Lil Wanye Influenced Drake, Nicki Minaj, & Kendrick Lamar

Lil Wayne is the most underrated influence of this generation. Ok, yes Weezy hasn't been the same since his incarceration, Wayne's music has been average and currently he's not a topic in most music conversations unless you're referring to "old Wayne." However Weezy's sound and untouchable work ethic is the origin of this can't actually sing but use auto tune in order to create a harmony on the song sound. Wayne just like Kanye, Tupac, and so many others has created a style that has influenced an entire generation whether they're aware of it or not.

Remember the T-Wayne era? 

T-Wayne is similar to the modern day boy band "ships" but instead involves combining two people that should or do collaborate on music often. T-Wayne refers to the collection of hit songs that rapper T- Pain and Lil Wayne collaborated on. T- Pain branded him self as a singer that only used the auto tune effect and Lil Wayne began to use the same effect on his raps which created that harmonious Weezy sound. Since the end of that era artist like Drake emerged and once Drake began singing, there hasn't been an artist to not incorporate their own harmony inside of their music. In other words every new rapper has attempted to sing in at least one of their songs. Although the auto tune has a define influence on the generation, Wayne's unique raps, vocals, and flow has also influenced rappers like Nicki Minaj and Kendrick Lamar's delivery and overall approach on their music. 

Lil Wayne or arguably 50 Cent are also the sole reason for why mixtapes are a popular tool for established artist to remain relevant. No I'm not saying Wayne was the first to get on with mixtapes. Mixtapes were created for the Djs by upcoming artist in attempts to have their songs mixed in with the music at clubs. Hence the reason behind the name being called a mix tape. However until Wayne became the front man for Cash Money, an already established record label is when mixtapes became a tool for established artist to release songs that record labels wouldn't. Before 2004 every artist that was already signed and established only released albums. Lil Wayne decided to take over the music industry proclaiming "the best rapper alive, since the best rapper retired" and proved that statement by releasing 2 mixtapes or more a year.

At one point in time Lil Wayne was heard on almost every song that was on the radio, because he was featured on everyone's song. Lil Wayne dominated music, until 2010 when Wayne began his 8 month sentence in New York prison Rikers Island. Wayne released his 8th album I am Not A Human Being during his incarceration. In that short time frame Wayne went from the greatest to average and continued to fall below the standards he had created for himself. However the music is still there and Wayne is credited by other artist, Kendrick Lamar saying "Lil Wayne is the greatest." Still every so often Wayne releases a remix of another artist song by putting his Wayness on the song. Reminding us the essence of his style that can never be duplicated, today is one of those days with the release of "The Hype" a remix to Drake's song off of  his newest album Views. It's dope, check it out!