Lil Wayne & 2 Chainz Make Up For Their Recent Poor Solo Albums On 'Welcome 2 Collegrove'

Lil Wayne and 2 Chainz had polar opposite starts to their respective careers. Before he could legally drive, the former was a household name, a teen prodigy sharing stages with living legends. The latter spent years toiling away under the moniker “Tity Boi” as a bit player of Ludacris’ Disturbing tha Peace Records, finally reaching brand name (accelerated by a name switch) status in his early 30s. Despite their divergent arcs, Wayne and Chainz have reached a sort of parity: elder statesmen, torchbearers of a syrupy blend of classic Hip Hop ethos and blinged-out Southern drip.

The years-in-the-making Welcome 2 Collegrove marks the second collaborative project by these longtime colleagues and close friends. The pair released Collegrove in 2016, an album overshadowed by Wayne’s label troubles and effectively a 2 Chainz solo effort with a handful of Lil Wayne features tacked on for good measure. The sequel might not see the duo vibing like Ghost and Rae on Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…, but their chemistry is evident, born out of a real kinship that authentically translates on wax.

The album is sequenced like a blockbuster film, broken up by five scenes narrated by 50 Cent. Thematically, the songs don’t quite fit each scene (“Crazy Thick” should probably be filed under “Scene 3: Ladies Man”), but these brief interludes effectively frame the overall big-budget movie they’re screening. The album sounds expensive, and the production lineup reads like a Southern rap Hall of Fame: Mannie Fresh, DJ Toomp, Juicy J, and Mike Dean. Not to be outdone, New York luminary Havoc provides two of the album’s best beats on the ODB tribute “Shame” and the aptly titled “Bars.”

The production is one area where Chainz and Wayne clearly invested in much more than their first go-round. Aside from a few clunkers (the Miami bass-inspired “Crazy Thick” and the forgettable “Crown Snatcher”), the beats sparkle. “Big Diamonds” would fit snugly on any peak Big Tymers album, while “Long Story Short” chops up Project Pat vocals into a unique, codeine meets boom-bap masterpiece. Both rappers have always flourished over soulful production and Welcome 2 Collegrove is no exception: “P.P.A.”, “Oprah & Gayle,” and “Can’t Believe You”, though wildly different in terms of subject matter, all coax out the best in the gravely toned rappers with smoother than mink coats instrumentals.

Hitting at the peak of his powers in 2007, Wayne’s scene-stealing chorus on Playaz Circle’s debut single, “Duffle Bag Boy,” helped launch the then-Tity Boi into the stratosphere. On Welcome 2 Collegrove, the roles have reversed to some extent, with 2 Chainz carrying the project through sheer charisma and energy. He consistently delivers witty one-liners torn straight from the Lil Wayne playbook: “They gon’ try to take me across the border, I’m so dope” (“Significant Other”); “Towel under door, but the pressure reakin’” (“Presha”); and “We on different planes if we is in the same boat” (“Bars”).

Wayne still holds his own, and fares much better than his recently released mixtape, Tha Fix Before Tha VI. He warbles out an earworm hook on “Long Story Short,” and spits the album’s best verse on “Oprah & Gayle,” with lines like, “Hoppin’ outta slide outs/Runnin’ through a walkthrough/Coupe on big wheels like a pony wearin’ horse shoes.”

Recorded over the past seven years, including tracks from the Collegrove sessions (“Bars”), Welcome 2 Collegrove can at times feel dated and slapdash. Opener “G6” might as well have been on the first installment, while the Usher-featuring “Transparency,” which rips lyrics from the chorus of a 2021 Chris Brown song of the same name, sounds like a lazy reach for radio play. Several tracks have forced beat switches that seem patched together and undercooked.

Still, the album largely succeeds off the natural chemistry of its co-creators and the wide range of instrumentals that touch on several regional rap styles that both rappers learned to conquer during their decades-long careers.

But the mayors of Collegrove keep it in the parking lot, displaying a flair and attitude endemic to rappers from south of the Mason–Dixon line.