"Tha Carter": This building needs to be demolished....

Before I get into it, I'm going to tell you what inspired me to write this review, which has been planned for a long while. We must first go back to May 2007, when I was graduating college. It was common knowledge that I was hoping to have a career in music as a recording artist, so people would often talk about music with me. On one of the last days, a few students started a conversation with me about the current Hip-Hop scene. In the midst of it, one of them asked "Nick, who do you think is the best rapper out there today?" I didn't have a definitive answer, cause I never really thought about it before; to come up with an answer would take a lot of thought, so I just said "I dunno, I'd have to really think about it." And when I asked who HE thought was the best, he said Lil Wayne without hesitation, and started to give me his reasons as to why he was the best rapper alive. It didn't really surprise me, cause it was a common opinion amongst mainstream Hip-Hop fans that Wayne is one of the top guys out. I replied honestly: "Well, I can't really agree.... I don't hate the dude, cause he's come out with some good mixtape material, but I didn't like "Tha Carter" or "Tha Carter II" so I can't really classify him as the best rapper alive." Now when I said that, he looked at me like a cow looks at an oncoming train, astonished that I did not like those two albums: "I aint never met anyone who didn't like Tha Carter or Tha Carter II!" When he asked me who out there was better than Wayne, I mentioned Joe Budden (who was simply the first guy to come to mind), and they didn't have any argument there. The argument then evolved into who then to who the best rapper of all time was (with another student named Ty, who I wasn't fond of anyway, getting involved), and how much record sales factors into that argument (Ty said Jay-Z was the G.O.A.T. simply based on record sales).

For those who aren't familiar with him, here's a short history lesson: Lil Wayne (real name Dwayne Carter) got his start while he was young, signing with Cash Money Records when he was only 11 years old. In 1997, he made his official debut as a member of The Hot Boys, a crew that consisted of himself, B.G., Juvenile, and Turk; he later made his solo debut in 1999 with "The Block is Hot". As time went on, B.G., Turk, and Juvenile departed from Cash Money, leaving Wayne as the label's top priority. But Wayne wouldn't fulfill his potential until 2004 with the release of his fourth solo album, "Tha Carter", which was successful both commercially and critically. Now, not too long after that conversation that I mentioned in the first paragraph, I always wondered if I was over my head by saying I didn't like Wayne or his records. But ever since then, for the rest of 2007 up until right now, my hatered -- actually, 'hatred' is too strong of a word, so I'll just use 'discontent' -- my discontent for Lil Wayne has only grown with more and more material I've heard from him, both old and new. A lot of people accuse me of blatantly hating, but I'm just being truthful: none of Cash Money's rappers have ever been that good, Wayne included. As a member of the Hot Boys, he didn't stand out much, and his early solo career wasn't much to talk about either. But at that time, it had been so long since I listened to "Tha Carter" or "Tha Carter II", I decided that I would review them both and give my honest opinion on them. I haven't had the opportunity nor drive to actually review them until now, so after a few re-listens, I've come up with my final opinion on both records.

First we'll start out with "Tha Carter", the album where Wayne had supposedly perfected his craft. Before I get too deep, I might as well explain the album's title: while one could very well believe it's a reference to Jay-Z, who is one of Wayne's main influences, it helps not to read too much into it. Aside from referencing Wayne's real last name, the album is a reference to the 1991 film "New Jack City". In the film, Nino Brown (played by Wesley Snipes) and his gang, the Cash Money Brothers (starting to see a connection?) turn an entire apartment complex into an efficient crack house known as The Carter. In an interview, Wayne stated that the title was a metaphor for his mind state: "When Nino took over The Carter, he ran it like an organized Manhattan office building. On The Carter, you are entering my mental plane, filled with many corridors, hallways, and compartments. The Carter in New Jack City was calculated and systematic, that’s me." This metaphor is seen right off the bat with the intro track "Walk In", where he gives us a literal tour of the crack house over slow beat laced with brassy horns and gritty synthesizers. At the end of the track, he promises to "show [us] the rest of the house later", which he does in the musical interlude "Inside" and the outro "Walk Out". Using the same beat as the intro, these tracks continue the tour, but they're only a little over one minute, so neither of them have enough time to show us what he's capable of like the intro does (the length of "Walk In" is 3:04). Becaue of that, they don't stand out as much as the intro does, but they are still good tracks. With these creative set-up tracks, you'd expect the rest of the album to be pretty interesting, right? Well, unfortunately, you would be wrong.

The first thing I wanna address is Wayne's apparent lyrical ability. As I mentioned earlier, this album was successful both commercially and critically, but more than anything it earned him mass notability outside the south as a "lyricist". Wayne obviously thinks highly of himself when it comes to lyricism; he even referred to himself as "the best rapper alive since the best rapper retired" at the end of the first single "Bring it Back". But the fact is he's not as strong a lyricist as he'd have you believe. I mean, he's not necessarily a BAD rapper, but a lot of what he says just leaves me unimpressed; his punchlines, metaphors, and wordplay are just so simple and basic. Here are a few examples so you can get what I'm talking about: "I'm flyer than a motherfuckin' pelican", "I got it on my mind like a psychic nigga", "I'mma stand up guy, not the type that falls", "Ya not bout it, you freeze up like popsicles / pop up on bicycles, pop y'all like spot pimples", "And not a day go by us / we don't get higher than the telephone wires", "Real niggas taking falls like Niagara / trying to stay up like Viagra" . This type of standard, simple braggadocio takes up the majority of the album. Let's take a look at "Go DJ", the album's second single and first major hit. With its bouncy synthesized beat, it's hard to deny the catchiness of this track. But while the song's title and hook (which is simply "Go DJ! That's my DJ!" repeated over and over again) may make it seem like a tribute to Wayne's DJ/producer and longtime collaborator Mannie Fresh (who produces most of the album), Wayne gives us basic braggadocio about himself and how good he is. But since the lyricism is considerably weak, the song succeeds as a club hit but fails to impress everybody else. The album continues in this direction, with songs like "This is The Carter", the aforementioned "Bring it Back", "BM Jr.", "We Don't", "Who Wanna", "Get Down", and "Cash Money Millionaires" -- and all but one fail to match up to my expectations ("BM Jr." is the only one with a good lyrical performance).

Another thing about this album that people seem to applaud is Wayne's apparent maturity. In an interview with VIBE Magazine, he had made some mention of growth in his life, with "Tha Carter" reflecting his new seasoned demeanor. Well, Wayne must have a different definition of the word 'maturity' than I do, cause there's about as much growth as you'd expect from a rapper who's been in the limelight since adolescence. The content is pretty much what you would expect from any rapper nowadays. For all you gangsta rap lovers, we have "Tha Heat", where Wayne brags about guns and shooting his enemies, over thin, brassy synthesizers. The gangsta cliches are completed by the brain-numbing cry of "I shoot ya arm, leg, leg, arm, head!" in the hook. For the degrading portrayal of women, we have "Hoes", where Wayne is joined by Mannie Fresh to talk about how much they love hoes over a sleep-inducing beat laced with keyboard synthesizers and an irritating flute loop. But to seem like the sensitive thug type, he throws "Earthquake". Of course, he doesn't sound too sensitive when he brags that he's so fly that he'll steal your woman, while Jazze Pha sings a crappy interpretation of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" for the hook. And as most rappers do nowadays, he advocates the 'stop snitching' movement with "Snitch, a by-the-numbers warning to snitches and shit talkers. The production on this track doesn't fit the subject matter though, as Wayne raps these threats over a sugary club beat. And to complete the cliches, Wayne includes a standard "dedication to the homeys" track, "I Miss My Dawgs", a piano and guitar-laced tribute to his former Hot Boys: BG, Juvenile, and Turk, with each of them getting a verse. It's not anything new, that's for sure, but it's actually one of the better tracks on the album, one of the only points when Wayne's lyricism isn't completely half-assed (though he slips for the 3rd verse). Unfortunately Reel's hook is completely shitty and taints the overall experience. Wayne may have experience personal maturity, but it sure doesn't reflect in his music, cause the subject matter is just as redundant as you'd expect.

I tried my best to write this next sentence in the most polite way I could, but the fact is there isn't nothing I can say at this point that'll get me anywhere with the Wayne groupies anyway, so I'll just say it like this: "Tha Carter" sucks. Period. There is really nothing I can say that I like about this album. Sure, there are a few songs where Wayne doesn't disappoint ("Walk In", "BM Jr", "I Miss My Dawgs"), but the majority of the album is really nothing different than what you would normally hear from a modern day rap album. If he sounds like everybody else, I don't understand how he can be 'the best rapper alive'. He doesn't have the lyrical ability that some other emcees out there do; I mean, he's a great rapper when compared to the bottom of the barrel (Piles, D4L, Shop Boyz, etc.), but if you compare him to some of the greats like Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, or even modern favorites like Nas or Jay-Z (both of whom have put out a lot of bullshit in the past), he really isn't much to talk about. The production doesn't help him out too much either; Mannie Fresh's production has always been hit or miss, and while he does hit a few times on the record, sometimes spectacularly (the best effort on the album production-wise is "Ain't That a Bitch"), his synthesized beats sound overdone and aren't very impressive either. You may consider me a hater for writing this type of review, but I'd rather speak the truth and save the consumer his or her money than jump on the bandwagon just cause everyone else has. To summarize, Lil Wayne and his supporters can say all day that he's the best rapper alive, but "Tha Carter" is not the album that proves it. It certainly doesn't give me any more of a reason to like him, that's for sure. Maybe I'll have better luck with "Tha Carter II"...

FINAL RATING: 2 Stars

Track listing:
1. Walk In (4 Stars)
2. Go DJ (3 Stars)
3. This is The Carter feat. Mannie Fresh (1 1/2 Stars)
4. BM J.R. (4 Stars)
5. On the Block #1 (NOT RATED)
6. I Miss My Dawgs feat. Reel (3 1/2 Stars)
7. We Don't feat. Baby (1 Star)
8. On My Own feat. Reel (2 1/2 Stars)
9. Tha Heat (1/2 Star)
10. Cash Money Millionaires (0 Stars)
11. Inside (3 1/2 Stars)
12. Bring it Back feat. Mannie Fresh (1 Star)
13. Who Wanna (2 1/2 Stars)
14. On the Block #2 (NOT RATED)
15. Get Down feat. Baby (3 Stars)
16. Snitch (0 Stars)
17. Hoes feat. Mannie Fresh (0 Stars)
18. Only Way feat. Baby (1 Star)
19. Earthquake feat. Jazze Pha (1 Star)
20. Ain't That a Bitch (2 Stars)
21. Walk Out (3 Stars)