Eighteen-year-old Lil' Wayne, one of B.G.'s fellow Hot Boys (along with Juvenile and Young Turk), has followed up his blinging '99 debut, Tha Block Is Hot, with Lights Out. Mannie Fresh is at the board once again, and the beats here are staccato and jittery, suited to Wayne's precariously controlled persona. The rapper spits propulsive, high-speed rhymes in "Fuck Wit Me Now" and struggles with the demands of adult life ("Oh, man/It's complicated doing everything on your own, man") on "Grown Man." Unlike other companies that made their mark earlier, Cash Money has not stylistically redefined hip-hop, but with talent and releases this commanding, the label shows no sign of fading.

“All Along the Watchtower”

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."