After a 40-minute wait, the huge screen above the stage showed Lil Wayne preparing to perform.  The crowd in the Honda Center shrieked.  When he appeared on stage, bass shook the whole venue, making Lil Wayne almost inaudible, but the audience knew every single word anyway.  As explosions spontaneously blasted, everyone was out of their seats, entranced by the tattooed, dreadlocked rapper with the bejeweled teeth.  He nonchalantly walked around the stage, wielding the power of knowing that he is on top of the world, in his prime.  In the first break of songs he laid down the rules, “I believe in God, do you believe in God?”  To which, the crowd responded unanimously, “Wooo!!!!”  Rule number two, “I ain’t shit without you!”  The audience approved.  Number three, “I ain’t shit without you!!!”  The place went nuts.  In a song catalog nearing one thousand, Lil Wayne turned the concert into a veritable medley, doing about two to three minutes of a song before moving onto the next.  Every new song was met with squeals of approval.  During another song break, L.W. acknowledged the world’s best rappers: B.I.G., Tupac, Jay Z, and…himself.  At this point, the words “#1 Rapper Alive” flashed across the screen.  At THIS point, Weezy picked up a guitar and proceeded to do a guitar solo.  He cannot play guitar, but he wants to give the impression that he can do anything.  His rock album Rebirth is due in November, and he played the rock single “Prom Queen,” which seemed right at home among the rest of the songs.  Mid-show, Lil Wayne brought out the newest editions to his Young Money label, which is an imprint of Cash Money Records, which is a subsidiary of Universal, which simply has a lot of money.   All the young rappers seemed eager to please (Lil Chuckie was like a mini-Lil Wayne crossed with Chucky from Child’s Play. He ran around the stage like the Tasmanian Devil…it was frightening).  An hour and a half into the set, Lil Wayne still had hits to play—“Lollipop,” and the contagious, “Mrs. Officer.”  Contrary to what naysayers nay-say, he barely used the vocoder tonight.

—Devon Williams