Lil Wayne - Dedication 4 (Official Mixtape Review)

Lil Wayne’s Dedication 4 was a different type of mixtape. Some expected the Weezy that has been around for the last two years (Commercial lyricist), and then some expected the old Weezy to come back. The mixtape was actually a synergy of the two. Mixtape Weezy meets commercial Weezy. Wayne's real fans obviously love the mixtape, and the skeptic hip-hop listeners have a new mixtape to dissect, and decide if it was hot or not. In my opinion, this is what a mixtape should be. Something that your fans would love, and your skeptics would need time to hate on.


Lil Wayne and Young Money's marketing team has always been on point. That is why they are where they are at now. Marketing was very important in the release of D4. It was trending on Twitter for weeks, and got a few push backs to get people talking. This definitely worked. The overall success of the mixtape was probably the best out of any mixtape that came out this year. Though this has nothing to do with how good or bad the tape was, it really is incredible how Lil Wayne always manages to get people talking.

Dedication 4 is different than the previous Dedication projects, and the tape was more like his No Ceilings mixtape that had the world jumpin' a few years ago. D4 had some real solid features this time around including J.Cole, Nicki Minaj, & Young Jeezy. J.Cole gave Lil Wayne one of his best basic verses over a G-Dep beat, and Nicki Minaj really blessed Wayne with her verse on "Mercy." Also, Lil Wayne decided to remix a track from a thirteen year old artist named Lil Mouse. He's not that good, but he is thirteen, and people thought this was a cool thing for Wayne to do.

The tracks on the tape were nearly all over popular commercial beats, like Future's "Same Damn Time," "Mercy," "Amen," "I Don't Like," and a remix to "My Homies Still." This is what Wayne has been doing as of late on his mixtapes. Now Dedication 2 arguably set Lil Wayne's career off, but it featured a different type of beat selection.  Lil Wayne is at the point in his career where he can rap over just about anything. This is what makes this mixtape more like his No Ceilings project. He chose all commercial beats, and got away with it.

Lil Wayne's Dedication 4 offered his fans what they wanted. Weezy's punchlines over popular tracks. A real hip-hop fan may not be a complete fan of the tape, yet some tracks were definitely hot. In the end, Lil Wayne is a hip-hop heavyweight whether we like it or not. His subject matter may not be what everyone likes, but he shows off his talents, and really showed off his ability to get people talking. That is what a mixtape should be. The overall quality and bump-ability may not be what it was with his Dedication 2, but it has some bangers. Weezy has made his fans happy, got people talking, and that is all that matters.

Overall Grade: 7.6/10

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Artist Label: Lil wayne