In the Arena of Drake's "Forever," Lil Wayne Takes the Competition

Day 337: "Forever" feat. Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Eminem – Drake, More Than a Game Soundtrack, 2009

In terms of superstar rap posse cuts, there may be no greater pinnacle than "Forever." Combining four of the five biggest rappers of all time—the missing link being Jay-Z, who collaborated with Kanye, Wayne, and T.I. on "Swagger Like Us" for this song's most direct competition—it is, in retrospect, an incredible moment for the genre.

At the time, it was slightly less rousing—and not just because of my own personal opinion that the Boi-1da beat is perhaps the most boring piece of knockoff locker-room pump-up jam schlock to make it into the catalogue of any of these artists. It was also less impressive because it wasn't yet a posse cut among equals, despite Drake's infamous proclamation that his last name is "ever" and first name is "greatest." He's since been proven prophetic, notching more Hot 100 entries than any of his three co-stars, but at the time this was a coronation in the wake of the impressive if not exactly awe-inspiring run of "Best I Ever Had," "Every Girl," and "Bed Rock." We—the listening public and Young Money devotees alike—were proud of Drake for knowing G4 pilots on a first-name basis, justifiably impressed with him dropping a mixtape that sounded like an album and following it with a nationwide tour, and in awe of his doing it "without" a deal as compared to his contemporaries. And we were eager to see how he held his own against his forebears, the heaviest hitters in the game.

The answer, it turns out, is that this song essentially sums up each of these artists' strengths in relation to each other. What sounded like, at the time, a forced ad for Drake, LLC, ends up serving as a document of the spectrum of superstar rappers. On one hand, you've got Drake with the sing-song hook that turns it into a hit and the mildly corny, straightforwardly clever, relatably inspirational, and slightly petty bars that define his appeal. (Speaking of petty, the unintentional juxtaposition in the video of Drake's line about being bald landing right as the words "LeBron" flash on the screen for the first time is next level. Speaking of LeBron, the fact that this video is presumably underwritten by the reel of him playing online poker at the very beginning of it is hilarious and also the most 2009-ass thing imaginable.)

At the other end of the spectrum (literally, in the song's chronology), you have Eminem rattling off circuitous, syllable-packed bars about what a talented, Hannibal Lecter-type MC he is, also getting in the quippy but emotionally devastating observation, "He ain't had him a buzz like this / since the last time that he overdosed." Personally, Eminem's verse is my least favorite, but he is also my least favorite of these four rappers, so it makes sense. This song is a prism through which you will see each rapper clearly in relation to the others, a mirror that will reflect back what you want to see in your rapper of choice.

So then there's Kanye, who lands the best line, "trade my Grammy plaques just to have my granny back" and laments the dangers of Hollywood. He talks shit about the statues they'll build for him, gets in references to Benjamin Button and the Obamas, and ultimately concludes, eight years before celebrity drove him into the wilds of Wyoming: "Chasin' the stardom will turn you to a maniac… I used to want this thing forever, y'all can have it back." That's all of Kanye in a nutshell. I love it.

But I still think Wayne has the best verse because Wayne is the best rapper and, of all of these guys, Wayne is the most equipped to turn a pop-rap stadium song into something dazzling. Where Drake makes that formula a feel-good success story, Kanye makes it a bombastic clash of supernatural forces, and Eminem makes it a dizzying and disorienting exorcism, Wayne just makes it a playground. As he quips, "this is my theme park." And that, to me, is by far the most fun approach. What do you need to prove when you're the martian wearing Space Jam Jordans? What do you need to say when you have the credibility and wit to drop a line like "if I had one guess then I guess I'm just New Orleans?" Nothing at all. This is his theme park. Think about that. Think about how fun this is. And then just marvel at the slam dunk or victory lap or whatever you want to call it that is his final declaration:

Oh my God! Look at everything he gets in here: There's a metaphor about how hot he is, which turns into a metaphor about how far ahead of his competition he is, which includes a punchline about sleeping because he's so far ahead, which sets up another punchline about not waking up his foot, which leads into another metaphor about how hard he's pressing down the gas pedal, which sets up another metaphor about how he's not stopping, which ultimately leads him to conclude, once again, in case it was unclear, how much he's winning. As I mentioned, there are many ways to be the biggest thing in the stadium. But I think that one takes the competition.

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