Book Review: Gone ’Til November — Lil’ Wayne

If you really want to know about the monotony of prison straight from the horse’s mouth (the horse being Lil’ Wayne), this is the book for you.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t have the highest of hopes for this book. I can appreciate a Lil’ Wayne jam, but I am far from a super-fan.
That said, the book has some redeeming qualities. I’ll get into those before we dip over to the critiques.

There are parts of this book where Lil’ Wayne demonstrates the humble, kind, and wise sides of himself. He mentions multiple times how he wouldn’t wish prison on anyone, and how anyone who thinks it’s cool is out of their mind. He talks about his love for his family, and shows respect for his baby mamas, taking the time to wish them a happy Mother’s Day. Some very genuine and human things I might not have expected from a super-celebrity with 9 platinum albums.

Lil’ Wayne talks sincerely about how much it meant to him that fans were writing to him, and he even called and wrote fans from prison. He mentioned how he was thankful that he had so many people in his corner, especially as he saw that some of the people he was on the inside with had nobody. It’s easy to forget sometimes that these mega celebrities are human, just like you and I. These parts of the book were so very human, and they were refreshing, to say the least. I wanted so much more of that.

If you are a Lil’ Wayne super-fan, and you want to read every single word he has ever thought or written in his life: go out and buy this book right now. And probably stop reading now because the rest of this post is not for you.

For the rest of us, here’s the low-down on Gone ’Til November, straight from the horse’s mouth (the horse being me).

The book was an actual printed copy of Lil’ Wayne’s journal that he kept while in prison. It is 176 pages (minus multiple half pages and blank pages), of actual handwritten content that contain his musings over the 8 months that he spent on Rikers Island. For what? I couldn’t tell you, because it actually is never once mentioned in the book.
Just kidding, I have Google. It was a firearm charge.

That was pretty much the number one main issue I had with this book: that it doesn’t seem to have really been written to be read. It was written as a personal journal.

Now, I can actually understand the value of an honest-to-goodness handwritten journal. Like a real-time glimpse at what was happening in his head while Lil’ Wayne was on the inside, and what that was like for him. I would have loved to see exactly this, but with some extra work put in. It’s almost like publishing this was an afterthought or a cash grab. If it had been the original goal, there could have been so much more context given, so much more detail, and maybe less repetitive content — or at least the repetitive content could have had artistic purpose. Give us context, give us detail. Edit it. For the love of all that is holy, please edit it, because I do not care who is shitting in the cell next door. Which is mentioned. Several. Times.

The journal details the monotony of prison life, in… not so great detail. Lil’ Wayne talks about commissary, how he goes out for yard and does certain things each day, like listening to ESPN, push-ups, praying, writing lyrics, writing in the journal, talking on the phone, and watching shows and movies (or decidedly not watching shows and movies, if he thought whatever was playing sucked).

The fact is if you want to describe how boring prison is… do that. Paint me a picture. By the end of it, I was so confused because it seemed that commissary was this random occurrence that happened whenever the Gods that be deigned to allow it (is that how it is?? I’ve really no idea). I didn’t understand when yard was, or how they were always cooking their own meals instead of going to chow. The book contains a lot of “what” and very little “why”. So by the end, I actually gained nothing.

Now, throughout the book we get some little snippets of juicy details, like the day Lil’ Wayne found out his girl had slept with Drake… before they were ever together.

I Googled the hell out of this because there is so little detail about the situation written in the book and this little trash panda is nothing if not nosy and curious. I needed some details. Every other source I read mentions it like it was this huge personal truth bomb that Lil’ Wayne exposed in this memoir, like oh wow, he was so brave and vulnerable to have shared it. In reality? It was some petty, possessive he-man bullshit — It’s like he expected his girl to have never been with anybody else and he was crushed for days over the fact that she had been with Drake before him. I mean genuinely upset. Maybe I don’t understand the dynamics here but all I got out of it was a huge, exaggerated eyeroll.

And that’s kind of the theme with any nugget of truth or vulnerability we get in this book. It’s just a taste, and then he reverts back to repetitive, boring lists about what he did that day. I considered that it may be an issue of privacy. And I respect the hell out of that if that is the reason. But if that is indeed the reason, then why publish your personal diary for the world to read?

All in all, I have to disagree with Goodread’s description that this is a “deeply personal and revealing account”. From a rapper who has been described as a genius, and who I think has a lot more layers than some people may be led to believe, I was deeply disappointed.

I give this book 2/5 brain cells, and finished it with fewer than 5 brain cells remaining.

If you’ve read this book, what did you think? And what should I review next?