by R. Asmerom
Lil Wayne is everywhere. By many counts, he’s the hottest rapper in the game and it’s clear he’s not reserving any of that talent exclusively for himself and his Cash Money crew. The best-selling artist spreads his lyrics far and wide, to the point that you’d be hard pressed to find an R&B crooner or rapper who hasn’t worked with him in the past two years. His ubiquity is unquestionable but his commercial strategy does beg the question: is he spreading himself too thin?
We can assume that Young Jeezy, Kelly Rowland and J.Lo paid big bucks to have Weezy do a guest verse on their new singles but how much will Lil Wayne’s appearances on those tracks really boost the popularity of those singles, considering getting Weezy doesn’t appear to be a hard feat.
“By definition, Lil Wayne is overexposed,” said Mic Sean, lawyer and CEO of artist management firm Soul Rebel NYC. “But in hip-hop and the music industry in general, you’re perceived based on your most recent successes. For Lil Wayne, having recently been released from Rikers Island, it was necessary for him to re-establish himself as the hitmaker that he is.”
He certainly has established himself as the hardest working rapper in the business but definitely not the most selective. His counterparts, like Jay-Z for example, appear less frequently on tracks, which may very well help feed their demand.
