Seriously though, love 'em or hate 'em, over-rated, under-rated, on-point, off target, gay, straight, whatever adjective you use... One thing you can't deny. He's been the hottest rapper for the past year and a half it seems. It's like Jay-Z in the late 90's, he's just on everybody's request for a feature (not sayin' Jay still ain't, but Jay's price is alil' to high for your average rapper.) Also, what you can't deny, Weezy F. made a big impact and people started payin' attention as soon as he started doin' these Carter sets. Also, this is when he put that Gillie style to good use. Wayne is often praised for the crazy flow, and unique swagger of his, but to most hip-hop purists, he's criticized for his lack of substance in songs and ability to be versatile on his LPs. And pressure would be a great understatement for the self-proclaimed "Best Rapper Alive." Well, lets see if the main meal lives up to the hype... Or did all those appetizers (mixtapes, different verses) spoiled the hungry belly.
Quick FYI, The Carter is a drug house basically. That's why the other CDs had the beginning concept that it had. Now, this CD starts off on "3 Peat," the name suggests it all, so right away, you can probably expect that this CD doesn't have that same "Lemme take you upstairs" kinda thing. He's mostly boastin up his flow, nuthin' we haven't heard from the mixtape, but nice beat, nice flow, coo lyrics keep the song an enjoyable song.
Then Wayne goes straight in with what people have been lookin' for since the "Hello Brooklyn" was more of Wayne singin' than rappin', a track with Jay-Z. With the Just Blaze produced track with "Mr. Carter" bein' repeated throughout the beat is a for-sure head rocker. Another boastful song, where Dwayne gets him two good verses in before Shawn gets his 16 in. And he pretty much staples the song his, lol. Wayne gets another crack in the end, but it kinda seemed like he was outta steam tryin' to keep up with Jay, cuz Jay didn't do the regular Jay verse in this song.
Up Next is the "A Milli" track, which I'm sure you've heard already, so I'm not gonna break it down. Followed by the "Got Money" track where him and T-Pain get to have fun with the lil' voice effects. Not much to say about this track, 'cept it's a decent lil' club song, with an OK hook. Nuthin' we haven't seen from Weezy before.
We finally hear the Kanye laced beat with Babyface on the hook, a very very nice love song. And Wayne's lyrics and flow blend in nicely with the beat and hook.
Up next is a song alil' left field called "Phone Home," and as the name suggests, Weezy's from another planet. With the David Banner produced track, he does alot more flow boastin', with a crazy lil' hook. Pretty coo' track though.
Up Next is a Swizz Beats laced track, where Wayne plays the part of a Dr. gettin' ready to operate on Hip Hop. Very clever song, and the beat is very very old schoo', this song SHOULD easily satisfy any hip hop purist, if not, they're hatin' on the lil' man with the long hair.
Now we finally get to hear a softer side of Wayne. Well, I wouldn't say softer side, I say he's more pissed on this track because you hear him talk about his hometown in the N.O. You'll hear things like "They took away the football team, basketball team, and only left me to represent for New Orleans." With Robin Thick on the hook, and Kanye West ontop of the beat, it's a great tribute to the good ol' N.O.
Then Weezy comes back for two straight tracks bringin' some more lyrical heat, one beat from Kayne West on "Shoot Me Down," where it has an ol' wild west kinda feel. Then he follows it up with the "Playin' With Fire" track.
After this, is followed up by the ladies' favorite, "LolliPop" so I ain't gonna say much 'bout it. After that it's a track with Brisco and Busta called "La La." It ain't hittin' on to much, pretty borin' hook, and dry beat, so if it wasn't for the above-average lyrics, it's be a below average track.
Now.. After this, has to be the best damn beat from the Alchemist, MY GOD! This beat. With alil' help from Fabolous (Who obliterates the beat) and Juelz, Wayne gets his bragg on again, and also gets to have fun with the voice effects. ( Jury rules in favor of Fabolous on this track, lol, but that's jus my opinion..) But this is one of those songs where you put in ya car... N you turn it up high as it can, cuz it's gonna tear up that sub-woofer, lol.
Weezy's called on the help of another dread-headed fellow in Wyclef for the next track titled "Mrs. Officer." And he gets alil' help from Mr. Bobby Valentino who delivers a very very addictive hook. Mr. Carter talks about hittin' on a lady-police officer. Pretty unique track here, since he's not sayin' "Fuck The Police" in the song, lol. Much praise for this track Wayne. He comes up with all kinda catchiness in the song with things like "lady whats ya number, she said 911, emergency only.... Then I beat it like a cop." Lol, greatness.
The last track, Wayne gets into a 9 minute plus track where he doesn't wanna be "MisUnderstood." But. He doesn't rap the whole way, about 3 minutes in, he starts talkin', and gettin' real political. Givin' alil' knowledge to people who didn't know this stuff already, he even blesses me with some new in-sight, sorta. And even gets on Al Sharpton's head, lol.
Well, what can I say about Lil' Wayne this go-'round? Was he successful, maybe to any other artist, this CD is a success, but for all the hype Lil' Wayne generated, and all the pressure.. It didn't match up to it. And can you blame him? Well, partially, boastin' he's the best rapper alive, and makin' so many verses. But, it's not his fault he gets on everybody's mixtape cover, it's also not his fault that his label won't let him make different type of songs. And I've always said, and still believe that the label, and/or Baby, won't let him be diverse. And that's what this CD, like the last few CDs have lacked, a diverse track-list. We see, maybe a better rapper, but we don't see a better artist. Because we see nice boastin' tracks, but, how many times have we seen this before? The whole concept of the Carter wasn't even in there this time. This CD totally contradicts the statement "I don't get into that boastin' shit," that he said in "Best Rapper Alive" on The Carter II. Cuz this CD was all about the boastin', and you could prolly tell with the intro track bein' "3-Peat." Maybe next go-round we'll see the maturity.
Album Ratin' - 4.2
Worth Buyin' - Although it wasn't much growth, but it's still a good enough CD
Fav Tracks -Nothin' On Me, Mr. Carter, Dr. Carter, Tie My Hands, Shoot Me Down, Playin' With Fire
2 comments:
A few tracks in... not that impressed :/
I'll come back for the final version.
*verdict*
Post a Comment