Lil Wayne Like Father Like Son Full Album Zip
Leana Eckes
The album debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 176,000 copies in its first week. In its second week, the album dropped to number seven on the chart, selling an additional 72,000 copies. The album was later certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in December 2006, for sales of over 500,000 copies in the United States.
David Jeffries of AllMusic noted the rise of Lil Wayne and Cash Money Records, adding that the project was "a testament to the allegiance the two feel toward each other." He concluded, "There's probably too much get money/stack-paper for those who want Wayne to speak on the injustices New Orleans has suffered post-Katrina, or to get to work on Tha Carter 3, but that's not what Like Father, Like Son is about. This is the sure sound of Cash Money steadying the ship and getting back on course."[1] AllHipHop contributor Sidik Fofana remarked in his mixed review, "We already comprehend the album's concept of family, but the skits beat us over the head with too many reminders. Also, there are couple of songs that lag..."[2]
HipHopDX called it "a solid, creative album,"[3] while XXL gave likewise praise, penning, "With solid production throughout, Wayne's ever-evolving sentence structure and Baby's uncanny swagger, Like Father, Like Son falters only in the diversity department." The latter publication continued, "Over the course of the project's 20 tracks, continued references to their dope-dealing pasts ("1st Key" and "Over Here Hustlin'") begin to dilute what otherwise is a solid project that ushers in a new Cash Money dynasty."[4] PopMatters' Lana Cooper was mixed in her assessment, opining, "Lil Wayne still takes center stage, which is a testament to Birdman's business savvy. Known more for his business acumen, flashy style, clothing and sneaker endorsements than his music, Birdman's spots and rhymes on the album are nowhere near as good as those of his protg." Cooper added that while the best traps provided replay value, the worst have weighed the record down. She found, "In addition to kicking out every hip-hop lyrical clich, the beats become repetitive, swinging back and forth like a blinged-out pendulum that tarnishes after its first wear."[5]
COMPLEX participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means COMPLEX gets paid commissions on purchases made through our links to retailer sites. Our editorial content is not influenced by any commissions we receive.
Lil Wayne's long, tall career arc has numerous peaks, but two stand out as celebrated moments of real innovation, where his narrative style took rapid strides. With the release of Tha Carter, Wayne's style had evolved dramatically, his words slowing and becoming more rhythmically centered. This new deliberate cadence drew attention to how clever he was, and in the process, turned all eyes towards him. A few years later, his approach shifted again, his delivery becoming more eccentric. The experimental era of Da Drought 3 found Wayne pushing up against the boundaries of songcraft, and the freedom he achieved inspired generations of new stars to let loose from rap's traditional vocal constraints.
But then, rather than following up Tha Carter II with something to validate his claims to the throne, came this duo-driven side project with his label boss Bryan Williams (a.k.a. Birdman). Birdman called himself a "game spitter," rather than a rapper, in case anyone was concerned he had pretensions about his own art. And together, Wayne and Birdman crafted Like Father, Like Son, which was an escape from any assertion of high-mindedness.
Yet in its modest aims, the album aged better than its predecessor. Though Tha Carter II was widely acclaimed upon release, few of its records survived the era. Carter II's lead single "Fireman" was a diminished redux of 2004's "Go DJ." Meanwhile, the pop-R&B Robin Thicke collaboration "Shooter," a swaggering experiment in pushing Wayne into unfamiliar territory, failed to sell Wayne on his own terms. By the time he released the R&B smash "Lollipop" three years later, it felt like a much more natural extension of Wayne's gradual build toward the pop charts. "And just think, I'm one sell-out record from being famous," Wayne raps on Like Father, Like Son's pseudo-slow jam "Don't Die."
Today, "he's not family" is Wayne's response when asked about his relationship with Birdman. Yet even at the time, Wayne was making it clear he intended to have leverage in negotiations with his mentor and his label, Universal. Both Juvenile and B.G. had left Cash Money, and the label soon found itself in court as the artists struggled to attain autonomy. In 2005, with his profile snowballing, Wayne appeared on stage in New York and announced he would be joining forces with Jay Z's label Roc-A-Fella. By the release of Like Father, Like Son, it seemed negotiations had ended. "I was just shopping my Young Money Entertainment label," he would tell Billboard the next year. "Everybody knows that I love Roc-A-Fella, so I hollered at Jay and he tried to help me work it out. But I'd already made a good relationship with Universal."
The other piece of that strategy came as Lil Wayne replicated 50 Cent's flood-the-market approach. When Like Father, Like Son was released, "Stuntin Like My Daddy" joined Lloyd's "You" and Fat Joe's "Make It Rain" on the pop charts. It was just the beginning, as Wayne spent 2006 and 2007 making moves to become an omnipresent, saturated force on radio and the mixtape circuit, remixing popular rap records when he wasn't releasing them himself. "Every time I turn around, I have a new song on my desk," a Universal employee told Billboard in 2006. "If we cleared all the songs, it'd be Lil Wayne radio."
All I gotta say is how the hell is it possible for me to hate rap...i dont like Eminem at all, I hate 2pac, dont really care for biggie and dont listen to any of it. But i freakin LOVE this album. My friend was listening to it and i dont know i was like damn, these guys are hardcore. I dont know i guess its the whole Lil Wayne getting shot at age 9 and sold drugs at age 12 and shot about 2-3 people (notice the teardrops on him and birdman) and the fact that him and his adopted father were millionaires before the rap thing took off....these guys are real gangsters who happen to rap...i dont know.
There's a picture floating around the internet of Wayne kissing Birdman on the lips at some ceremony. It isn't a photoshop job either. I saw Wayne commenting on BET about how he'd beat the hell outta anyone that has wants to say something about it to him. Personally, I don't mind Wayne, but he's a bit cocky these days. He's going at Jay-Z now, which could be the kiss of death for him.
Few empires have been able to build a legacy as iron-clad as Cash Money Records. A modest independent operation in its earliest incarnation, the label, spearheaded by Bryan "Baby" Williams and his brother Ronald "Slim" Williams, made major waves with a $30 million distribution deal with Universal Records in 1998. Solo albums, such as Juvenile's 400 Degreez, B.G.'s Chopper City in the Ghetto and Lil Wayne's Tha Block Is Hot, as well the Guerrilla Warfare release from Cash Money's super group, the Hot Boys, would follow, establishing the label as one of the leading brands in rap. But after multiple Cash Money artists, including Juvenile, B.G., Mannie Fresh and Turk, decided to defect from the label, only two artists from the original Cash Money days were left: Baby and Lil Wayne.
Signed to the label as as a youngster, Wayne would prove to be the ultimate Cash Money soldier, waving the flag for the label on albums like 500 Degreez and Tha Carter while slowly becoming one of rap's more impressive MCs. Coinciding with the solo career transition from Baby, now rechristened as Birdman, Weezy's ascension would reach a crescendo with the release of his Tha Carter 2 album in 2005, marking him as a star in waiting and injecting new life into Cash Money Records.
As the label's two biggest rap artists at the time, and with their longstanding familial relationship, Birdman and Lil Wayne teamed up for a collaborative album, Like Father, Like Son, in 2006. Debuting at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, with 176,000 copies sold in its first week of release, Like Father, Like Son would capitalize on the pair's momentum, eventually going gold. The project has since been deemed a cult classic among Cash Money enthusiasts.
"Birdman put me on when I was just 11/He was my teacher, so I was like fuck the lesson/He was my preacher, so I was like fuck the reverend/My mother Cita, she said that I was with the devil/My mother Cita, now say that he was sent from heaven/So, I take heed to every single word that he tell me"
"Little Wizzle but you bitches call me first place/And papa taught me paper chase never skirt chase/I put you niggas in the closet in the shirt space/You niggas yellow like Sesame Street, Bert's face/Worst case scenario, burial/Two tone Carara like Mascara, uh/The G4 take your boy where ever/Like father, like son the era, nigga"
"Money, money, money is my intuition/Money over bitches such an easy decision/Young Money money men monster militia/Hardbody these niggas boxes of tissue/That nina will kiss ya that chopper will twist ya/Them .380 snapshots now smile for the pictures"
"The pots hot as the rock expands/It's the paper chasin'Man on the clock like hands/Grindin
like teeth, get money like Heathcliff/Huxstable keep it comin like Keith/Gotta make last forever for worse or for better/Gotta make it past the devil, so guns I got several/And everybody plays the fool says Aaron Neville/But I just play to win holler back like heavy metal"
"Young new investment ain't no turning me back/Had the rubber band stacks in the button king sack/And I ain't never going back sike I love the life/Standing under the street light trying to get off that white/At a reasonable price, nah, I ain't trying to bargain wit ya/Niggas hating well I guess they gonna be starving wit you/I got two jobs I sell and cop shit/Like father, like son, well, I was adopted"
7fc3f7cf58