Music this week

I Am Not a Human Being
LIL WAYNE
Cash Money/Universal Motown

Lil Waynes least interesting mode is fixation. Hes best when bouncing from one idea to the next,sticking around just long enough to master it,then splitting before boredom or self-consciousness sets in. Rebirth,the last album released before he began serving a one-year jail sentence at Rikers Island,was his quixotic attempt at a rap-rock album,an out-of-date idea that he treated like aggressive scientific research. From somewhere among those recording sessions came the songs found on I Am Not a Human Being,an uncentred collection of odds and ends meant to sate interest until Lil Waynes release from Rikers next month. In a sense its an improvement even if a couple of the songs bear the scars of that period,particularly Popular,which has some of the new wave sizzle he was toying with. Lil Waynes successes in the last few months have been in divergent modes the hypnotic Im Single,the bombastic Right Above It with Drake,and a somewhat preposterous,Haddaway-sampling,No Love,from Eminems Recovery. But while diversity is Lil Waynes strength,its a lack of commitment of a different sort that hamstrings this album.

JON CARAMANICA