A Year of Lil Wayne: Let's Get Extremely Pumped Up

Day 124: "Swag Surf" – No Ceilings, 2009

Yesterday, across the country and across the world, people of all stripes marched in the name of women's rights and in rejection of Donald Trump, a sad man who was further humiliated by the pathetic crowds for his own inauguration. I was at the march in LA, and it was incredible; there was pink everywhere, there were people of all races, genders, and generations, and the spirit of uplift was unlike any I'd ever felt at a political protest. America is fired up, and that's a good thing.

Now, Lil Wayne isn't exactly known for his sterling record on talking about women, but he is very good at getting people pumped up. And there are few Lil Wayne songs that pump you up the way hearing him rap over "Swag Surfin'" a.k.a. the superior National Anthem. Like several other of his standout No Ceilings cuts, it's just him going off an awesome beat for one nonstop, four-minute verse. Here's one particularly good passage:

He goes on to shout out T.I., who was in jail at the time (relevant given yesterday's post), and Barack Obama's pro-fatherhood message (relevant given today's president). On that same note, he brags about pulling up to the back door of the White House. He shouts out Nomar Garciaparra and Mia Hamm's marriage. He makes a Tiger Woods joke that would go on, just a month later, to have far more significance than he anticipated ("Tiger Woods / all these hoes tryna birdie these balls"). He compares himself to a Navajo and brags that Katrina couldn't wipe out Hollygrove. He ends by tying it all back together with a "swag and surf" line. It's such an excellently presented package. How could this not put you in a good mood?

P.S. Incidentally, while we're discussing getting pumped up, Lil Wayne's favorite football team, the Green Bay Packers, are playing today for the NFC Championship, so I think he'd appreciate you playing this song on all levels!

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