I Am Not a Human Being is the eighth studio album by American rapper Lil Wayne. It had a digital release on September 27, 2010, and on Compact Disc on October 12, 2010, by Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Records, and Universal Motown. It was recorded prior to Wayne's eight-month prison term for criminal possession of a weapon. Production for the album was handled by Wayne and several record producers, including Boi-1da, Cool & Dre, Streetrunner, Noah "40" Shebib and DJ Infamous, among others.
Upon its release, I Am Not a Human Being received generally favorable reviews from music critics, who drew comparisons to Wayne's earlier works. The album debuted at number two on the U.S. Billboard 200, based on its first-week digital sales alone. Following its physical release, it topped the chart, becoming Lil Wayne's second US number-one album and the first studio album since Tupac Shakur's Me Against the World in 1995 to reach the top slot on the Billboard 200 while its artist was jailed. Its lead single "Right Above It" became a top-ten hit in the United States. The album has been certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America.
Background
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On August 4, 2010, Billboard announced that Lil Wayne would release an EP called I Am Not a Human Being and would have a single from the EP called "Right Above It". The single debuted on DJ Funkmaster Flex's show, which Lil Wayne called and gave an interview. The album is a prelude to Lil Wayne's album Tha Carter IV.
"I'm putting out a [Wayne] album called I Am Not a Human Being and I'll probably drop it on his birthday, September 27...I'm not even putting it out in stores. We just gonna put it out virally and maybe package it up for Christmas. Give 'em a hard copy later for fan appreciation."
Drake, Jay Sean, Lil Twist, Nicki Minaj, Jae Millz, Tyga, Gudda Gudda, Lil Chuckee and T-Streets are all guests who are featured on the album.
Vibe magazine spoke with DJ Scoob Doo about Tha Carter IV and I Am Not a Human Being. This is what Scoob Doo had to say:
"I got videos for the Carter IV and the I’m not a Human Being EP all ready. I can’t say the name of the song but Wayne was singing on the hook, but they’re getting Drake to re-do it and it’s off the Human Being EP,†Scoob Doo says. “Carter IV is probably the best album I’ve heard in the last decade, but Wayne is such a different artist now that he wants to record new music when he comes home. The stuff he’s talking about now is just on another level. That’s why a lot of the songs on the EP were originally taken from the Carter IV.â€
Lil Wayne’s manager Cortez Bryant told SPIN that that I Am Not a Human Being would actually be a full-length album. Initially, the tracks were to be appear on Tha Carter IV, but Wayne decided to put the old tracks on the album so new music could be recorded for Tha Carter IV.
He uses no autotune on the album: according to Birdman, it's just "raw rap". The production to bonus track "YM Salute" was originally recorded by Young Jeezy and Ester Dean as potential material for Young Jeezy's forthcoming album TM 103.
Release and promotion
The last three tracks featured on the album's physical CD release, "YM Banger", "YM Salute", and "I Don't Like The Look Of It", were not initially included on the digital download version of the album: however, after the physical CD version was released, the tracks were added to the digital version of the album.
The album's lead single, "Right Above It" featuring Drake, was released to iTunes on August 17, 2010. The song debuted at number six on the US Billboard Hot 100, and at number one on the Billboard Hot Digital Songs chart.
"What's Wrong With Them" received strong download sales in the UK during the album's release and as such, the track charted on the UK R&B Chart at a peak of 27.
Critical reception
I Am Not a Human Being received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 67, based on 17 reviews. Allmusic's David Jeffries stated, "This is too short and scattered to put on his top shelf, but it comes awfully close, which is downright astonishing considering the circumstances." Luke Bainsbridge of The Observer called the album "a return to classic Weezy". Rolling Stone writer Jody Rosen commended its "unadulterated fun" and Wayne's "irrepressibly wacked-out spirit", writing that the album "has the loose-limbed feel of the rapper's many mixtapes". Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club commented that, "though Human Being feels more like a mix-tape stopgap than a proper album, it's nevertheless full of intriguing experiments and infectious tracks." Ben Detrick of Spin found its production "unfashionable", but stated "Though this is a flawed and scattershot project, Wayne remains an artist who makes music like a pâtissierâ€"his songs are frivolous, delicious, and meant to be relished for just a moment". In his Consumer Guide, Robert Christgau gave the album a three-star honorable mention (), picking out three songs from the album ("I Am Not a Human Being," "Popular," and "I'm Single"), and said of Lil Wayne, "His throwaways beat their keepers, from solitary yet, but the true classics are all in the middle and the Young Money promos are filler." Uncut gave the album four stars out of five and called it "a far superior effort [than Rebirth]." Billboard gave it a score of 77 out of 100 and said it was "not as experimental as the rapper's previous rock-tinged "Rebirth" set that arrived earlier this year, and most fans will likely appreciate this." Wilson McBee of Prefix Magazine gave the album a score of 7.5 out of ten and said that "For most of [the album], it seems like Wayne has forgotten how to write a verse. He's all about couplets now."
Los Angeles Times writer Jeff Weiss noted a "creative languor" and stated "Wayne reveals he’s mortal after all". Pitchfork Media's Ryan Dombal stated "We get Wayne spouting classic Weezy-ismsâ€"explicit sex, cartoonish gunplay, and allusions to the intricacies of the digestive system aboundâ€"over at-least-decent original beats", but noted that "there's a lingering sense that the rapper is not in top gear; his flow is often slow and static, his wordplay lively yet less energized than what we're now used to". Entertainment Weekly's Brad Wete called the album "stale" and wrote that "none of the new songs on this set hold a candle to [No Ceilings], much less... Tha Carter III". Andy Gill of The Independent gave the album three stars out of five and called it "a perfunctory affair". The Boston Globe's Julian Benbow wrote that "the sharper moments [...] are drowned out by the redundant ones". Jon Caramanica of The New York Times called it "an uncentered collection of odds and ends", writing that "Too often Lil Wayne lapses into predictable flow structures, quick ideas paired with built-in rejoinders: 'They say money talks/ but it’s my spokesperson,' and so on". Slant Magazine's Jesse Cataldo perceived "half-assed rhyme work" from Wayne and called it "kind of a crummy album, rife with laziness and repetition ... It may have a decidedly lazy presentation, but I Am Not a Human Being inevitably succeeds at what it sets out to do: remind us of Wayne's artistic validity and whetting our appetite for more". David Pott-Negrine of Drowned in Sound gave it a score of six out of ten and said that "It may not be a great or even particularly good album, but it does at least tide us over until Weezy become[s] a free man, and the much talked about Tha Carter IV finally sees the light of day." Sean L. Maloney of American Songwriter gave the album two-and-a-half stars out of five and said of Lil Wayne, "he's just killing time with sub-par versions of his far more popular songs â€" this is a completely superfluous release that lacks the relevance and immediacy of his mixtape works and the quality-control of his albums."
Commercial performance
The album debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first-week digital sales of 110,000 downloads. In its second week, it dropped to number 16 on the chart and sold 23,000 digital copies. Following its CD release on October 12, the album sold 125,000 copies and moved up to number one on the Billboard 200 in its third week. It became Lil Wayne's second number-one album and seventh top-ten album in the US. In November 2010, the album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). As of September 4, 2011, the album has sold 953,000 in the US.
Track listing
The track listing was confirmed by iTunes and Rap-Up.
 • (co.) Co-producer
 • (add.) Additional production
Personnel
Credits for I Am Not a Human Being adapted from Allmusic.
Charts
Certifications
Release history
References
External links
- I Am Not a Human Being at Discogs
- I Am Not a Human Being at Metacritic