Tha Carter III [ECD] - Lil Wayne

"Tha Carter III" is the latest album in the "Tha Carter..." series by Lil' Wayne, who has boosted his popularity over the past few years without releasing a solo album since 2005 by appearing on collaborations with just about everyone, not just rap, or even that and R&B, but these and pop as he collaborated with Natasha Beddingfield.

Lil' Wayne never took a break from making music all through last year or the beginning ...
...is so productive and is able to whip together tracks quickly, he decided to take advantage of what should be a negative situation by releasing "The Leak", using tracks which should have been found on "Tha Carter III", but as they had already been heard by a substantial audience, he may as well release the music offically to see how many haven't heard it and make it act as a preview of what the music will be like for "Tha ... more

"Tha Carter III" is the latest album in the "Tha Carter..." series by Lil' Wayne, who has boosted his popularity over the past few years without releasing a solo album since 2005 by appearing on collaborations with just about everyone, not just rap, or even that and R&B, but these and pop as he collaborated with Natasha Beddingfield.

Lil' Wayne never took a break from making music all through last year or the beginning of this, resulting in some material leaking. As the artist is so productive and is able to whip together tracks quickly, he decided to take advantage of what should be a negative situation by releasing "The Leak", using tracks which should have been found on "Tha Carter III", but as they had already been heard by a substantial audience, he may as well release the music offically to see how many haven't heard it and make it act as a preview of what the music will be like for "Tha Carter III".

1. "3 Peat"

This introduction to the album was produced by Cool & Dre, who decided to go for a hard and slow beginning to the album, and Weezy really rides the beat well. The organs found in here add to the tension of the this as the album is so highly anticipated that you are just in shock that you are finally hearing this new album from him.

Wayne does not mess Weezy F. Baby doesn't mess around by talking about what's going to be found inthe album, he does this by displaying his talent of rapping so effortlessly to the beat and just gets into it, because we've waited snce 2005 for a new album from him, so why make the fans wait any longer.

You get an idea of how he's ging to come at this album with his emotional rap-singing, which is most obvious in Playa Cirle's "Duffle Bag Boy", where he features (when doesn't he) on vocals for the chorus and a verse.

**Four Stars**

2. "Mr. Carter" (feat. Jay-Z)

I was left rather confused after listening to the opening of this as it is clearly a sombre track with the slow beat, but then he goes and spoils the atmosphere by quoting Shawty Lo and stick in a could of "Dey Know"s in there. It's as if he isn't aware that music is made to express emotions and he isn't being consistant, so the listner can't be expented to stay with him.

This is a slow track in which Lil' Wayne attempts to shake off his haters by asking them why they are hating on him without justification, but I felt that Weezy displays the reason for it in this track, obviously without reaslising that he's doing it.

To explain, the main reason why people don't like this artist is because he makes so many track, but the clear argument which is brought to atention is quality over quanitity, and he just comes with endless cliches and repetition to get himslef through a line. he does this when he's subborn with a line, as he knows how to start it, and make it rhyme at the end, but in the middle, he'll just say that words which was to be put at the end, about three times before this, and it just dosn't work.

It sometimes funny to just listen to his train of thought, because most of his raps are basically a revised freestyle, but it sounds as if he hasn't gone sback and altered sections which sound like stupid, more instance where he makes up a word based on Paraplegia, then corrects himslef by saying "Paraplegic", and then from the 'para-', decides to talk about parallel parking. It hard to believe, but it's true. So as you can imagine, Jay-Z (the other "Mr. Carter") shows him up once he comes in.

**Two Stars**

3. "A Milli" (feat. Cory Gunz)

This one uses a the perfect freestyle hook which has "A Milli" running through it, meaning that there's no chorus and Weezy is just able to flow his way through the track witout any breaks, and it apears that he just doesn't have any limits when you hear something like this from him.

Cory Gunz, who features in this one is the son of Peter Gunz, part of the duo Lord Tariq & Peter Gunz, who brought "Deja Vu" back in 1998, showing the music run in the family, and I really liked what he came with, encouraging me to see what he does as a solo artist, and Cory is someone to look out for in the future.

**Five Stars**

4. "Got Money" (Feat. T-Pain)

This is a very intersting track as it features the two biggest colloborating artists today, Lil' Wayne and T-Pain, who will either appear alongside a rapper or R&B singer on their songs, or make a remix with them so that they can get exposure on the biggest songs in these genres at the time.

I think that you have to listen to this a few times before you get to really enjoy it, but once you get to this stage, I'm sure that you will love it. T-Pain's Crunk & B style complements Weezy's rhymes, gving a full and complete club track, but I don't think that it would be as popular as songs which they did whilst collaborating with others.

Lil' Wayne uses the voice modifier which T-Pain isn't hear without for aprt of this just to show appreciation for Teddy Pender's unique style and he has only been heard using it in other track's such as the remix to "Lollipop", where Kanye has a go too.

**Four Stars**

5. "Comfortable" (feat. Babyface)

Kanye takes over on the beats front and he has the R&B musician Babyface sing alongside him. You only get a small section of Babyface's amazing vocals, but he always manages to impress people with his vocals. Kanye West shows that he hasn't lost it with his impressive beat-making. I prefer when he brings the chipmonk style that me used in his earlier days to this, but you can't really fault this ?uest Love-esque approach.

As soon as Weezy gets into his flow you are always able to work out what he was thinking about or doing around the time of penning his lyrics. Prior to this he must have been listening to some Beyoncé, as the first lines are adapted from her "Irreplaceable" single. However I wouldn't fault him for this, because he some how managed to bring it into what ever he's got to say, no matter how distant it may be to this subject quality which few rappers also have, but then again, the way he manges to get back to it may be through some foolish rhymes.

**Four Stars**

6. "Dr. Carter"

This one threw me off a bit, because you really don't expect this when Weezy decides that he's going to take on a new persona as Dr.Carter. It was a very fun track as he really came with something original hear as he must work on various patients who he has to form into respectable MCs, although I don't think he's the person for the job. I was interested throughout. As there was a lack of a steady beat, I thought that it sounded more like a skit than a track, but it worked regadless. There were a lot of hospital sound effects to make the atmoshphere seem realistic, which made the thing so

I was extremely surprised to read that Swizz Beatz produced this track, because it sound nothing like what he usually does with the horns in club tunes, from the sound of this, you get the idea that he decided to make drastic changes in his style. It sounds like a Jazz track with rapping on top, and at first it doesn't seem to fit that well, but with time you start to trust the experienced Swizzy, and it seems to work better together with a few listens. The beat is very minimalstic, but it has enough in it to give Lil' Wayne sufficient rhythm to rhyme on.

As with all Lil' Wayne tracks there's an issue with the rhymes, just to pick out one WTF line: "I've got to kick it like a sensi". You get a lot of pointless similies like this in the album, an it's just a part of how he does things, but I'm just not feeling the shallow lines such as this one.

**Four Stars**

7. "Phone Home" (feat. Dre)

This is a concept track, he uses a line which he has used in the past on the remix to "Party Like A Rockstar", "We are not the same, I am a martian", but I never really understood what he meant by this. However he claims to be a martian from 'Planet Weezy'.

There is an annoying chorus to this song, as you get Dre (of the production duo Cool & Dre) shouting "Phone Home!" down your ear, but it must be overlooked if you actually want to enjoy his music, because it is very off-putting, but once you get into his verses, you get some decent flows.

Cool & Dre go with something different, yet appropriate for this as lots of spacey, futuristic sounds are added into the track to give it the right feel for this track which has got a strange concept to it. Initail it sounds like the music to accomplny a cartoon, but eventually, you feel the hard beats bounce through your body.

8. "Tie My Hands" (feat. Robin Thicke)

This is a Kanye-produced track which is really slow and deep. This makes a great beat for Robin Thicke to sing on, because this is the only type of rhythm I've heard him perform on so, this is very acoustic and suits the singer more than the rapper. I didn't really think much to Robin prior to hearing this track, and he didn't really have a lot to offer for me, apart from the occassional high note, which he is really able to nail.

Lil' Wayne sounded as if he was able to adapt to the beat, even though it didn't seem to be natural, but he changed up his usual themes and opted for something more emotional here. I felt that this type of track prevents Weezy from cmoing out withe stupid rhymes, and forces him to ocus on what he is saying to allow the listener to truely feel what he is saying. I thoughout this was one of a few where Lil' Wayne kept everything about the track consistant throughtout, as it seems as throughout he gets bored of these ones at times, so he attempts to bring up the mood.

**Three Stars**

9. "Mrs. Officer" (feat. Bobby Valentino)

Straight after that deep and slow track, the mood is immdiately lifted with a track which completely contrasts from the last one as Deezle and the Fugees' Wyclef come with some bouncy beats for Weezy to go on, and from the start you know that this is going to be a fun track that you are going to love (if funky raps are you're thing).

Bobby Valentino comes in for a collaboration, and he offer some great R&B vocals, even though he's just imitating a police car (strange I know), bu then again this isn't really a conventional track as he talks on a time where he got stopped by a female police offficer, and it continues from their. I really liked the concept, and he I think it would make for a great video, if it eventually becomes a single.

**Four Stars**

10. "Let the Beat Build"

This is one of few which has Weezy on his own, and he decided to take on a beat created by Dezzle and Kanye together (so it seems that he likes what they can offer as it's one of a few from both of the producer, so to see them colloaborate behind the scenes is quite fun as you get a real Kanye-sounding sample, which as a chipmonk effect added on to it, and the smooth synthesizer Dezzle brought with onther things is being brought by him.

Although it ins't strictly a collabo, it is as if it was one because Wayne has to work to the beat more than most have to as the duo on production chose to go for the progressive route, taking over a minute to get into the proper beat, and for all this time leading up to it Wayne sounds as if he's just flowing with a freestlye because it just seems so natural. It really could have been performed live when you listen to it as ther are no background vocals from him, there's just a beat being build up stage by stage, level by level, starting from a simple hook and developing into quite a complex beat.

11. "Shoot Me Down" (feat. D. Smith)

kanye comes with a steady drum beat for this one, which seems to increase the tension and anixety of the track as it is very ominous, but doesn't give many reasons for it, you are forced into this mood without any real explaination through Wayne' s raps.

This is a really depressing one as he talks on how he doesn't want to be taking from his position on top of the game, especially since he has work so hard to get to where he is after so much development in the Hot Boyz and with poor sales, and recetly he's just been able to build up so much hype with collaborations, because all the albums before this didn't sell as well as this is guaranteed to.

As I've expressed before, he does seem to get off with some strange rhymes and here he claims he should be put in the dictionary under the definition of 'definitition', but he doesn't elaborate on it, and you can't just say something like that without explaining it, because without justication, it means absolutely nothing.

**Two Stars**

12. "Lollipop" (feat. Static Major)

This was Lil' Wayne's cross-over hit which really showed his potential as a soslo arists, and not a just a collaborator, to a wider audience as this performed better than anything he ever released prior to it, regardless of its sexual foundations, the track managed to go to be popular amongst the very young and older people, who may just enjoy the repitition in it to give it some power in breaking through the genre boundaries.

If you don't like this track than you are either sad, or are bored of it, which is understandible considering the amount of repitition which occurs in the track and how much airplay it has received, this has aslo meant that it has gained a lot of criticism, but I feel that it was important for Weezy to break through to a wider audience because he is so productive, and is able to churn out about five tracks per day, so it's a waste of talent if he didn't get heard by peple all over the world, and this did it for him.

**Five Stars**

13. "La La" (feat. Brisco and Busta Rhymes)

Louisiana's Brisco and Long Island's Bussa Buss come to give a few bars with Weezy here. You don't get to have too many weak busta rhymes tracks, so i was pleased to hear him on this, because I knew that he wouldn't dissapoint, and the few Brisco tunes that have come out have been of high qulaity (and it wasn't all down to Lil' Wayne being featured in all of them).

David Banner adds the beats to this track, and he is known to pull things out of nowhere, hear he comes with a xylophone (probably the first time the instrument was utilised in a Hip Hop track), but it works with the titleas you have children singing "La La" for the hook to the tone of the xylophone, but if you have heard a few Weezy tracks in the past, then you will be aware of what this "La La" is really about.

**Four Stars**

14. "Playin' With Fire" (feat. Betty Wright)

StreetRunner provides the beat, and it is extremely well-composed by the way it has the verses done in a lower piano riff, but then we are brought to a crescendo for the chorus when the old-school R&B singer Betty Wright comes in for some heavy vocals and a guitar rhythm is introduced for a big breakdown.

It sounded like Lil' Wayne wanted to come with somthing a littel differnt gain, but then he went and spoiled it with some explicit lyrics, which to me sounded to be very out of place, especially when a legend like Betty Wright is beside him, singing some nice lines. I did think that he was begninng to mature, but it showed that he's not ready to yet with some of the lines from this.

**Three Stars**

15. "Nothin' on Me" (feat. Fabolous and Juelz Santana)

Weezy is backed up by some big New York guests in the form of Brooklyn's Fabolous and Harlem's Juelz Santana, who seem to offer something a little different with their conservative gangsta style, contrasting from the harder approaches from the other guests such as Busta and Cory Gunz, who decided to come hard as usual.

The Alchemist brings some questionable production as i felt that it didn't really fit in with Weezy style, or any type of rap actually, it was rather boring and made you think that the album was coming to an end, but even though it was, it doesn't mean that I want to be reminded of this, as you tend not to engage as well because so are aware that the close is imminant.

I don't really enjoy hearing any member of Dipset rap, because they just don't touch me in the way most other rapper do, but hear Santana comes up with some very inventive lines, which made me re-think the ignorance I have shown towards him and his crew in the past.

**Three Stars**

16. "Don't Get It"

This is the final track of the LP, and it was produced by the Black Eyed Peas' will.i.am. When I read this, I thought I was going to get a poor Hip House kind of composition, but luckily, he strayed away from this style (which I just don't get), and he went with something I could get into more easily, it used an old Nina Simone groove called "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood", and has a hard beat encorporated to it as it progresses.

It acts as a good outro and wind you down after hearing so much varied material from weezy in this album, and you finally get to relax after he had kept us interested throughout with his unpredicable style. I never really value outros because they aren't really tracks, they are just dragged out beats, so I wouldn't bother listeinging to it again, unless I was to listen throughut the whole album again, but then again some have kept you interested to the end, like Kanye on his debut CD.

**Two Stars**

Although I am aware that at some part I have complain about Wayne's style, and then complemented him elsewhere, this is because he is very inconsistant and sometimes, such as in "Lollipop", the repetition sounds very professional, whereas in other part of the album, it's not working. At times Wayne can come with some nursery rhyme-type raps and it prevents you from taking him seriously when he goes slow, like in "Mr. Carter", but then he can bring fire elsewhere, like in "Get Money", and this is quite annoying, considering I bet he had such a wide selection of tracks which he could have chosen to put on this album, considering how many mixtapes he has released recently, so he should have given us all of his quality track, rather than a mixture of some poor and some very strong ones, especially since this is the most anticipation rap album of recent times.

I have to compare Weezy to 2Pac, although some may not like it, because if, for some reason, Lil' Wayne get killed before his time, due to his productivity, similar to 2Pac, he will be able to bring out album after album posthumously because he just doesn't see light unless he'son tour, and even then he's still working on new material. I have to say that Lil' Wayne is nowhere near comparison to a genious like 'Pac, when you look at how deep his lyrics where, and he was able to think all this through in such little time, for example "The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory", twelve-track album (the last to be completed before his death) was written in only three days, and he did it like a poet, but Lil' Wayne is able to hide behind collaborator who will take up half of the track, 2Pac would never allow someone to prevent him from talking, because he would always be two steps ahead of anyone else.

It difficult to judge this one as Lil' Wayne is so unpredictable, and this resulted in him going too far with his conceps at times, but then at occassions he really makes it work, and he come sup with bangers. However sinvce this is a rap album, most of the focus is on the rhymes, and this was one of the areas where he tended to lose it, because of this, I wouldn't advise true Hip hop fans to buy it because they would prbably be annoyed by his way of rappping and not always making sense, attempting to get through the track on swag alone, but there's no fooling Hip Hop heads. If you hae enjoyed Lil' Wayne's collabs then you probably will enjoy this album though so, it's hard to say whether it's recommended, but I did like the majority of it and this was because it was quite similar to the stuff I've heard him do recently with other artists.

I can guarrantee that with the success of "Lollipop", and the popularity of "A Milli", that this album is going to sell big, it will definitely top the Billboards at some time soon, but it is less likely to do so here. 

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