Day 22: "Ho"/"Danger" – Sqad Up Vol. 7 (10,000 Bars), 2002Let's keep talking about "10,000 Bars." It's too bad that Molly replaced ecstasy as the sobriquet of choice for MDMA (people will tell you they're different, but they are functionally the same) because I imagine there are probably even more great puns to be made with the sound of X than with molly, and rap is poorer as a result. Fortunately, Wayne, always ahead of his time, went through his MDMA phase a decade before everyone else in rap if his "10,000 Bars" lyrics are any way to judge (peak Molly rap was during Wayne's court-mandated supposed sobriety period post-prison). So we get two stunningly descriptive ecstasy lines back to back: First he quips, "this ecstasy is why my eyes are black," a reference to the way MDMA dilates your pupils. That's like the 18th thing you'd probably think to mention about the drug, let alone spontaneously in rhyme. Since he rarely raps narratives, Wayne isn't praised for his descriptiveness as much as some rappers, but there's no arguing that he doesn't come up with some truly incredible imagery (even his biggest detractors must admit he has figured out more fecal descriptors en route to saying he's the shit than any other human alive). Case in point: a few bars later in his next verse (on "Danger") he says, "I pop so much X man I feel like Wolverine / wake up in the morning lips burning can't move my spleen," combining a comic book reference, a vivid description of a hangover, and one of maybe four poetic uses of word "spleen" since Charles Baudelaire died. Baudelaire, incidentally, was a known proponent of dandyism, the original stunting. I think he'd approve of Lil Wayne.Side note: I'm curious whether Ray Charles or Stevie Wonder is the more common go-to for rappers referencing blindness for some metaphor. Both get used a lot, especially by Wayne, although I suspect he personally uses Ray Charles more. Time to start keeping track for statistical purposes? I think so. Count one for Ray here.Photo via Lil Wayne HQ.