Will Jail Actually Help Lil Wayne’s Career?

As everyone knows I had an epiphany for Lil Wayne and his music a couple months ago. Before this epiphany I resided in the avenue of hate for Wayne. Long story short, after realizing the talent and drive he has, I eventually turned the other cheek.

I came to this opinion at the time where I had only heard the entire Carter series and "No Ceilings". I then found his discography and spent two weeks listening to nothing but Lil Wayne. After doing this…I went from accepting Lil Wayne to becoming a hardcore fan of him.

Good things take time.

Good. Now we are on the same page. "Carter 3" sold one million albums in a week behind a huge single (“Lollipop” RIP Static Major) and arguably one of the greatest mixtapes of all time ("The Drought is Over Part 3"). Two years later, Lil Wayne is now in jail and he is scheduled to be released in November.

Here's the twist!

Wayne has a case pending in Arizona which could put him in jail on concurrent sentences. Basically, Lil Wayne could be gone for a really long fuckin’ time. Could all this be detrimental to his career? Maybe for 67% of Young Money…but Wayne will be alright. I will even go as far to say that Lil Wayne will come out of jail…release "Carter 4"…and sell two million albums in one week.

Wayne will be bigger when he comes out of jail than when he went in but not because of the jail time adding to his “mystique” like Tupac…or DMX (the first couple of times…now? Nah). I almost can guarantee this. No one has fans like Wayne does. Wayne has hardcore fans…and soft fans….each maniacally crazy…for Lil Wayne. The greatest thing about Lil Wayne is the fact that he has SO many songs. A friend of mine… (shout outs to Zone) has over 700 songs from Wayne and STILL does not have everything.

What am I getting at? I am saying that since we will not get any NEW music from Lil Wayne anytime soon, it is going to force all of Wayne’s soft fans to discover his old stuff for the first time. I am talking about every teeny bopper that bought "Carter 3", bumps "No Ceilings" religiously, and received “Rebirth” for Valentine’s Day. They do not know about his Squad Up Days…"The Prefix"…"The Suffix"…even "Dedication 2" and "Drought 3". All this extremely dope music…waiting to be downloaded and enjoyed by Wayne’s new fans.

What I am essentially saying is that the millions of people he captivated in 2008 that did not know who Wayne was in ’07 (Except for “Fireman”) prior are about to dive through his catalog. They are going to be forced to revert because they cannot progress with any truly new content. All the gems located beneath the piles of mixtapes are going to be listened to in a different way.

As new Lil Wayne music (to them at least).

While you, the Hip Hop savy reader Refined Hype caters too, know about all his old music there is 10 teeny boppers equipped with Limewire and Wikipedia that do not. With his old music being leagues ahead of his new stuff (barring "No Ceilings"), the level that his fans are about to reach is something of Hardcore fandom status.

I truly believe that an interest will be sparked in his old stuff. Surprising to many, but Wayne continues to win even when he is in jail. The litany of tracks…covers…remix’s…that none of Wayne’s new fans have EVER heard of…are only a few clicks away.

10 years ago this was not possible…but with this new thing called “The Internet”…it is.

You people mad yet?