#25. Lil Wayne – A Milli
2 Dec
Artwork by Adam Sarpalius
As 2009, and the decade come to a close, PMA will be looking back at our favorite songs of the last ten years. We will update a list with 75 empty slots until we reach that song that changed everything. You can keep track of this list by keeping an eye on this page. We make these lists in hopes that you guys will chime in the comments and share your favorite musical moments of the noughties.
Boasting a mind-bending Bangladesh beat and an utterly indispensable minimalistic pop hook, Weezy took it upon himself to make you forget you were listening to a high-profile hip hop album and took you back to his mixtape roots, where there weren’t any Jay-Z’s and Kanye’s and T-Pain’s in the post-production credits.
Wayne goes on for three minutes and forty-two seconds about nothing at all, and could have gone for hours. There lies the genius in “A Milli”; you aren’t listening to Lil Wayne’s words but the raw energy oozing out of the track, leaving you hanging on to Wayne’s staccato-like articulation and every heartbeat pause (there are many).
Lil Wayne concludes the hyperbolic and ridiculously stupid and engrossing rap with “Don’t you compare me ’cause there ain’t anybody near me.” His claim will probably never be validated, but for these few minutes, his word is law.
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The mere fact that Lykke Li covered this song merits its placement in your top 25! Props.
A Milli in the Top 25 of the DECADE? Wow, really?
I think it’s a great song, my favorite by Lil Wayne, but I don’t think it was that good.
this is Weezy bringing us back to this mixtape glory (Da Drought 3 > Carter 3). A Milli was so polarizing and I know that it’s not on many decade-end lists, so I can totally get behind this.
The lyrics to this song are terrible ugh. But I guess you already addressed that. You can hear his passion and the beat is great but I just wish he’d have SOMETHING TO SAY like Kanye or Lupe.
i dislike that PMA has made their rss constricted so that i have to go to your page now to see the posts.
i will probably stop following you in my google reader soon as a result. and lil wayne is not news.
PTA got jokes
Come on people, you can at least respect what Lil Wayne did this this song. It first started out as a simple freestyle that was good enough to be album material. He redid it and became one of last years greatest street singles. This beat alone set a new standard in Hiphop songs. This simple yet infectious Bangladesh beat was something new that hadn’t been done in a while. We shouldn’t only look at the lyrics but also the beat. I think it was Skillz who said in his yearly rap-up “Everybody and their momma jumped on that a milli beat”. It was true, even Jay-Z did his rendition of “a milli” as “a billi”. So many artists came out and did their freestyles over this beat.
Really? In the top 25? What about all the amazing tracks on th Carter II? (Shooter??) Or 3 even. A milli = Might as well insert a collabo w/ Drake in this spot.