In Review: Lil Wayne: "Tha Carter III"

When it comes to hip-hop, reviewers at highbrow publications are mind-blowingly easy to impress. Saying that all rappers are talentless wankers who write little more than glorified ringtones makes a critic sound curmudgeonly and out of touch. But the thing is ... most rappers these days *do* write little more than glorified ringtones. So a reviewer will salivate over any exception (see also: the second to last graf on the first page of this review).

Hence the hype over Lil Wayne's sixth official album. Though it doesn't hurt that Tha Carter III went platinum its first week, which has been practically unheard of in the last few years (Kanye West's newest album, which came out last year, hasn't sold a million copies to date).

Is it worth the hype? Rolling Stone gave it 4 1/2 stars. I wouldn't go that far. But on the whole it's a solid album, which is saying a lot for any genre, and even more in a genre that produces a disproportionate number of bloated albums.

Whether or not Lil Wayne is in fact the self-anointed "best rapper alive," you have to give him some credit. Mid-90s OutKast comes to mind. Back before Big Boi got swallowed by Andre 3000's George Clinton complex, he brought the street cred and Andre brought the crazy. Lil Wayne can do both. He does the requisite smack-talking. He waxes political. He claims he is a Martian. And being that he is one of the most prolific mainstream rappers in history — he's done a ton of mixtapes and guested on more than 100 songs with other people — he has plenty of tracks on which to do all of that, and manages to not come off as an egghead rapper, a la Nas or Kanye West, which is no easy feat (nothing against either Nas or Kanye).

Tha Carter III probably won't be the album you play while you get ready to go out. But it's full of lines that will make you go wait ...what?! So put it on in the car when you can actually appreciate lil wayne for the brilliant MC that he is. (See also: "Georgia ... Bush," "Go DJ," "Shooter").


Unrelated note:
The democrats in Congress are a bunch of pussified, ball-less, spineless, useless saps. Except Russ Feingold.

And John McCain ain't any better.