Lil Wayne

Tha Carter III accomplished the rare feat of being one of the most anticipated hip-hop albums in both 2007 and 2008. A leak pushed the release date back a calendar year, and then a further leak served to increase tensions between Lil Wayne and the mixtape culture that he'd left behind. But even though the music slipped out to people, it did little to dampen the pressure–many fans and critics stood ready to pronounce Weezy as the king of hip-hop, treating a masterpiece as a foregone conclusion.

Tha Carter III isn't quite a masterpiece, but should further solidify Lil Wayne's position among the top in his game–if not necessarily all alone on the peak. In a world of singles (and the minimal "Lollipop" has already shot up to the top of the charts), Tha Carter III benefits tremendously from being considered and digested as a full album. Taken individually, many tracks sound too derivative for an artist supposed to be nudging his genre forward. But taken in tandem, they blend together to form a fascinatingly schizophrenic kaleidoscope.

The diversity is little surprise given the star's own versatile wordplay and adaptable persona (Wayne can go from grimy misanthrope to sympathetic social commentator in the blink of an eye) and the litany of guest artists and producers. T-Pain lends his auto-tuned pipes to "Got Money," the album's biggest party-starter, while Robin Thicke croons gently over the Kanye West-produced "Tie My Hands," a tender ode to ravaged New Orleans. Those two tracks sound like they're from utterly different albums, and yet they're each more effective for the other one's company.

Likewise, the guests never pull focus from the star; if anything, A-listers like Jay-Z turn in reliable, but not riveting guest spots, while not even Nina Simone can redeem the rambling "Misunderstood," one of the album's few outright flops. All of Kanye's productions deserve mention; he leaves the brashness to others, settling into an impressively understated mode for "Tie My Hands" and "Shoot Me Down," then busting out with a euphoric loop on "Let The Beat Build." Perhaps the most surprisingly durable track is the Wyclef-helmed "Mrs. Officer," an easygoing tale of illicit romance that shows off Weezy's mischievous, lascivious wit.

—Adam McKibbin
06.13.08

How Tha Carter III came to be "the most anticipated rap album of 2008" is a story that involves the usual delays and promises of a masterpiece, plus a whole lot of bullet points that could only exist in the absurd world of Lil Wayne. There's his complete annihilation of the mixtape game, the ridiculous amount of guest shots he granted since Tha Carter II made him a hip-hop superstar, that photograph of him kissing his mentor, Birdman, rumors of addiction to the sizzurp, plus the gargantuan ego and aggravating aloofness (Wayne will ignore all incoming beefs and infuriate challengers even further by offering the lethal "I don't listen to your records"). His "best rapper alive" quote is discussed to death, but if that claim includes creating perfectly crafted full-lengths in a 2Pac style, the evidence won't be found here. Tha Carter III is instead a surprisingly casual album that takes numerous listens to sort out, and only part of a puzzle that is scattered across mixtapes, guest shots, and Internet leaks. Had he included another easy-access single like "Rider" from The Drought Is Over, Pt. 4 -- just one of his mixtape series that made it to a Pt. 5 -- the "classic" argument could be considered, but figuring out what to sacrifice from this high-grade jumble is difficult. It wouldn't be the electro-bumpin' "Lollipop," an infectious track that contains the wonderfully Wayne line "I told her to back it up/Like burp, burp." You certainly wouldn't want to lose key cut "Phone Home," where the maverick adopts an alien voice and drops "I could get your brains for a bargain/Like I bought it from Target." Another Weezy special from way outside the hip-hop universe comes in the striking "Dr. Carter," when the football reference "And you ain't Vince Young/So don't clash with the Titan" dances on a David Axelrod sample and an unexpected jazzy production from Swizz Beatz. Giant meets giant when Jay-Z stops by for the velvet-smooth hangout session "Mr. Carter," and with Babyface laying the stylish swagger all over "Comfortable," Wayne gets the opportunity to convincingly vibe in the land of true class. Just like on Tha Carter II, Robin Thicke ends up the most complementary guest, coating Wayne's post-Katrina tale "Tie My Hands" in warm buttery soul. As the track flows from political commentary ("My whole city's underwater, some people still floatin'/And they wonderin' why black people still votin'/Cuz your President's still chokin'") to despair and onto some moving "keep your head up"-styled verse, it proves Wayne can go deep and connect with his audience if he chooses. You can fault him for not connecting enough on the album and further complicating his unmanageable body of work with this disjointed effort, but Wayne's true masterpiece is the bigger picture and how he's flipped the script since the first Carter rolled out. Filled with bold, entertaining wordplay and plenty of well-executed, left-field ideas, Tha Carter III should be considered as a wild, somewhat difficult child of Weezy's magnum opus in motion, one that allows the listener an exhilarating and unapologetic taste of artistic freedom. [Tha Carter III was also made available in a Deluxe Edition featuring the once download-only EP The Leak as a bonus CD.] ~ David Jeffries, All Music Guide