Tha Carter III

In this era of iTunes and single digital downloads, I have to feel a strong sense of urgency to click "buy album" these days...Other than Jay-Z and Kanye West, the only other rap artist to complete this distinguished "move my mouse" triumvirate is "Mr. Carter" - aka Lil Wayne. Needless to say, this hallowed click comes with lofty expectations, and "The Carter III" does not dissapoint.

Most good action movies seek to smash your senses with the opening sequence. They make you sit up in the theater seat and say...."Whoaaa...Ok, Here we go!" Lil Wayne's phenomenal action film begins with the swagger-laced anthem, "3 Peat", and from there: its on. The music flows forth brilliantly, and serves up a wide array of clever beats and hooks to heads from one end of the genre to the other. Solid contributions from T-Pain, Busta Rhymes, Kanye West, Robin Thicke, and even Babyface (yep, that's right) make this album a definite mention in the Best of 2008.

While listening to Jay-Z and Lil Wayne since the mid-90s, I've followed the microphone progression and the skill advancement. While there are parallels, here's the difference: Jay-Z's 'pen' has always been most impressive, even before you knew who he was. His lyrical expertise was never in question..But Lil Wayne's entrance at the age of fifteen meant we would be allowed (if he stayed around) to hear his education along the way, and witness his advancement. But wait? Lil Wayne? Hanging around like L.L Cool J? Sure. Wait...But, Lil Wayne's advancement?

Well, here we are. His work has been solid, the production top-notch, he's done "sixteen bars" with the best of them --- you know, all the ingredients from the "Notorious B.I.G formula"... And at last, Lil Wayne has mastered the art of -- well: himself.

He has transcended the "New Orleans" rapper mantra, and now resides in a pantheon of elite status in the Rap landscape these days. If you think about it, he's not even a "Southern rapper" at this point anymore. Back to that whole mastery thing, he could have very easily branded the Lil Wayne ala Cash Money records in the late 90's. Hey, it was a winning formula right? Keep the flows steady, the beats would follow, and butts shall shake in the club accordingly. Instead, he evolved.

Evolving, while returning to the comfortable confines of Baby and Manny Fresh tracks along the way these past few years, just long enough to churn out bangers like "Stuntin' like my Daddy" and "I'm Ridin" in signature style. This time, Wayne has jam-packed "The Carter 3" with head-bobbers that speak to all styles all over the genre, while making each of them, all of them - his very own.

We should have seen this coming. Did we not know? We should have known with "The Carter II" being light years away from "The Carter" that the evolution was indeed taking place. Even with mixtape appearances, leaked joints, and EP's along the way, the same Lil Wayne seldom showed up twice in a collection of songs.

If your a casual fan, or a serious hip-hop enthusiast, "The Carter III" is Hip-Hop's kind of Hip-Hop. Lil Wayne has challenged himself to be better than his former self, and he wins. Again.

Lil wayne did a great job on this. Imagination, Hard work, Dedication all rolled out in this. To the hip hop world his names been around for awhile...he's going mainstream in a hardcore way. Forget what ya heard and listen to the track Mrs. Officer...I love it and can't stop humming it!

When will we wake up from the 2000s and realize that the entire decade was made up of albums that sucked like Lil Wayne's Carter III? How can this be number 3 in sales rank? Because people with no true musical taste bought this MP3 album for $5 so they can be "hardcore" while driving in front of their high school in the morning and afternoons. This is one of the worst albums I have heard in a long time. It degrades women, glorifies the idiotic 'thug' life, and is more explicit than artful. Whoever labeled this as music was mistaken...it is pure cRap...it isn't even Rap music...there are a lot of kids out there who have been rapping or making music since they were 12 and they are much better than this 'thug' wannabe.

I'm a 58 year old women and I think lil wayne is fantastic with his voice and his performances. The Mrs. Officer is the best ever lil wayne and valentino are just very handsome. I love the cd thanks mary scott

I understand everyone has their own opinions, but what I don't understand is why people love this so much. People brag how he's been rapping since he was 12, if someone's been rapping that long (for him over half his life) I'd expect them to be way better.

This album consists of him throwing out the most random words and phrases. He has absolutely no flow, he sounds bored, and he sounds like he's half asleep. Everything about this album is wack. Even the cover, which he blatantly ripped off from Nas's "Illmatic" / Biggie's "Ready To Die" / and Method Man's "The Prequal" ... Sorry weezy, but you're not quite on that level.