I’m not the first person to draw a comparison between the revered elder statesman of American music and the young, chart-topping rapper. And I admit that they have their differences: Lil Wayne bleeds New Orleans pride, while Bob Dylan eschews any ties to his past. One is about as old as rock stars get, pushing the envelope at age 67, while the other is a mere 26. But when you consider that both reached the peak of unbridled celebrity somewhere around age 22, the similarities start to pile up:

1. Versatility. Dylan is a constant shape-shifter, a quality that served him well in accruing a diverse fan base as well as allowing him to dodge any restrictive label. He started out as a folk troubadour before transforming into a protest singer, a rebel dressed in black and a born-again Christian. Weezy, too, leads many lives — a rapper, a dreadlocked child of the Delta and most recently, a guitar-playing rock star.

2. Astonishing rate of production. Both men are record-making machines, turning out not just sheer volume but quality, award-winning tunes. Wayne is in the studio every day recording, constantly releasing demos and leaking tantalizing tracks online. He releases half his stuff for free and he’s still making more money than practically anybody else in the business. Dylan has been prolific throughout his career; his 46th album, believe it or not, drops April 28. Did I mention that he’s 67 years old?

3. That voice! Dylan’s scratchy howl comes from some primordial plane, bearing the burdens of centuries he never lived; Weezy’s growl is, well, wheezy, bearing witness to sinister reality, with the influence of the Deep South and a vocoder. Both have a distinctive, unearthly whine. Both gravelly voices can be scathing and sweet, depending on the song and both defy traditional definitions of what constitutes a “good” singer.

4. That name. Sure, they’re both household names and cultural icons, but the name change each chose is significant. Robert Zimmerman became Bob Dylan when he grew up and left the Midwest; Dwayne Carter became Lil Wayne, dropping the ‘D’ from Dwayne to avoid any connection with his absent father. Both have lengthy lists of well-known aliases.

5. A Head for the Biz. Both artists know at least one trick to making it to the top — never saying no. It seems like everybody and their cat has collaborated with Lil Wayne, from Mariah Carey to Kid Rock. He guest-starred on 110 tracks in 2008 alone. That’s approximately one new track every three days, while producing the year’s best-selling album and picking up eight Grammy nominations. Dylan has a hand in nearly every cultural outlet, from Cadillac commercials on TV and YouTube videos with Will.i.am, to magazines and XM radio waves.

6. Smarts. Dylan’s knowledge of music history is impressive, evident on his XM radio show where he spins everything from LL Cool J to Wilco to Howlin’ Wolf. Wayne does the same with sports, writing a column for ESPN and keeping tabs on all teams and conferences. But Dylan is perhaps best known for waxing poetic to make verses into a history lesson, a cultural examination or a news report. Lil Wayne took a page from Dylan’s book when he told Katie Couric recently that he thinks “music is another form of news … another form of journalism.” Where Dylan name-drops French poets, Old Testament prophets and modern celebrities like Alicia Keys, Wayne similarly mentions Beetlejuice, Stevie Wonder and the Atlanta Hawks in the same song. Which brings me to my next point…

7. They have wordplay down to an art form. In many of Wayne’s verses, nothing makes sense or even rhymes until the last line, when suddenly everything clicks into total clarity. Considering he allegedly writes nothing down and just records freestyles, he must be a mastermind at thinking ahead to his final point while rapping about something else entirely. For most of us, that would take at least two brains. Dylan does the same thing — just look at “Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream,” where he chronicles: “I decided to flip a coin, either heads or tails / to let me know if I should go back to the ship or back to jail / … it came up tails, it rhymed with sails, so I went back to the ship.” Tails, of course, rhymes with jail.

8. They are music. Both artists are famous for playing with the press, serving up reporters with snarky, nonsense remarks just to get a reaction. Dylan, tired of responding to the same question and armed with a random light bulb, famously quipped, “What is my real message? Keep a good head and always carry a light bulb.” Wayne similarly deadpans to Couric about his need for medical marijuana. But at the root of this playfulness is a real purpose in their craft, a complete confidence in their own talent. A look of utmost seriousness comes over Wayne’s face when Couric asks him how he remembers all his lyrics. “Everybody asks me that,” he explains wearily. “I always tell them — it’s because I really am it.” Dylan, too, never doubted for a second that he was right; he just sang his songs and rose to the top, fully aware that he was it. The tattoo on Lil Wayne’s forehead sums it up: “I Am Music.” It isn’t so easily ascribed to arrogance; it’s a firm belief of the artist that he is doing exactly what he was born to do, and he is going to do it whether or not the world catches on. And the world always catches on to greatness.

Caroline Klibanoff is a sophomore in the College. She can be reached at klibanoff@thehoya.com City Maps and Hand Claps appears every other Friday in The Guide.

This article appeared in the March 20, 2009 issue of The Guide.