“Tha Carter III”
Lil Wayne
Cash Money Records
Lil Wayne is officially back!
Wayne’s “Tha Carter III,” which has been hyped, discussed, leaked a half dozen times and even rumored not to exist, was quickly becoming the “Chinese Democracy” of the hip-hop world.
After the success of “Tha Carter II,” Wayne exploited the mix-tape circuit as his own personal training ground, dropping unofficial releases almost every month.
This put him in the unusual position of being an artist who was primarily famous for work not on his albums.
Traditionally in hip-hop, mix tapes are the realm of unsigned talent and underground MCs. But Wayne teamed up with some of the mix-tape game’s biggest names, including DJ Drama and DJ White Owl, to successfully kill two birds with one stone: He managed to both hone his skills and knock off a generation of potential rivals.
During this time, Wayne also had a standing policy of accepting any invitation for a guest or featured vocal spot. It’s hard to tell if this was a shrewd PR plan to increase his exposure and name recognition or if it was simply an elaborate stroking of his ego because he truly believes that he belongs in every corner of the music industry.
“Tha Carter III” is the culmination of Lil Wayne’s mix tape zeitgeist. Everything that Wayne said in the press, every name-dropping guest vocal spot, every mumbling YouTube video has been worth it. “C3” is finally here.
Lil Wayne was born Dwayne Carter, which means he shares a surname with Jay-Z (aka Shawn Carter), and he has been making word play upon this coincidence his entire career. On “C3’s” second track, “Mr. Carter,” Hova himself makes a guest appearance.
Wayne pulls out all the stops and enlists a battery of other famous friends to help him land the massive funked-up spaceship that is “C3.”
Many of the tracks feature megastar production credits from the likes of Kanye West, Wyclef Jean, Just Blaze and Swizz Beats.
The track “Dr. Carter” (not to be confused with “Mr. Carter”) gives listeners insight into the mind of Lil Wayne. In it, he is a rap doctor who has to save the lives of rappers who “don’t have respect for the game” and “have weak vocabularies and metaphors.”
This is truly how Wayne views himself — as the diamond-encrusted savior of hip-hop. And he may be right.
When he heard in 2003 that Jay-Z was retiring, Wayne began calling himself “The Greatest Rapper Alive since the greatest rapper retired.” He’s been seen wearing a shirt emblazoned with the words “I am Hip-Hop” and has appeared on the cover of several magazines with the words “I am Music” written on his face.
Though his megalomania seems limitless, Wayne’s music and unarguable talent back up his egotism and eccentricities. At least for right now, Lil Wayne is hip-hop.
If it weren’t for him, would white kids be downloading mix tapes? If it weren’t for him, would people care as much about rap as an art form?
Though “Tha Carter III” can seem a bit bloated at times — perhaps the result of having multiple producers polish the work, taking care of the large details but overlooking the minutia — the record is a landmark of modern hip-hop and testament to the ever-changing, many-headed beast that is the rap game.
Nas may have been right, and hip-hop may be dead, but Dr. Carter is on his way to help breathe some life back into it.
— Charles Young