Tha Carter 3 Pt. 2

An album doesn’t sell over 1 million records the first week without monster singles and a bit of polish and of course, Tha Carter 3 had both. 6 singles were released for the album, all of them fantastic songs. Features included stars like by T-Pain, Jay-Z, Busta Rhymes, Bobby V, Robin Thicke, Juelz Santana and Jay-Z. Production featured names like Kanye West, Swizz Beats, David Banner, Alchemist, Bangladesh, and Cool & Dre. It’s pretty clear, there’s not much more you can ask for in either of those categories. The runtime is almost exactly the same as the first two Carters, but there aren’t any apparent issues with length to me. The generally great features like Jay-Z on “Mr. Carter” and incredible beats you could listen to forever like “Let The Beat Build” never make you check the time remaining on any song. Although skits were mostly dead by this time, there is quite a long monologue at the end of DontGetIt where Wayne discusses aspects of systemic racism against blacks in America and disses Al Sharpton. Although this doesn’t warrant a listen on every play though, I could listen to Wayne talk at length about anything. The fact that such a mainstream star spent almost 7 minutes talking about social issues is beyond admirable. It also gives you a pretty big clue that Wayne haters of the day clearly heard his smash singles and wrote him off completely.

The run of the first 6 songs from the album is nothing short of incredible. Lil Wayne comes blazing in on 3Peat then shares the beat with Jay-Z where the older Carter passes the proverbial torch to the young Carter with both of them giving amazing verses. There are no breaks as the epic crowd singing of the “Mr. Carter” chorus turns into the image you can hear of Wayne coming out of the tour bus as the “A Milli” beat drops. Wayne rips the entire track to shreds and it really doesn’t need much more explanation than that. A certified classic hip-hop song (An honorable mention to the original version featuring Cory Gunz, the intended prequel to 6ft 7ft. Waynes verses are different but every bit as good as the original). There are absolutely no breaks on the train, as “A Milli” rolls into another pop-rap classic in “Got Money”. T-Pain comes through with a fantastic feature, delivering a flawless hook.

Finally, a chance to breathe comes in as “Comfortable” starts. The beat is like a relaxing summer breeze and Babyface’s hook compliments it perfectly (Thank you Mr. West). This might be one of my favorite songs on the album. Wayne floats on the beat so well and everything about the song just gels together perfectly.

On “Dr. Carter”, shows Wayne flexing his creative muscles and was announced as one of the greatest hip-hop songs (Talib Kweli has ever heard when addressing Wayne haters at a concert. The song stories Dr. Carter attempting to save rappers suffering from various rap related “illnesses”.

“Phone Home” is not my favorite moment on the album. The cheesy “GREETINGS FROM PLANET WEEZY” at the start of the song and the lame interjection of “If you feel like you’re the best, Go ‘head and do the Weezy-We, and Phone Home!” during the chorus rub me the wrong way. The rest of the song is pretty enjoyable honestly, and overall is aided by the fact it is the shortest song on the album, so at least it doesn’t last forever.

The Robin Thicke feature sequel to “Shooter” delivers on the promise of how great their collaborations can be. “Tie My Hands” is a political track addressing Hurricane Katrina as a resident of New Orleans. The song is beautiful and very thoughtful. Yet another example of Wayne being a lot deeper than some detractors give him credit for.

Wayne follows up the heavy subject matter of “Tie My Hands” with a lighter hearted song in “Mrs. Officer”. A song so buttery smooth that it makes Bobby V’s chorus consisting of a literal 5 year old’s attempt at replicating a police siren sound heavenly. This song is just straight up enjoyable to listen to and is one of my favorites from the album. Even wackadoodle Young Money rapper Kid Kid brings a pretty quotable verse.

There are a certain few rap songs that I have listened to countless times that I still have trouble singing along with due to the beat being so freaking quality that I can’t help but get sucked in to bobbing my head and singing along with the sample while ignoring the rapper completely. “Let The Beat Build” is of course, one of these rare songs. That isn’t to say Wayne’s raps are lacking by any stretch of the imagination. He compliments the beat so well and knows exactly what kind of production he is working with and shares the spotlight accordingly. A great example of the incredible polish on this album where the song is really just put together perfectly.

To be honest, I looked over the next song for years. Only recently I realized how much I loved “Shoot Me Down”. The beat is surprisingly hard for how somber it is. The chorus compliments of D. Smith is pretty great. In the verses, Wayne shows how he can slow it down a little and rap over really any beat with ease. The guitar outro adds another nice element to the song as well. If you are like me and have been sleeping on this song, I would strongly encourage you to give another listen.

I think I gave a decent discussion of Lollipop in the first part of the Carter 3 review, as it is likely one of the first things that come to most anyone’s mind when they hear the album title. According to an interview, Showtime was supposed to be the lead single of the album, until the song leaked and Lollipop came around. It’s interesting to think about what this album would’ve been without Lollipop as it definitely built the buzz around the album in the mainstream considerably and to this day remains Lil Wayne’s most successful single. It goes without saying this is another certified classic from Lil Wayne. Lastly, the “Lollipop” remix with Kanye West is a great addendum to the Lollipop saga where Wayne brings a lot more heat than the original (You don’t want that late text, that I think I’m late text…).

Another slight dip in quality comes in the form of “La La”. I’m not sure how much of it is my rage that “La La La” didn’t make the album and how much is the off-putting baby talked La La’s. Brisco and Busta both do their thing and I want to like this track but there’s something about those La La’s that just make me want to skip the song every time. Busta especially is very entertaining when he isn’t going full roadrunner on the beat.

The next track originally was minted to be “Playing With Fire”. It was replaced due to a copyright lawsuit with “Pussy Monster”. The version of the album on Spotify doesn’t have either song which I am perfectly fine with. If Wayne wants to rap about eating pussy, who am I to stop him? The verses are pretty good, if that’s your thing, and the beat from David Banner is solid as well. I particularly enjoy the light strings in the background But I would venture to say the chorus is dreadful even for the biggest pussy eating fans. Another instant skip for me if I’m listening to a version of Tha Carter 3 with it.

Up to this point on the album, even on the weaker tracks, the polish put into the album is abundantly clear. I’m really not sure if the beat just aged poorly or what, but it sounds like one of the absolutely trash custom songs I made on Guitar Hero World Tour (Imagine the sounds here except instead of the Mortal Kombat Theme, just poorly arranged gibberish). I’m surprised Alchemist dropped such a dud but I suppose it happens. The verses from Fab and Juelz Santana are great (specifically Juelz, who can do no wrong) and do a great deal to redeem the song. Unfortunately, another minus for me is Wayne’s autotuned hook. While not terrible, it is not his best work for sure. Once I get over the initial shock of how bad the beat is, the song is actually pretty fun. “You Ain’t Got Nuthin” really reminds me of a cipher-esqe song off of some random mixtape with a throwaway beat and it really sticks out like a sore thumb among the high quality songs on the rest of the album in its current form.

The album finishes with the powerful track “DontGetIt”. Like I mentioned earlier, the end of the song is a monologue that definitely adds something positive to the album. Songs earlier in the album like “Tie My Hands” ensure this isn’t just a “conscious” message haphazardly tacked on the end of a mainstream album. The first 3 minutes of the song feature nice verses from Wayne and a great sample for the hook. Another great thing about the placement of this track is if you aren’t in the mood, you can simply skip it since the album is over.

I didn’t really initially intend to talk about each song individually but it just kind of happened. I realized while writing this review that, love them or hate them, I don’t think any of the songs on this album can be easily skipped over if you want to give a fleshed out opinion on the album. In that sense, maybe that’s why Tha Carter 3 remains infinitely more discussed and relevant than the first two Carters.

In summary, although hardcore Wayne fans like myself may enjoy Tha Carter 2, Tha Carter 3 is certain to go down as Wayne’s magnum opus and a true classic album of the genre. It’s impact and influence just dwarf the first two Carters and (spoiler alert!!!) really all of the other Carters released thus far. I think this album has earned the rating of Classic status but I will rate my personal enjoyment of the album at an incredible 8.⁵⁄₁₀. Just a notch below Tha Carter 2 due to personal preference and the presence of a few weak tracks that blemish an otherwise pristine record.

Overall: 8.⁵⁄₁₀ (Classic)