ALBUM
Rebirth
Lil Wayne
(2 out of 4 stars)
It’s not as easy to rock as Lil Wayne thinks it is, as his oft-delayed “rock” record “Rebirth” painfully proves.
For a rapper who can cut to the quick and shine with only the sparest of accompaniment, too much of “Rebirth” is bloated with Weezy noodling needlessly on his guitar the way many kids do when they first learn to play.
What makes “Rebirth” even more maddening than when he gets everything wrong — as he does in the faux-Evanescence “Runnin’ ” or the overindulgent “American Star” — is when Wayne gets everything right.
“Knockout” sounds like an ambitious update of Prince’s great “I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man” that kicks into a higher gear with an awesome freakout from Nicki Minaj. “On Fire” works an unlikely sample from Amy Holland’s “She’s on Fire” from the “Scarface” soundtrack into a nice groove. And “Drop the World” not only comes the closest to the kind of flash Weezy showed in the multiplatinum breakthrough of “Tha Carter III,” but it also gives Eminem his most potent platform in years.
With songs this good on “Rebirth,” why does Wayne makes us suffer through so much halfhearted, unworthy stuff? The annoying punk of “Get a Life” could have been written by countless new garage bands, while “Ground Zero” is like a clumsy Limp Bizkit reunion that no one wants.
The bright side is that now that “Rebirth” is out of the way and his jail sentence on felony gun charges is set to start next week, Weezy can hopefully soon focus once again on what he’s great at — hip-hop.
LOVE IT
SONG DOWNLOAD
Islands (Falty DL Remix)
http://tinyurl.com/ykw2zqe
FaltyDL produced one of the finest electronic music albums with the dubstep-drenched “Love is a Liability,” and London’s the xx (below) released arguably the best debut album of 2009 in “xx.” So what a delicious pairing this is — FaltyDL remixing the xx’s “Islands,” one of the signature tunes on “xx.”
SARAH ZUPKO, POPMATTERS.COM
ALBUM
The Soft Pack
The Soft Pack
Formerly known as the Muslims, San Diego’s Soft Pack traffics in the sort of jagged indie rock that sends hipsters’ hearts aflutter. Their Kemado Records debut softens their previous rock edge just a smidgen and ups the pop quotient. The band is on its way to generating major blog buzz.
SARAH ZUPKO, POPMATTERS.COM
LIKE IT
BOOK
I Am an Emotional Creature
Eve Ensler
In this series of monologues (due out Feb. 9), Eve Ensler, author of “The Vagina Monologues,” imagines the voices of teenage girls from around the world. These are sorrowful voices, and the waste is everywhere: waste of beauty, talent, grace. Sometimes their powerful exuberance rises up and you believe they have a shot at happiness.
SUSAN SALTER REYNOLDS, L.A. TIMES
LOATHE IT
ALBUM
Who I Am
Nick Jonas and the Administration
The Jonas Brothers succeed because they sound believable singing for and about young adults. Nick Jonas and The Administration’s “Who I Am” struggles because it usually sounds like young Nick making music for his grandparents. He should stick to who he is. GLENN GAMBOA, NEWSDAY
DVD AND BLU-RAY
Amelia
Available now
Mira Nair’s “Amelia,” starring two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank in the title role, is an attempt to make sure that Amelia Earhart will be remembered, particularly by young women. But “Amelia” never manages to get beyond the simple idea that Earhart flew as part of her life’s search for freedom and independence. Too often, Nair tells Earhart’s story in a rote, predictable manner.
BRUCE DANCIS, MCT
