received an e-mail from a customer of online retailer Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
stating that Amazon.com shipped copies of Rebirth as early as December 14. Amazon shipped about 500 pre-ordered copies and blamed a "shipping error". Young Money Entertainment
Young Money Entertainment
Young Money Entertainment is an American record label founded by rapper Lil Wayne. Young Money's president is Lil Wayne's lifelong friend Mack Maine. The label is an imprint of Cash Money Records and is distributed by Universal Republic Records...
president Mack Maine
Mack Maine
Jermaine Preyan, , known by his stage name Mack Maine, is an American rapper and singer. Mack Maine is signed to Young Money Entertainment, an imprint of Birdman's Universal Motown-distributed Cash Money Records, and is currently the president of the label...
stated that the album would have different tracks than that of the leaked version.
Recording and production
The first single, "Prom QueenProm Queen (song)
"Prom Queen" is the first official single off of Lil Wayne's rock album, Rebirth. The track is produced by DJ Infamous and Andrew "Drew" Correa. The song is written by and contains backing vocals from Shanell Woodgett. The song made its official debut on January 27, appearing on Lil Wayne's...
", was produced by the duo of DJ Infamous and Drew Correa, notable for producing the Grammy nominated track from Tha Carter III, "Mr. Carter
Mr. Carter
"Mr. Carter" is a song by American rapper Lil Wayne, released as the third promotional single from his sixth studio album, Tha Carter III. The song features fellow American rapper Jay-Z and features production from DJ Infamous, with co-production from Andrews "Drew" Correa. In the song, Wayne...
". Production is also expected to come from Cool & Dre
Cool & Dre
Cool & Dre are a team of hip hop producers from Miami, Florida, consisting of Marcello "Cool" Valenzano and Andre "Dre" Christopher Lyon.-Epidemic Records:...
and Develop. Birdman also stated that the album will feature a song entitled "I'm Not Human". It has been speculated that the album may be shelved due to less than positive feedback from fans and the media, as well as the lead single, "Prom Queen," having quickly fallen off of the charts shortly after entry. Despite the shelving rumors, Lil Wayne released the single "Hot Revolver
Hot Revolver
"Hot Revolver" is the first promotional single by Lil Wayne for his seventh studio album, Rebirth. The song features uncredited guest vocals from Dre of the production duo Cool & Dre, who themselves produce the song. The song was originally intended to be included on Rebirth: however, for...
" to iTunes on March 17, 2009. On August 18, 2009, in an interview, Wayne confirmed that the album is completed and he is continuously working on Tha Carter IV
Tha Carter IV
Tha Carter IV is the ninth studio album by American rapper Lil Wayne, released on August 29, 2011 through Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Records and Universal Republic Records...
for the time being. On the single "On Fire
On Fire (Lil Wayne song)
"On Fire" is a song performed by rapper Lil Wayne. The song is taken from Lil Wayne's seventh studio album Rebirth. It was released as the album's second single on December 3, 2009.-Background:...
" produced by Cool & Dre, Lil Wayne has been said to play the guitar; he plays bass in "Da Da Da". Most of Lil Wayne's vocals are recorded using AutoTune. He considered naming the album: "Rebirth Of Auto-Tune".
Singles
"Prom QueenProm Queen (song)
"Prom Queen" is the first official single off of Lil Wayne's rock album, Rebirth. The track is produced by DJ Infamous and Andrew "Drew" Correa. The song is written by and contains backing vocals from Shanell Woodgett. The song made its official debut on January 27, appearing on Lil Wayne's...
" (feat. Shanell
Shanell Woodgett
Shanell Woodgett, known simply as Shanell or SnL is an American pop artist and songwriter. She is signed to Young Money Entertainment, an imprint of Birdman's Universal Republic Records-distributed Cash Money Records.-Biography:...
), the lead single released from the album, was released on January 27, 2009. It peaked at No. 15 on Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
being the highest charted single from the album. The video features members of Korn
Korn
Korn is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, formed in 1993. The current band line up includes four members: Jonathan Davis, James "Munky" Shaffer, Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu, and Ray Luzier. The band was formed as an expansion of L.A.P.D.The band released their first demo album,...
. "On Fire
On Fire (Lil Wayne song)
"On Fire" is a song performed by rapper Lil Wayne. The song is taken from Lil Wayne's seventh studio album Rebirth. It was released as the album's second single on December 3, 2009.-Background:...
" replaced "Hot Revolver
Hot Revolver
"Hot Revolver" is the first promotional single by Lil Wayne for his seventh studio album, Rebirth. The song features uncredited guest vocals from Dre of the production duo Cool & Dre, who themselves produce the song. The song was originally intended to be included on Rebirth: however, for...
" as the album's official second single due to "Hot Revolver" 's absence from the album. "On Fire" was released on December 1, 2009. It peaked at No. 62 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song contains samples from Amy Holland
Amy Holland
Amy Holland is a pop rock singer. She is of Dutch descent and changed her name from Boersma to Holland , because she thought it would make a better stage name. Her mother was country star Esmereldy and her father was opera singer Harry Boersma...
's song "She's on Fire". "Drop the World
Drop the World
"Drop the World" is a single by American rapper Lil Wayne, which features American rapper Eminem. It is the third single off Lil Wayne's seventh studio album, Rebirth. The song was released on iTunes on December 28, 2009. Lil Wayne, Eminem, and Travis Barker of Blink-182 performed the song together...
" (feat. Eminem
Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...
) was released as the album's third official single on December 28, 2009. It peaked at No. 18 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was praised by critics as the album's highlight.
"Hot Revolver
Hot Revolver
"Hot Revolver" is the first promotional single by Lil Wayne for his seventh studio album, Rebirth. The song features uncredited guest vocals from Dre of the production duo Cool & Dre, who themselves produce the song. The song was originally intended to be included on Rebirth: however, for...
" was intended to be on Rebirth. The single was released on iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
on March 17, 2009. It reached No. 33 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number No. 54 on the Canadian Hot 100
Canadian Hot 100
The Canadian Hot 100 is a music singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks songs in Canada. The chart debuted in the Billboard issue dated June 16, 2007 and was made available for the first time via their online services on June 7, 2007...
. The song did not appear on the album and was replaced by "On Fire" as the album's second single. "Da Da Da" was released to the U.S. iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
store on December 1, 2009. The song failed to chart. A music video was filmed in February 2010. "American Star" (feat. Shanell) charted at No. 91 on the Billboard Hot 100 following the album's release due to strong digital downloads. "Knockout
Knockout (Lil Wayne song)
"Knockout" is a song by Lil Wayne from his album Rebirth. It features Nicki Minaj rapping near the end of the song and singing the chorus. The song charted on the US Billboard Hot 100 due to strong digital sales with the albums release...
" (feat. Nicki Minaj
Nicki Minaj
Onika Tanya Maraj , better known by her stage name Nicki Minaj; ), is a Trinidadian-born American recording artist...
) debuted on Billboard Hot 100 at No. 44 following the album's release due to strong digital sales. A song titled "Fuck Today (Rebirth Mix)" (feat. Gudda Gudda) was released on iTunes to promote the album's release on February 2, 2010. The song reached No. 76 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Commercial performance
The album debuted at number 2 on the U.S. Billboard 200Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
chart with sales of 176,000 copies, exceeding expectations. It serves as Wayne's seventh U.S. top-ten album. It also debuted at number 1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999...
and the Top Rap Albums
Top Rap Albums
Top Rap Albums is a record chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks Rap and hip-hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart began publication for the week of November 13, 2004....
. In its second week it fell to number 4 on the Billboard 200 selling 89,024 more copies making its total sales so far 265,400. On its third week it fell one spot and brought its total sales to 324,470. On its fifth and sixth week it stayed at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. It remained at number 1 on Top Rap Albums for six straight weeks. Rebirth also entered at number 24 in the United Kingdom and at number 86 in France. On March 5, 2010, it was certified gold
RIAA certification
In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards...
in sales by the Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
, following shipment in excess of 500,000 copies. As of September 5, 2011 the album has sold 775,000 in the USA.
Critical response
Upon its release, the album received generally negative reviews from most music critics. At MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a normalized
Standard score
In statistics, a standard score indicates how many standard deviations an observation or datum is above or below the mean. It is a dimensionless quantity derived by subtracting the population mean from an individual raw score and then dividing the difference by the population standard deviation...
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
Weighted mean
The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...
score of 37, based on 21 reviews, which indicates "generally unfavorable reviews". It is ranked seventh on the site's list of worst-reviewed albums. Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
critic Jeff Weiss called Rebirth "one of the worst albums of the year so far". Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
writer Jim DeRogatis
Jim DeRogatis
James "Jim" DeRogatis is an American music critic and co-host of Sound Opinions. DeRogatis has written articles for magazines such as Spin, Guitar World and Modern Drummer, and for fifteen years was the pop music critic for the Chicago Sun-Times.He joined Columbia College Chicago as a full-time...
gave it 1 out of 4 stars and described it as "a wildly misguided experiment". NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
s Sam Wolfson gave Rebirth an 4/10 rating and wrote that Wayne "doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing". Allmusic's David Jeffries gave Rebirth 2 out of 5 stars and described it as "a loud and ignorable bore". Christian Hoard of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
gave it 2½ out of 5 stars and perceived Wayne's "very questionable taste in rock" as its weakness. Joe Clay of The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
panned Wayne's singing and songwriting, calling his lyrics "devoid of humour and imagination". HipHopDX.com columnist Alex Thornton viewed Wayne's taste in rock music as poor, writing "he’s mistakenly emulated the worst of the genre instead of digging a little bit deeper into something with a real soul". The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
s Alexis Petridis gave the album 2 out of 5 stars and wrote "Given that everyone knows Carter can do so much better than this, it all smacks a bit of condescension, of locating a different audience, then talking down to them". M.T. Richards of PopMatters
PopMatters
PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...
gave it a 4/10 rating and described its music as "an endless stream of abysmally written, Auto Tune-drenched nothings".
The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
s Christopher R. Weingarten wrote that Wayne's lyrics "still walk some fascinating line between signifying unmistakable genius, curious savant, or total dick", but viewed the album as lacking substance, stating "Wayne's big problem is that he seems to like the idea of rock music more than any actual rock music itself". The New York Posts Dan Aquilante gave the album 2½ out of 5 stars and wrote "he does rap on the record, but that may not satisfy hard-core hip-hop fans who may view this as traitorous rather than musically adventurous". Despite writing favorably of its few raps, Robert Ferguson of Drowned in Sound
Drowned in Sound
DrownedinSound.com or DiS is a UK based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway . The site is an editorially independent music website.-History:...
gave Rebirth a 5/10 rating and found fault with its "overblown choruses and riffs". USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
writer Steve Jones gave it 2 out of 4 stars and wrote "Rebirth is neither well-conceived nor artfully delivered". Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
's Ryan Dombal gave it a 4.5/10 rating and called it "an unlikely, unqualified, and quite unbelievable rock album". Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...
's Jesse Cataldo gave the album 1½ out of 5 stars, calling it "a total misperception of what makes a rock record" and describing its sound as "mostly unrecognizable, a twisted amalgam of tacky set pieces collected from throughout the genre's history". Nathan Rabin
Nathan Rabin
Nathan Rabin is an American film and music critic. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Rabin was the first head writer for The A.V. Club, a position he continues to hold today....
of The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
viewed its sound and lyrics as clichéd, writing that it "plays like an over-the-top parody of a rock album".
Giving the album 1 out of 4 stars, Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
critic Greg Kot
Greg Kot
Greg Kot is an American writer and journalist. Since 1990, Kot has been the music critic at the Chicago Tribune, where he has covered popular music and reported on music-related social, political and business issues...
panned Wayne's stylistic change and described his lyrics as "crushingly banal". However, RapReviews writer John-Michael Bond gave it a 7/10 rating and found Wayne's attempt at rock music interesting, calling the album "uneven" with "moments of genius". In contrast, IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
's Brian Linden viewed the album's musical concept as flawed and Wayne's lyrics as its major flaw, writing "It's as if the rock backdrop somehow exposes every songwriting flaw and lays it bare". Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
gave it a D+ rating and compared Wayne's decision to record a rock album to basketball player Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan
Michael Jeffrey Jordan is a former American professional basketball player, active entrepreneur, and majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats...
's attempt at baseball, stating "Jordan returned to the basketball court after one ill-fated season in the farm leagues; we can only hope for the same for Wayne". The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
s Allison Stewart called Rebirth "profoundly, irretrievably awful" and "very much a thing unto itself, without a reason in the world for existing". In a generally unfavorable review, Jon Pareles
Jon Pareles
Jon Pareles is an American journalist who is the chief popular music critic in the arts section of the New York Times. He played jazz flute and piano, and graduated from Yale University with a degree in music. In the 1970s he was an associate editor of Crawdaddy!, and in the 1980s an associate...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
wrote that its lyrics "stay dutifully on topic" and found "how it reveals a rapper’s view of rock" as interesting, writing "For Lil Wayne rock is bombast and cliché in which high-school traumas are avenged, heaven and hell are frequently invoked and existential predicaments are taken seriously". Despite the generally negative criticism towards Rebirth, several music critics wrote favorably of its single "Drop the World
Drop the World
"Drop the World" is a single by American rapper Lil Wayne, which features American rapper Eminem. It is the third single off Lil Wayne's seventh studio album, Rebirth. The song was released on iTunes on December 28, 2009. Lil Wayne, Eminem, and Travis Barker of Blink-182 performed the song together...
" and Eminem
Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...
's verse on the song, viewing it as a highlight on the album.
Track listing
Personnel
Credits for Rebirth adapted from Allmusic.- Sandy Brummels – creative director
- Katina Bynum – project manager
- Dwayne "Tha President" Carter – executive producer
- Jonathan Mannion – photography
- Vlado Meller – mastering
- Scott Sandler – logo design
- Mark Santangelo – assistant
- Raheem "Rahlo" Thomas – A&R
- Bryan "Baby Birdman" Williams – executive producer
- Ronald "Slim Tha Don" Williams – executive producer
Charts
| Chart (2010) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
51 |
| Canadian Albums Chart Canadian Albums Chart The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS... |
5 |
| Dutch Albums Chart MegaCharts MegaCharts is responsible for the composition and exploitation of a broad collection of official charts in the Netherlands, of which the Mega Top 50 and the Mega Album Top 100 are the most known ones. Mega Charts also provides information to the Stichting Nederlandse Top 40, of which the Dutch Top... |
75 |
| French Albums Chart | 86 |
| Greek Albums Chart IFPI Greece International Federation of the Phonographic Industry Greece or IFPI Greece is the Greek branch of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and is the official charts provider and recording sales certification body for Greece. Currently two charts are compiled, one for sales of... |
28 |
| New Zealand Albums Chart Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... |
33 |
| Norwegian Albums Chart VG-lista VG-listen is a Norwegian record chart. It is weekly presented in the newspaper VG and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation program Topp 20. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continent around the world. The data is collected by... |
40 |
| Swiss Albums Chart | 15 |
| UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
24 |
| US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999... |
1 |
| US Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
2 |
| US Top Rap Albums Top Rap Albums Top Rap Albums is a record chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks Rap and hip-hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart began publication for the week of November 13, 2004.... |
1 |
Year-end charts
| Chart (2010) | Position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
34 |
Certifications
| Country | Certifications (sales thresholds) |
|---|---|
| United States Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States... |
Gold |
Chart procession and succession
External links
- Rebirth at DiscogsDiscogsDiscogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...
- Rebirth at MetacriticMetacriticMetacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...