Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Wayne and Trane

The mainstream stardom of Lil Wayne with his croaking voice and minimal appreciation for artists other than himself is a feature of contemporary popular music that I struggle to understand. That being said, I don’t want to give the impression that I am anti-rap, nor do I want to conceal the fact that I have a couple Lil Wayne songs on my running playlist. Many jazz and classical fans tend to fall into such purist traps and I’m trying my best to avoid doing so, but the fact that Lil Wayne is even considered by some to be on the same hip-hop level as performers like Jay-z, Drake and Kanye West baffles me. I strongly believe that, in musicality at least, Lil Wayne lags far behind his contemporaries in both technique and lyrical clarity as a rapper. I suppose his unique timbre—his stoned delivery, in other words—must be the most important feature of his raps that makes them catchy to fans.

                However, my point here is not to argue my views on the best rapper or pop performer. Rather, I want to bring attention to a few amusing similarities between the superstar I can’t take seriously and a man many jazz fans practically worship (and for good reason): the legendary tenner saxophone player John Coltrane.

                In terms of pure musical devices, both men are improvisers and more specifically they both have a somewhat abrasive tone.

Lil Wayne makes percussive use of various rasps and wheezes in his rapping and “singing.” Listen to the timbre of his voice on the chorus of his famous song “Drop the World”:

               

                Now listen to the variety of not necessarily pleasant sounds John Coltrane makes with his saxophone while devouring and regurgitating the harmonic on this 1965 performance:


                Neither of these examples is very melodic in the traditional sense.

                Historically speaking, these two musicians have some commonalities as well. For one, they both had to kick drug habits: Coltrane struggled with heroine until he found spirituality and Lil Wayne says he gave up cough syrup.


                Both artists also released ballads in the midst of some of their more tumultuous work. Lil Wayne recorded the infamous “How to Love” on Tha Carter IV. Learn to live with and love the Auto-Tune.


                Back in 1963, Coltrane recorded an entire album of ballads with Johnny Hartman that has been highly regarded by jazz critics. It is a surprising melodic contrast to the highly exploratory work he recorded shortly after in the last few years of his career.


                I’ll stop there before I start doing actual damage. Just saying music history might be trying to tell us something hilarious, though.