As evidenced by the pounding title track, Lil’ Wayne can bring it all right. But what he brings mostly on his fourth disc is a contemporary slant to his otherwise Lawtell-rooted traditional zydeco. Many of the tracks are aimed at the hip-and- groovy set and chronicle life in the club with all its drama (“Call Me”), fashion (“Cowboy Swag”) and sexual suspense (“Getting Freaky Now”). “Back in the Day” comes from being on the bandstand as a sideman with Chris Ardoin and Keith Frank, when babes ordered him to step aside so they could flirt with the accordion boss man. For the most part, it works well with good dance tempos and track lengths, even a little swing out, but the proceedings could use a tempo change in the last two-thirds of the disc. When it’s time to charge again, Wayne does so on the blistering, take-no-prisoners live track “Whiskey River Break Down,” but “The Creole Way” is the most revealing. On it, Wayne vows to be true to the culture regardless of how far zydeco progresses. With that statement, one can’t help but wonder if Wayne will always be more comfortable being on the traditional side of zydeco rather than the contemporary.
