Hip hop's long, proud tradition of using candy as a metaphor for genitals got another entry this week with "Lolly" by Maejor Ali, which was directed by Matt Alonzo features a rap verse by Justin Bieber. For some reason rappers love telling women to lick phallic candy with a sly wink as if to say "I'm saying lollipop, but what you should hear is penis, as in lick my penis".
So today we're watching one of the most well-known entries into this rap niche, 2008's "Lollipop" by Lil Wayne, directed by Gil Green.
2008 was definitely Lil Wayne's year. He had a massive selling album that had significantly widened his fan base, and he was everywhere, including being interviewed by Katy Couric for a Grammy special. Remember him calling her "Miss Katie" and telling her that he's a gangster? That was all around the time of Tha Carter III, and the biggest single off that album was "Lollipop".
The video is set in Las Vegas where Lil Wayne and Static Major are ready to go out for a night on the town. They get into a limo full of ladies, and then perform in front a fancy pool. Lil Wayne is dressed up in a loose fitting suit with one glove. Las Vegas is all lit up at night, and everyone is having fun gambling and partying.
If you're familiar with the actual song "Lollipop", you might notice that the version in the video has an addition: Lil Wayne freestyling on electric guitar, quietly in the background. The video even features him playing an electric guitar on top of the limo as it drives down the Las Vegas strip. At this point in his career, Lil Wayne was extremely interested in electic guitar, leading eventually to his 2009 guitar-heavy album Rebirth. But at this point, Lil Wayne decided he was going to just take songs and make guitar noise over them. The musical addition is painful, but the image of Lil Wayne wailing on a guitar going through Las Vegas is definitely one of the most interesting of the video.
The bright lights of Las Vegas serve as an appropriate background, but this video is really about Lil Wayne. He's at the top of his career here, and it shows in his extreme levels of cockiness and willingness to mug for the camera. There's actually very little of the ladies in this video although they were definitely around - a wise choice by Green. 2008 Lil Wayne is all this video needs to keep it together.
I don't think we'll ever see Lil Wayne like this again, so enjoy it! Also, do you want to lick my lollipop penis? Ah shit I was supposed to say lollipop but not penis. I'm terrible at this!
