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

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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