Decibel : Lil by lil: Weezy’s stalled career looks up after sub-par string of releases
Artist: Lil Wayne
Album: Tha Carter IV
Record Label: Cash Money
Soundwaves: 3.5/5
After two disappointing albums and a few less than stellar mixtapes, Lil Wayne finally got it right. Fresh out of prison with his trademark rasp and high energy, Weezy released the long-delayed ‘Tha Carter IV.’ His stint in the cellblock allowed rap giants Kanye West, Jay-Z and Eminem to take the throne of the self-proclaimed ‘best rapper alive.’ Though Weezy may not be at the top, this album shouldn’t disappoint fans.
The album’s first track, ‘Intro,’ opens with the flick of a lighter before Lil Wayne enters with a two-minute, well-paced stream of conscious freestyle over a menacing horn-and-drum riff. It leads perfectly into ‘Blunt Blowin,’ one of the strongest tracks on the album, robust with instrumental fanfare and a sing-along chorus. First single ‘6 Foot 7 Foot’ teams the rapper with ‘A Milli’ producer Bangladesh for a club banger with classic Weezy wordplay woven throughout the long verses. In ‘She Will,’ Drake lays down a sexy hook in the radio friendly single.
Lil Wayne is at his best when he is himself: weird, crude and funny. His raps are contagious as he alters words into bizarre metaphors. It’s when he decides to slow down the beat that the album’s problems become glaringly obvious.
T-Pain lends his auto-tuned voice on the weak ‘How to Hate,’ a song that sounds as if it was cut from T-Pain’s 2008 album ‘Thr33 Ringz.’ Lil Wayne only makes a brief cameo on the R&B snoozefest, which is jarring and out of place in the album. ‘Nightmare on the Bottom’ sounds too similar to the failed ‘Rebirth’ rock experiment. ‘So Special,’ featuring John Legend, and Billboard Top 100 single ‘How to Love’ lack the authenticity of Weezy’s late 2000’s mix tapes.
The ‘Intro’ beat is also used for the two strongest tracks on the album: ‘Interlude,’ featuring Tech N9ne, and ‘Outro,’featuring Bun B, Nas, Shyne and Busta Rhymes, all six talented rappers bringing their own unique styles. Ironically, Lil Wayne is absent from both of these tracks.
Despite the unevenness of the album, Weezy wraps up ‘Tha Carter IV’ with a vengeance. He delivers his own inaugural address in ‘President Carter,’ with a hypnotic beat that gets stuck in your head. ‘It’s Good,’ a previously leaked track, targets Jay-Z, who took a crack at Weezy’s mentor Birdman in ‘H-A-M.’
It has taken Lil Wayne almost three years to remind the fans why they fell in love with his music. But Weezy is not quite back yet. He needs to return to his roots instead of venturing into other genres such as R&B. That aside, this album is headed in the right direction for Weezy, and ‘Tha Carter IV’ may just be his stepping stone back to greatness.
Published on August 29, 2011 at 12:00 pm
