The song Lil Wayne always knew would be too hard for the radio
Lil Wayne is one of the most skilled lyricists in hip-hop and an extremely successful businessman who built an empire through the discovery of new talent. Despite his success in the mainstream, Lil Wayne’s beginnings in New Orleans saw him rise out of one of the most deprived areas of America in the 1990s.
With its lack of investment and unbelievably loose gun laws, states in the South like Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama remained crime-ridden and uncomfortably segregated for decades, and Lil Wayne grew up in this environment, giving him an authentic yet hostile” style of rap that can be heard on tracks such as ‘Get Em’ from Dedication 2 on which he raps Y’all motherfuckers know me, I’m a rider in the side of the south / Got the money in the mattress and the guns in the couch.”
However, there was one track that, after he made it, the ‘Lollipop’ lyricist knew was too hard for the radio. Entitled ‘Beat The Sh*t’, the song appeared on his 2013 album, I Am Not A Human Being II.
The song featuring Miami emcee Gunplay was produced by the same beatmaker who gifted Wayne with the 2005 hit single ‘Fireman’. Formerly known as Develop, the producer, DVLP, spoke with MTV News in 2013 about the song and how the lyrics, which hear Wayne rap lines such as, “Bitch ass, hoe ass, pussy ass n*gga / I beat the shit out of that pussy ass n*gga!” were definitely never going to make it onto the charts.
Recalling how Lil Wayne previewed the track to him, DVLP told MTV News, “It’s funny because when [Wayne] played it for me after it was done, he looked at me like, ‘D, this ain’t for radio.’ He let it be known right from the jump that it was a little aggressive.”
DVLP unveiled that Wayne and Gunplay got on very well and knew that the Florida lyricist had the brash style needed for a song like ‘Beat The Sh*t’. Speaking about the ‘Pyrex Poppin’ artist, DVLP detailed, “Gunplay is also one of those dudes that has that wild-out, aggressive attitude, and I think that’s why they get along, maybe personally before music. Sonically, I think Gunplay sounded pretty good on that record, actually.”
‘Beat The Sh*t’ was definitely not made for radio play, and its chorus hears Wayne end every line with the N-word bar one in an unbelievably coarse way. I Am Not A Human Being II, had three singles, which came in the form of ‘No Worries’, ‘Love Me’ and ‘Rich As Fuck’. ‘Love Me’ has become a seven-times platinum track which peaked at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100.