Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter III was a huge phenomenon and a massive success. It had hipsters, hip hop fans. mainstreamers, and your 42 year old mom all enjoying the hard-hitting beats and the LALALALick me like a Lollipop hooks and melodies. So Wayne, after a stint in jail, a terribly received rock album, and a public cough syrup addiction, comes out swinging with Tha Carter IV.
This album is harder than the previous, where Tha Carter III had quite a few softer tracks that made the RnB girls dig its aesthetic. but with tracks like John, Lil Wayne comes out throwing punches hard. Tha Carter IV starts so strong, it’s hard for me to expect that energy level to be sustained through the whole album. Megaman and Blunt Blowin are both synth heavy self-reflections and make it some of the best tracks here.
President Carter is a latecomer but a real highlight here, an tour-de-force piece of music that traverses an awkward path of Lil Wayne’s and seems to act as a sort of capstone to everything he has done before.
6 Foot 7 Foot still drops heavy months after we first heard the rhythmic Wayne in top form months and months ago. It’s a testament to his writing ability when he can never repeat a verse and go for 3 and a half minutes with some of the classiest and most memorable verses of his career.
John Legend makes his typical appearance on a soothing little balladry called So Special and we get bored to frustration with How to Love and Abortion, some of the most atypical dull trite I’ve heard from a mainstream rapper since Drake’s 2009 debut.
Lil Wayne does hard-hitters and guest appearances much better than he does a full album worth of material. But there are quite a few memorable tracks here, and Tech N9ne shreds here with one of the best guest verses I’ve heard in years. Though Lil Wayne is inconsistent and all over the map, he does know how to deliver quality beats with solid verses, and it’s where he hits heavy and raps with his classic style where he succeeds. He’s got one trick, and one trick only, but it’s a hell of a good play.
Best Tracks
She Will
6 Foot 7 Foot
Megaman
President Carter