The Carter 4

The Carter 4
I had to learn to like Lil Wayne over the years, at first I used to judge him from the Weezy of the old Cash Money days the “Wobbly wobbly” spitting Wayne from the late 90s when I was still very much a lyrical East coast purist. I started catching on that the kid had talent when someone gave me a copy of The Carter 2 a few years ago, I actually liked it. That’s when I started realizing that Weezy F Baby had some lyrical skill and wasn’t as simple as the stereotypical Southern emcees. When the wildly successful The Carter 3 came out I was excited to get to the store quickly and I bought 2 copies (One for my girl), but I wasn’t as pleased with the album as I was with the mix tape Weezy. Afterward he went an auto-tune singing frenzy of guest cameos that left an even more bitter taste in my mouth and I thought maybe I was wrong about this kid. Essentially I had to relearn to like Lil Wayne from his mix tapes and guest appearances (i.e. “Miss Me” from the Drake Thank Me Later LP and No Love from Eminem’s Relapse LP) to get mildly excited for this new album The Carter 4.
Now fresh out of Riker’s Island Weezy serves up the new LP The Carter 4 and I must say that I am pleased. I think it’s the perfect mix of the mix tape Weezy and the album pop phenomenon Lil Wayne that hip hop purist and A.D.D. having pop fans can appreciate. The intro track comes in with a thumping boom bap style beat from producer Willy Will where Weezy gets straight to business with witty lyrics like “I keep some Bud like Rudy Huxtible, body slam the beat n**ga Dusty Roads”. The boom bap trend continues with tracks like Blunt Blowin (Prod. DVLP) and Megaman (Prod.Megaman) before he gets to gets to his hit lead street burner single 6 Foot 7 Foot featuring Cory Gunz. Over the classic sample “Day O” performed by vintage crooner Harry Bellefonte, Weezy goes hard on the Mr. Bangladesh production with sharp rhymes like “The fruits of my labor I enjoy them while they still ripe” before a stand out performance by the young up and coming YMCMB spitter Cory Gunz. Gunz goes ballistic with rapid fire unorthodox delivery switching up speeds and serving up smart lines like “Now all I want is hits, b**ch Wayne signed a fein.” There is also a decent balance of guest appearances on C4 from the likes of the always improving Rick Ross on the Polow da Don produced “Jon” which is actually a remake of the intro track “I’m Not a Star” from Rick Ross’ “Trilla” LP as well as Young Money break out star Drake on the pop friendly track “She Will” produced by T-Minus and “It’s Good” with a refreshing appearance from Jadakiss. The cameos continue with the mid album interlude featuring Tech N9ne and a surprise appearance from eccentric Outkast member Andre 3000 over the same beat as the intro and the outro which features heavy hitters like Bun B., Nas, Shyne and Busta Rhymes. Graciously Weezy falls back to let the all star cast do their thing on both tracks in classic hip hop form reminiscent of how Reakwon and Ghost Face did on their LPs when they let other Wu members run wild on their track without even spitting a line. The cameo party falls kind of short when Weezy’s classic collaborator partner T-Pain shows up on the Young Fyre produced “How to Hate”. Though the production isn’t bad, lyrically the track lacks luster as the two partners in rhyme go on about women who have betrayed them in the past. Mr. Carter makes up for it later in the album with one of my favorite tracks the John Legend assisted “So Special” produced by super producers Cool & Dre. Weezy and Mr. Legend make the perfect combination as Weezy cleverly serves up line like “And go down south, Louisiana.” The lead pop friendly single “How to Love” is definitely something the ladies can appreciate and even though it’s the singing Weezy at least it’s only for one song and he doesn’t overdo it all over the album.
In the end I think the Carter 4 is a solid follow up to the insanely popular Carter 3. I think the album could have done with at least one intellectual insightful track and I noticed that the first lady of YMCMB Nikki Minaj was M.I.A. but besides that Weezy F Baby did a good job at keeping hip hop heads happy and still keeping that pop balance to be able to do good numbers in the stores. With ever growing popular Young Money records roster it is still clear to see why Lil Wayne still holds the top spot, all hail President Carter.
4 out 5 Head Nods