Album Review: Tha Carter IV by Lil Wayne

Courtesy of aceshowbiz.com

Was I the only one who wasn’t even looking forward to this album that much? After an absolutely terrible single in How to Love and a pretty bad mixtape in Sorry 4 the Wait combined with other recent Wayne stuff, I have a feeling he’s almost lost it. And this album may be his last chance (at least for me), to prove that he can still go back to the man who made Tha Carter III. I’ll be honest, I’m not expecting too much out of this album, except for a few tracks and those are only because of guest appearances. Well did Tha Carter IV bring back the old Lil Wayne, or is it a huge flop? Check out the review below!

1: Intro 3/5
Let’s call this a s****y remake of 3 Peat. Here’s why; the record starts off with Wayne rapping “man f**k them b*****s, and them hoes, and them n****s p*****s, camel-toe”. This track is all about Wayne and using the Drake/Fabolous/Big Sean type of rapping such as “now watch me go retarded, yellow short bus”. The track is filled with crappy one liners like I just mentioned and Wayne brags basically (but not in the dope way that ‘Ye and Jay did on WTT). And all of this is sad really because the beat is actually pretty dope. Wayne went and ruined it.

2: Blunt Blowin’ 3.5/5
I want to hate this song, I really do. I mean just look at the title and listen to Wayne’s lyrics. But I can’t. The beat is just too sick and the chorus is pretty damn catchy. Other than that this track sticks out in no way, shape or form. But hey, everyone gets that one ignorant track that they can jam to, right?

3: MegaMan 4.5/5
This is Weezy. The beat goes hard and Wayne brings it. The beat is filled with deep bass kicks and an almost alien sounding sythn in the background, making for a crazy sound. There is no hook, just two long verses from Weezy. This is what I want to see him doing, spitting two dope, long verses with no mainstream attempted hook, over a crazy beat.

4: 6 Foot 7 Foot (feat. Cory Gunz) 5/5
This song was released all the way back in November, but it hasn’t lost any shine since then. This record got everyone back on the Lil Wayne train after he was released from jail and you can tell why. The beat is insane and Lil Wayne destroys his verses. Like I said above, this is what I want out of the New Orleans emcee. Also I feel like Cory Gunz’s verse is underrated. Yes his voice his kinda annoying, but he raps fast as hell. I would say he stole the show, but Lil Wayne did the best without a doubt.

5: Nightmares of the Bottom 3.5/5
And like that, the How to Love Lil Wayne is back. The beat almost sounds like it was meant for a little kids show. It has a very playtime-ish vibe to it, filled with piano keys and a toy-ish synth kick. I’m not really quite sure what to make of this track. I mean after all it is titled Nightmares of the Bottom, but the feel to this track is the exact opposite. I thought this was going to be more of the dark-side of Wayne, almost like a Tech N9NE or Tyler, The Creator song. But it’s as far from them as it gets, more playful and an almost wonderland-ish sound. On a positive side (for Wayne, not me), this could get some serious spins on the radio.

6: She Will (feat. Drake) 4/5
Ever since this track was released around a week ago, I just haven’t been that much of a fan of it. Wayne recruited Canadian hit maker T-Minus, and while it’s not my favorite beat from him, it’s solid nonetheless. Weezy’s verses just seem average for him, almost uninspired. Wayne, can we get a Drake verse too? I was rather disappointed when Drizzy only handled hook duties with no verse. The hook is probably my favorite part of the record but a Drake verse would have taken it to the next level.

7: How to Hate (feat. T-Pain) 2.5/5
We’ll call this the How to Love Remix and considering how much I hate the original, don’t expect anything to change on here. This is 100% aimed for the radio and with the success of How to Love I could see this becoming a huge hit. Almost in the same vein as the T-Pain smash Can’t Believe It, but worse. I’m not a fan of the beat, hook, verses, guest feature, lyrics, anything. I would say I hope to never hear this song again, but that will never happen.

8: Interlude (feat. Tech N9NE & “A Very Special Guest”) 5/5
This is what I’m f*****g talking about! This is by far (and I mean by far) my favorite song on the LP so far. By the way, “a very special guest” is none other than André 3000 himself. Tech N9NE comes in and absolutely tears apart his verse. Using insane flow and solid lyrics, he drops one of the best verses so far on the album. But then we get to 3 Stacks (who actually goes uncredited on the official tracklist) comes in, but don’t worry he has a full verse. Control C + Control V what I said about Tech N9NE’s verse and you have André 3000’s verse too. The thing I find funny about this record is that it’s the best song so far, yet it is without a Wayne verse or hook. Funny how that works.

9: John (feat. Rick Ross) 3/5
Add together I’m Not a Star and B.M.F. by Rick Ross, throw in a Wayne verse, and this is your result. If you have followed this blog at all, then you probably know I hate both those songs so this is right up there with them. The beat sounds like every other B.M.F. like songs, unoriginal. One word pretty much sums this up for me: skip.

10: Abortion 3/5
The first fifteen seconds of this turn me off right away. Wayne’s voice is so ridiculously auto-tuned that you can barely understand what he is singing, maybe rapping, screw it I’m not sure what to call it. As I said before, this is a crappy version of J. Cole’s Lost Ones. However upon listening to this, it has almost nothing to actually do with abortions. The lyrics are so random that the song looses its direction and makes for a very confusing listen. Again, the beat is solid, but the lyrics just suck so much it turns me away from the rest of the record.

11: So Special (feat. John Legend) 4.5/5
Right off the bat, this was not the track I was expecting out of John Legend and Wayne. I was thinking more along the lane of a Blame Game or Never Forget You, more of a calm, smooth song. The beat however, is harder and sounds like it’s a Boi-1da production, even though it’s not. With that being said I still like this track a lot. John Legend’s hook is dope and I can live with Wayne’s verses. All in all, this is a pretty solid listen from Weezy.

12: How to Love N/A
Yeah that’s right, I’m not even going to rate this song I hate it so much. I’m not sure if I even need to say anymore about it, especially if you follow this blog. Well then, next track please.

13: President Carter 5/5
Dope, period. The track starts off with a sample of President Jimmy Carter being sworn in and they use a looped version of someone saying “President Carter” on the hook. Then it transitions into a downright sick beat. It is a slow, rock-ish sound and it works well with the vibe of the track. I actually like Wayne’s verses a lot and his flow is sick, welcome back Weezy. Going to have this one on repeat for a while.

14: It’s Good (feat. Drake & Jadakiss) 5/5
Wayne is in the groove now. This is one of the dopest beats so far on the album, it has sick violins or something like that in the background which makes for an atmosphere that sounds like it is in an orchestra. While I’m not normally Jadakiss fan (but I respect what he has done and success he’s gained), he comes in and kills his verse. Next we finally get a verse from Drake, who doesn’t disappoint with a nasty flow. Lastly Wayne comes in and gets his The Game on (aka taking shots at people for no reason). The victim this time is Jay-Z and Wayne raps that he will snatch Beyoncé and some other crap like that. I don’t really think Jay should even bother to respond. Let’s be honest, Hov would destroy Wayne any day.

15: Outro (feat. Bun B, Nas, Shyne & Busta Rhymes) 5/5
Without a doubt this was the track I was looking forward to the most on the album, no contest. I find every artist on this song dope as hell, yes even Shyne. Down south legend Bun B brings in the track with dirty verse where he shows off his underrated flow and sick rhymes. Then rap legend Nas comes in a drops and downright nasty verse, probably my favorite on the album. His flow is insane, not something that comes to mind first when you think of Nas. Next comes Shyne. I’ll admit it, Shyne has fallen off a lot since he was released from jail, but he is still dope. Most people are probably going to be like “what the f**k is that?” while he’s rapping, but something about his style appeals to me. Busta gets the mic next. At first he was rapping slower and I was really hoping he would pick it up, luckily he does. Using his rapid fire flow he drops a few lines and closes out the track on a strong note. Wait what? Closes out the album? Yep that’s right, no Wayne verse.

If I were to compare Tha Carter IV to something, it would be the stock market. The album had so many ups and down, it was ridiculous. I think the funny things is my two favorite songs had no Lil Wayne verses, which I figured out actually has an explanation. The Intro, Interlude and Outro all have the same beat. So each song is like an extension of the previous. I think it would have been absolutely crazy if Wayne had one song that featured Tech N9NE, André 3000, Bun B, Nas, Shyne & Busta Rhymes all on one track. The anticipation for that would have been through the roof. Another random sidenote is: where the hell is Nicki Minaj on this album? She needed to be on here somewhere. Well, back to the album, as I said above there are soo many ups and downs I’m not sure what to rate the album as a whole. I’ll have about four of the songs on rotation for a long time, but I’ll never listen to 60% of the album ever again. It’s not even close to Tha Carter III, but I still think it will be a huge success in the mainstream. With many songs that could be huge radio hits, Weezy will be releasing singles and promoting this album for a long time. There are a glimpses of the Lil Wayne I love, but they are few and far between. All in all this is a disappointment, too much mainstream crap.

Download: Lil Wayne – Tha Carter IV