By now, you are probably aware that on Weezer’s upcoming Raditude album (a.k.a. “the one with the dog on the cover”), frontman Rivers Cuomo has decided to shake things up, working with the All-American Rejects’ Tyson Ritter and Nick Wheeler, Butch Walker and super-producer Dr. Luke.
But the shaking didn’t stop there. Perhaps taking a cue from Girl Talk or millions of amateur mash-up auteurs out there, Cuomo has recruited none other than Lil Wayne to contribute a verse to a song on the album.
“Weezer is always trying something new,” Cuomo told MTV News. “Last year, we put out The Red Album. We loved that album, but this is 2009. It’s time to do something totally different. So I reached out to some friends of mine in different genres: Jermaine Dupri, for example, king of R&B, I wrote a song with him called ‘Can’t Stop Partying.’ It was a real challenge for me, taking his ideas, which are very slick, R&B party [ideas], and giving it some kind of edge, some darkness, making it work with rock, making it work with Weezer.
“Not only that, but we got Lil Wayne to come in and do a rap on it,” he continued. “Any other rapper would’ve just done, ‘Yay, we’re partying! Let’s drink and have fun,’ but he gave it the edge I was looking for. You can hear in his voice, it sounds so dark, like he was gonna get shot or something when he walks out of the studio. So I was real happy that everyone involved got what we were going for.”
While a Weezer/Weezy collabo does seem a bit odd, it’s keeping in theme with Raditude’s party-hearty ethos. And it’s not like Wayne is new to the rock game, either. Last year, he appeared on Fall Out Boy’s Folie à Deux, and then there’s his much-delayed “rock” album, Rebirth, which is set to be released in December.
Shouts to MTV. What are your thoughts on this collaboration ❓
