The fourth installment in The Carter series is dropping at last, and I have had the pleasure of hearing it from front to back numerous times. In retrospect, Lil Wayne has morphed into so many personas and it’s hard to say who he is anymore. One thing I can finally say is that Wayne is a heavy weight in the lyrical arena. I bought The Block is Hot with my hard earned money as a paper boy in 1999, and was completely disappointed and refused to invest in such annoying music ever again! Nine years later, A Milli dropped and made it hard to not believe this artist was a changed man. So, I bought The Carter III and was completely satisfied with my purchase. I saw it as luck, though. I didn’t think lightning could strike twice in one spot. Well, lyrically. Although The Carter III is still his best album to date, The Carter IV holds its own with lyrics alone. Unfortunately, lyrics alone can not save an album in the hip-hop communityThe intro sounds like a track four to a mixtape than an introduction to a highly anticipated album from an artist that is revered as the messiah of the rap game; due mainly to the beat and the premise of the lyrics. Though the lyrics were dope from start to finish, they were highly inappropriate for where it was placed on the album. I can’t say that the lyrics were out of this world, but I can say that they were consistent and hard hitting from punch line to punch line. Blunt Blown gave me an immediate headache. I was never a fan of the Hot Boyz! Ever!...ok, I was a fan of the Hot Boyz; but I was young and lost. Once I came to my senses, I ended up hating the style the Hot Boyz had. I actually detest it. It’s an abomination to music in general. I say that to say this: the beat and the chorus to this song almost made this song sink to the bottom of the Atlantic. If it wasn’t for…..you know what, this song is garbage, I don’t care how consistent his lyrics were. The music was horrible. On to more important matters. On Megaman, The beat may be as generic as ever; but Wayne’s flow fused with his punch lines makes this song very hard hitting. I mean, really “Whoa nigga/ die slow nigga/ for dear life, you’re holdin on. En Vogue nigga/ Unload nigga/ reload nigga/ tools on deck, home depot nigga/ well if life is a b*ch, then mine is a gold digger/”. Although I can go without the “nigga” repetition, hearing him ride the beat while he murdered it gave me a feeling of nostalgia of when it was all about the lyrics.
6 Foot 7 Foot is not my favorite song. It was a poor attempt to build the type of hype that A Milli did. The beat was catchy, but overall it was more of an album filler than a single to me. Cory Gunz’s voice is annoying, and besides the beat, Wayne’s lyrics are the only exciting aspect of this song. Nightmares of the Bottom has a generic 808 bass line, cheesy snares, and a moderate pace to it. I almost fell asleep listening to it until I hit the skip button. Which led me to She Will; which features Drake. She Will is probably the most exciting song on this album. From the beat, to the chorus, to the lyrics, to the delivery. The intro of the song sounds like a sample from Zelda ( the one on SNS. My old school heads know exactly what I’m talking about), but I love it! If only they could have incorporated some live instruments. And I don’t care, I’m a Drake fan. Yea, I said it. He laced the chorus with a smooth melody that made the drums almost feel real. Drake should have kept this song for himself and put it out as a single. I can’t wait for Take Care.
Unfortunately for all you T-pain fans, T-pain has finally retired. And if he hasn’t after this heart retching performance, he should. How to Hate has a cheesy beat and an even cheesier chorus. But, Lil Wayne saves this song from a sudden death with lines like “all I had to do was put two and two together/ but that just makes four. But not for-ever/ damn. So much for being a perfect couple/ I put in over time, I was working doubles/ I wish you the best, good luck boo/ weezy F, fu f*ck you/”I laughed at how he ended that line myself. The interlude that features the same beat he used in the Intro, Tech N9ne and Andre 3000 and NOT lil Wayne makes me wonder just what they were thinking. At first listen, Tech N9ne’s fast pace lyrics sound like nothing more than a barrage of words overwhelming your ears. He makes up for it by making sense and with a raw delivery, though. Andre is probably the only artist I know of that can be elegant on a hard beat and be successful at it. When are you dropping an album man? John features Rick Ross and is generic also. Why they chose to sample Rick Ross is beyond me; but this was another song that makes this album seem like a mixtape. I’m sure some of will enjoy the familiarity of it though. It’s hard hitting and the lyrics are on point. It just sounds like every other song Rick Ross makes these days. I won’t talk much about Abortion because it’s boring. It really sounds like a throwaway song from Rebirth. The lyrics, once again, very much worth listening to. I question that “hell of a smoker and a bit of a drinker” line though. I’m sure is probation officer is going to question why he is snitching on himself. So Special features John Legend and sounds like a song that 2 Pistols, Rocco, or Yo Gotti would be on. Lil Wayne seemed to have lowered his standards as far as quality in music for this song. The hyper snare, the same distorted horn in the back ground, and drowned out keys make this song very average and so five years ago. How to Love makes me appreciate a lot of things about Lil Wayne. I personally would have done this song differently, but its Lil Wayne, I’ll give credit where credit is due. He touches on some sensitive subjects that I completely agree with (the video was almost spot on with what I thought they would do with it). Wayne isn’t the best singer, but his vocals seemed appropriate for this type of beat. Good luck attracting that new demographic Weezy! President Carter has nothing but a good loop in its beat. But I love it! The only real problems I had with this song was the type of drums they chose to use and the repetitive chorus. I just think they could have been more creative than sampling Jimmy Carters voice over and again. I wasn’t fooled by the affects they put on his voice either. Its Good is a good song. Yes it is. Before I get to the main attraction of this song, I have to point out what I don’t like: the beat, Drakes verse, and the chorus. You would think I don’t like this song, right? But Jadakiss kills it and Lil Wayne sent a jab at Jay-Z that I can’t help but to respect. “Talkin bout baby money/ I got your baby/ kidnap your b**ch, get that how much you love your lady money/” I had to give him extra points for 1. Being clever and 2. Having the guts to go at Jay-Z. When it’s all said and done though, I got Jay-Z demolishing Lil Wayne. Yes, at the age of 42 and all. The Outro made me want to not only assault the engineer, but Lil Wanye himself. Why on earth did they use a beat that was used twice before? And they put Shyne on this song. I don’t have to say why Shyne is probably the worst choice for a feature on any album. Bun B was average, Nas stood out as expected, and Busta actually did decent. I didn’t expect that.
Let me close out this review, though. The production for this album was sub par, features were very disappointing, song choice was thought provoking (in a bad way), but Lil Wayne’s lyrics were good enough to listen to every track. A friend of mine told me, after listening to the album, that he likes the sober Lil Wayne better. I can’t help but to agree. He is definitely in rare form. If he could only mix the production and features from The Carter III and the lyrical consistency of The Carter IV, he would make an undisputed, classic album. So I enjoyed the lyrics, but the music rarely did. Overall, this album is a failure. Yes, a failure. We expect more from Lil Wayne, and we should expect more from Lil Wayne. Aside from the hype he puts around himself, the hype that his fans and media bombard his image with makes us want more from Lil Wayne. He must still be on drugs if he is putting artists like Shyne and Cory Gunz on his album. It was a nice try though Lil Wayne. A for…no B for effort. I hate giving points. So if you get them, that means you earned them.
1.) Intro – 3.5/5
2.) Blunt Blown – 2.3/5
3.) Megaman – 3.85/5
4.) 6 Foot 7 Foot (ft. Cory Gunz) – 3.5/5
5.) Nightmares of the Bottom – 3.3/5
6.) She Will (ft. Drake) – 4.5/5
7.) How to Hate (ft. T-Pain) – 3.1/5
8.) Interlude (ft. Tech N9ne & Andre 3000) – 3/5
9.) John (ft. Rick Ross) – 3.3/5
10.) Abortion – 3.3/5
11.) So Special (ft. John Legend) – 3.3/5
12.) How to Love – 4.4/5
13.) President Carter – 4.2/5
14.) Its Good (ft. Jadakiss & Drake) – 3.75/5
15.) Outro (ft. Bun B, Nas, Shyne, & Busta Rhymes) – 3.2/5
