By: Martin Rand, III
Date: September 13, 2011
After numerous push backs and delays, Lil' Wayne finally released his highly anticipated album Tha Carter IV on Aug 29. All the wait must've made people want it even more because Tha Carter IV had a very successful first week.
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| Tha Carter IV Album Cover |
Not only did it shoot-up the billboard charts to grab the #1 spot, but it nearly sold one million copies overall in its first week. It also broke the iTunes record for most albums sold in the first week, which was recently set by Jay-Z and Kanye West's Watch the Throne album.
Tha Carter IV is also the second highest selling album of the year and best selling hip-hop album of the year. Now, if you've heard Tha Carter IV, I know exactly what you've thinking: Really?
I know because I thought the same thing.
Don't be fooled by the numbers and the accolades. Tha Carter IV is not a good album. While there are a few songs that may be enjoyable, the majority of the album isn't worth the price of admission.
The album starts off well, with songs like "Mega Man" and "6 Foot 7 Foot". They're fast tracks with banging beats and Lil' Wayne proceeds to beat up the track with punchline after punchline. This is when Lil' Wayne shines. He can deliver hard-hitting punchlines, but hard-hitting complex issues or stories, not so much.
However, the best song on the LP is "Nightmares of the Bottom". It's a somewhat introspection into the life of a rapper at the top of the game but still has fears of falling off. He says, "I'm a gangsta by choice I hope my sons choose wiser, and don't call me sir, call me survivor."
Including the ones already mentioned, another song called "Abortion" and another called "President Carter", there isn't much else to see here.
The major flaw with Tha Carter IV is Lil' Wayne seems very confused. In the beginning of the album, he is rapping about having sex with a bunch of woman, smoking weed and living the rock star life. Then, in the latter stages of the album he's talking about making sweet love to women and telling them they need to find somebody who will know how to really love them. It's a big contradiction when just a few songs ago he said the girls were going to do whatever he wanted because he was rich.
Another problem is the featured artists on Tha Carter IV serve no purpose. None of their verses are memorable or help raise the quality of the album, which is sad because artist like Andre 3000, Jadakiss, Drake and Busta Rhymes are featured. It seems like Lil' Wayne has them on the album just to say he has them on his album.
Tha Carter IV seems like it's suppose to appeal to everyone; but in the end, it only appeals to the select groupies who believe everything Lil' Wayne touches is gold. If you're a Lil' Wayne fan then you already have the album or you're planning on buying it. If you're not a fan, then this isn't the album that's going to convert you. Four "Carter" entries in and Lil' Wayne is still the same rapper. He'll give you great one-liners with no substance to back up the rest of the album.
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