Lil Wayne Pens Ode To Kobe, "Rebirth" Pushed To August 18th

As anyone who watched last night's Game One of the NBA Finals can attest, the Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant is a very talented basketball player. So talented, in fact, Lil Wayne took time out of his busy schedule to pen an ode to the Lakers' Number 24. The track, called "Kobe Bryant" and reportedly produced by Infamous, combines Bryant post-game interview clips, announcer accolades and Wayne spitting rhymes about the finer aspects of Kobe's game.

"He's the greatest on the court, I'm the greatest on the verse," Weezy raps. Wayne, an enormous sports fan who blogs for ESPN, also tackles the "Who's Better: LeBron James vs. Kobe Bryant" debate, firmly placing himself in the Kobe camp rather than supporting Justin Timberlake's man-crush LeBron. Listen to the song at XXL.

As for the rap-rock Rebirth, MTV reports that while work on the album has finally been completed, the LP has been pushed back once again, this time to August 18th.

"Expect great music. That's all I ever want them to expect from me," Wayne told MTV after the Movie Awards. "I wanted to grow and show my growth as well. It's a difference from when you go in a room and come out and you're better and everyone says, 'How did you do that?' So with this album, I wanted everyone to see my growing pains." Potential Rebirth tracks include first single "Prom Queen," "Hot Revolver" and the Beastie Boys-inspired "Fix My Hat." As Rock Daily previously reported, producer Dre of Cool & Dre compared Rebirth to OutKast's genre-bending Aquemini.

Related Stories:

• Lil Wayne's "Fix My Hat" Producer Talks Beastie Boys-Inspired Track
• Lil Wayne's Producers Compare "Rebirth" to OutKast's "Aquemini"
• Lil Wayne: The Story Behind the Story

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Song Stories

“Oh Sherrie”

Steve Perry | 1984

Steve Perry's girlfriend Sherrie Swafford was actually in the studio when Perry began writing this song--his lone Top Ten hit as a solo act--with two co-writers. The trio began at midnight one night with just "Oh, Sherrie!" and "hold on, hold on." Three hours later, they had a complete song. Swafford, however, had to wait until the next day to hear it. "Sherrie actually got tired and went to bed," Perry said. She also appeared in the video, but their relationship did not hold on for long.

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