Lil’ Wayne: Tha Carter III Review, 7/10

After Tha Carter II came out, I officially became a Wayne fan. His lyrics, swagger, and songs were all on point. He was fairly well known in the rap game, but the 3 years after Tha Carter II consisted of numerous guest starring and mixtapes, making the guy the most hyped rapper since 50 Cent. The problem with that time period was that his voice changed, he discovered the vocoder, and his lyrical ability dropped significantly.

I’ve been waiting for Tha Carter III for a long time, and now that it is here, I am fairly disappointed. He has some great songs on the album, but overall, it is just unfocused and sloppy. Lets start with the good:

Mr. Carter ft. Jay-Z: This is the best song on the album. It produced by Just Blaze, and just works well. Lil’ Wayne could have gone a little harder, but I’m not complaining. Jay-Z killed the track. I wish every track on this album was this good.

Tie My Hands ft. Robin Thicke: After a few mediocre songs in a row, this is where the cd picks up and really starts to shine. It’s a Post-Katrina song, and has a great vibe. Lil’ Wayne does great and so does Robin Thicke.

Shoot Me Down: It has a very laid back vibe, with a nice chorus and good lyrics by Wayne.

Playing With Fire: Another great track. It’s energetic and infectious. It has recycled lyrics for some reason, and that’s probably why I like it!

Let The Beat Build: This song is pretty good, despite Lil’ Wayne.

The Bad:

Just about everything else. Lollipop is catchy, but not a great song by any means. Got Money is worse, but it is sorta catchy too. The third vocoder song is Nothing On Me, and it is pretty terrible. Fabolous and Juelz guest star, and Wayne sounds terrible in his verse and on the chorus. Phone Home is ok, but fairly annoying. Dr. Carter is a cool concept, but has a fairly boring execution. Comfortable, ft. Babyface, is pretty bad. A Millie sounds like a mixtape song, and 3 Peat is a solid opener. The rest of the songs are forgettable, with Mrs. Officer being absolutely terrible.

The final verdict is a resounding “meh”. It isn’t as good as Tha Carter I or II, but still has enough good songs to warrant buying.

Lil’ Wayne’s new single: Lollipop off Tha Carter 3

Lil’ Wayne’s first single off Tha Carter 3 is aimed at the girls and the clubs. I don’t get it. His whole thing is trying to be considered the best rapper, and he releases this for his first single for his supposed masterpiece?? It’s an alright club song, with a hypnotic beat and a good club chorus, but the verses are terrible. And on top of that, he uses the vocoder thing, which everyone hated off of his Bad Ass Grasshopper mixtape and anything else he used it on. So he is ostracizing his core fanbase for some mainstream garbage. It’s a real shame. I hope this isn’t indicative of what the rest of his album is going to be like.

This just in! Lollipop reached #1 on Billboards Hot 100, making it his highest chart topper! I don’t know if that is a good thing, considering the song isn’t even that great, but it’s a nice accomplishment. Since they pushed Tha Carter 3 back, being #1 a month and a half before your album comes out probably isn’t a good thing. It would have been smarter from a marketing standpoint to release the album in a few weeks, but if the material ain’t ready then I’m not going to push it.