By Diana Silva/reporter

Lil Wayne’s new album Rebirth hit the stores Feb. 2, and this rock music debut shows a new persona.

Lil Wayne is said to be one of the best rappers alive, but he decided to take a different approach this time showing himself as a “rock star.”

According to Rolling Stone, it took Wayne two years to finish the album. Originally scheduled for release in summer 2009, it was not finished, so producers pushed it to February. Although he does have some hip-hop songs, 80 percent of the album is rock.

The album contains 14 songs including his first single, “Prom Queen,” released last year. The narrator describes how he likes the typical, popular girl in school but is rejected.

“I loved her fancy underwear, I sit behind her every year waiting for the chance to get to tell her I’m the one she should be with. She’s popular with all the guys so innocent in my eye,” he sings.

This song has that heavy drumbeat and Lil Wayne being the lead playing the electric guitar.

Proud to be an American, Wayne sings “American Star” with a heavy metal beat, describing his life. 

“Born and raised in the U.S.A., by way of New Orleans where the killas stay, but that’s OK yeah, that’s alright, yeah,” he sings.

“On Fire” is also one of his high metal songs with that ’80s pop-flourish beat talking about how hot a girl is. “Drop the World,” featuring Eminem, is the most recommended track from the album. It has that rock beat, but it’s all rapping since he doesn’t always repeat the same chorus as in the other songs.

Most of the songs on this CD have too much auto-tuned vocals, more than what he had on his rap songs in old albums. Maybe he overestimated his skills on doing rock.

This album has disappointed many of his fans who think he could have done better.

Lil Wayne tried something different that could get him more fans. However, Wayne’s old fans could dislike him because of that difference.