The fourth entry in Lil Wayne’s ‘Tha Carter’ collection arrived after a interval of superstardom, imprisonment, and experimentation. Rather a lot was driving on the world’s most well-known rapper’s follow-up to his biggest-ever album.
Hype for Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter IV began as quickly as Tha Carter III dropped. In all probability even earlier than. C3 established Lil Wayne as the most important rapper on this planet. The album’s first week gross sales wouldn’t be topped by one other rap album, and it will be practically a decade earlier than anybody even got here shut. In one other world, Wayne may have cruised from C3 to C4 not solely as the most important rapper, however probably the most highly effective folks in leisure. As a substitute, Tha Carter IV got here out over three years later, on August 29, 2011, following 2 different studio albums, 2 mixtapes, and a jail sentence.
Tha Carter IV hits the bottom working nearly instantly. Like its predecessor, the album opens with 4 frenzied tracks of Wayne rapping his ass off, then swerves on the fifth observe and turns into one thing of a seize bag afterward. “Blunt Blowin,” “MegaMan,” and “6 Foot 7 Foot” are the extra well-known cuts, however even from the album’s intro, it’s clear that Wayne’s nonetheless bought it. His output by no means actually slowed down, however after the Rikers stint, Tha Carter IV felt like a little bit of a testing floor.
C4’s fifth observe swerve, “Nightmares of the Bottom,” was well-known earlier than its launch fueled by the hype constructed up for Wayne’s look on MTV’s Unplugged. Probably the greatest elements of the album is that it does actually really feel like a part of a collection, particularly as a sequel to Tha Carter III. There are moments all through the album that really feel parallel to its predecessor. “President Carter” is a nod to C3’s “Mr. Carter” and “Dr. Carter,” whereas “6 Foot 7 Foot” is kind of a direct sequel to “A Milli,” not simply due to Wayne’s move and the Bangladesh beat however particularly due to a characteristic from Cory Gunz – famously reduce from the album model of “A Milli.”
T-Ache and Busta Rhymes return after their appearances on C3 whereas “John” with Rick Ross and “She Will” with Drake really feel like acknowledgments of the success these two have had since Tha Carter III’s launch. Wayne is entering into their worlds as a lot as they’re his. “John” is basically a suped-up model of Ross’ “I’m Not a Star” and “She Will,” (with a T-Minus beat) sounds prefer it’s from Drake’s Take Care periods. Jadakiss, Bun B, Nas, and Shyne additionally seem to shut out the album, stalwarts from each nook of rap come by means of to present Wayne the stamp of approval in what appears like a victory lap.
Tha Carter IV boasts work from different producers from Wayne’s C3 golden period together with Notorious, Cool & Dre, StreetRunner, but it surely nonetheless felt like a reckoning with hip-hop’s altering panorama. Lots of the C3-era producers Wayne labored with throughout C4’s early periods ended up on I Am Not a Human Being, which was launched a number of months earlier than the top of Wayne’s sentence. IANAHB was successful, however a little bit of a clearinghouse and showcase for different Younger Cash artists that made it really feel like a lower-stakes album, whereas Tha Carter IV was going to be a recent begin.
The altering panorama in rap, because it began to intertwine additional with pop, after which digital, is barely somewhat apparent in case you hearken to Tha Carter III and Tha Carter IV on their very own. However have a look at the distinction within the songs Wayne rapped over on No Ceilings versus Sorry 4 the Wait — one launched simply earlier than his jail stint and the opposite a number of months after. On the primary, he’s dominating each radio hit of the day, and on the opposite, he’s coming to phrases with a brand new class of opponents who rode his wave. When Tha Carter III got here out, Wayne was one of many solely rappers using the ability of the web, however by Tha Carter IV’s launch, he was rapping over “Gucci Gucci,” a track some folks thought of a meme, and getting a Lil B characteristic on a Wake Flocka instrumental.
“How To Love” is a far cry from the identical man who launched “Lollipop” however Tha Carter IV additionally noticed Wayne develop up. The R&B reduce is likely one of the finest cuts off the album, particularly on the LP’s latter half. It feels very post-808s, post-Bieber, and possibly most significantly, post-Rebirth. It’s practically unimaginable to speak about Tha Carter IV with out not less than mentioning Rebirth, the rock-influenced album Wayne launched in January of 2010.
At one level, the albums have been talked about as being packaged collectively, then as a triple album with We Are Younger Cash earlier than it was decided all three albums could be launched as separate tasks. And whereas “How To Love” is softer and extra acoustically-minded than something on Rebirth, it definitely appears like an extension of that experiment. Surprisingly, this stylistic shift didn’t permeate Tha Carter IV extra, particularly now that we all know how influential Rebirth ended up being for the subsequent technology.
Whereas it will be a very long time earlier than one other Carter album, the fourth entry in Wayne’s most prolific collection established him not simply as a veteran, however the youngest elder statesman in hip-hop. He had respect from veterans older than him and from the few friends he may take into account competitors. He was serving to new artists grow to be superstars in their very own proper. He wasn’t but 30 years previous, and Tha Carter IV was his ninth studio launch amongst a numerous slew of tasks official and in any other case. He’d now spent half a decade or extra atop rap’s throne and Wayne wasn’t going anyplace.
The tenth anniversary of Tha Carter IV contains the addition of three bonus tracks, together with “Up Up And Away,” “NovaCane” feat. Kevin Rudolf and “I Got Some Money On Me” feat. Birdman.
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