Over the course of the past two years, virtually no rapper has been more prolific than Lil Wayne. The New Orleans born and bred, former Hot Boy, and face of the Cash Money Millionaires compiled over one thousand verses during this time period through a combination of his own mixtapes as well as guest appearances on other mainstream tracks and remixes. This undeniably impressive output created a particularly interesting dynamic among hip-hop fans. Many praised the rapper for being an incredible one of a kind talent, perhaps even one of the top five of all time. Others felt very differently, seeing Wayne as incredibly overrated, and "all style, no substance." Wayne quickly became the hottest and most talked about rapper in the game, which lead to Tha Carter III becoming easily the most anticipated album of 2008. The question is; did it live up to the hype?
The result is largely mixed. Tha Carter III is filled with both highs and lows, and at least in my opinion, is largely hit or miss. There are some great songs on this album, some of the best of Wayne's career. The album's opener, "3 Peat," is decent, albeit unspectacular. He and Jay-Z reunite after American Gangster's "Hello Brooklyn" on "Mr. Carter," which features fairly good production, but again, unspectacular lyricism on both parts. "A Milli" was one of the first songs to leak that actually made the album; and while it features Wayne near the top of his lyrical game, it is hampered by an awful, grating-on-the ears beat. There's the typical manufactured club song on here, complete with a T-Pain chorus in "Get Money," and it's truly awful.
High points include nearly every Kanye West beat, as he really came through on this album. "Tie My Hands," "Shoot Me Down," and "Let the Beat Build" are all Kanye beats, and three of the best songs on the album.
Wayne actually executes a concept song pretty well with "Dr. Carter." I see this song as a sign of artistic growth for his career. It basically features Wayne as a doctor saving hip-hop's life
it's a good concept and one that is executed very well, complete with a simple, yet fitting loop by Swizz Beatz of all people. It's not typical of his beats and you'll know why when you listen.
The album also isn't without its share of experimentation. Obviously anyone who hears the album is already familiar with "Lollipop"
but it also features Wayne putting his rockstar status into music on "Playin' with Fire," which is contradictory in and of itself...featuring Wayne both at his peak and his low points.
Overall, this album is very reflective of Wayne as an artist. At points, he is a brilliant, introspective lyricist (see "Tie My Hands"), and other times an incoherent, coked out mess (see verses on "Mr. Carter" and "La La"). To anyone familiar with his mixtape output over the past two years, there probably was the potential for a classic album between those tapes and songs on Tha Carter III. Some of Wayne's best songs didn't make the cut ("I'm Me") and it's interesting to think how much better this album this could have been. That being said, it is solid, albeit uneven. I for one am interested to see where Mr. Carter goes from here.
