Yung Bleu Explains How Lil Wayne Impacted His Songwriting

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Bleu discusses how Lil Wayne's lyricism impacted his early songs and influenced his songwriting.

The rap game wouldn't be what it is today if it wasn't for Lil Wayne. Even some of R&B's current favorites took a note from Weezy F. Baby early on, including Bleu. The Mobile, AL artist joined us for the latest episode of On The Come Up where he detailed everything from his early childhood favorites, his relationship with Boosie, and the inspiration Lil Wayne gave him during his early years of making music.

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"Lil Wayne is definitely one of my favorite rappers," Blue told HNHH. "I feel like he just used to go so hard with the punchlines. Everybody just wanted to say and do them punchlines and see how creative they can get with punchlines. So that was kind of the wave I was on back in the days. Like, I was way more lyrical than I am now."

Bleu might've put an emphasis on clever punchlines at one point in time but he explained that these days, he's more interested in telling the truth in his music, whether it rhymes or not. Proving his lyricism is largely based on striking emotion, rather than witty wordplay.

"Yeah, I write songs now more for the feeling than the bars. I feel like, sometimes, bars will constrict you from getting across the truth, you know what I'm saying? ‘Cause, some shit might not rhyme, but the shit that you tryna say that's really real. So that's kind of where I just started rapping more about a real-life situation. I kinda get away from the bars and just kind of replacing that with hitting a mothafucka soul. I feel like that has the same effect."

Make sure you check out Bleu's full unabridged On The Come Up interview here


About The Author
Aron A. is a features editor for HotNewHipHop. Beginning his tenure at HotNewHipHop in July 2017, he has comprehensively documented the biggest stories in the culture over the past few years. Throughout his time, Aron’s helped introduce a number of buzzing up-and-coming artists to our audience, identifying regional trends and highlighting hip-hop from across the globe. As a Canadian-based music journalist, he has also made a concerted effort to put spotlights on artists hailing from North of the border as part of Rise & Grind, the weekly interview series that he created and launched in 2021. Aron also broke a number of stories through his extensive interviews with beloved figures in the culture. These include industry vets (Quality Control co-founder Kevin "Coach K" Lee, Wayno Clark), definitive producers (DJ Paul, Hit-Boy, Zaytoven), cultural disruptors (Soulja Boy), lyrical heavyweights (Pusha T, Styles P, Danny Brown), cultural pioneers (Dapper Dan, Big Daddy Kane), and the next generation of stars (Lil Durk, Latto, Fivio Foreign, Denzel Curry). Aron also penned cover stories with the likes of Rick Ross, Central Cee, Moneybagg Yo, Vince Staples, and Bobby Shmurda.
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