Lil Wayne the name alone is polarizing in hip hop circles, one of the most celebrated, misunderstood, intriguing, and hated all at the same time. Hate or love him you cant deny he’s left a mark on hip hop history. Like him or not you have to respect his following and you definitely have to respect his work ethic. A proverbial lab rat that constantly pumps out music via studio album, mix tapes, and features he constantly has a project in the works and always is highly anticipated to drop new material. No different is one of this years most anticipated albums The Carter IV, and after mentions , fans calling for it and loads of hype its finally here.
The Carter IV kicks off with a typical intro, its a warm up, the beat is pretty straight its sure to get some use in the underground mix tape world and Wayne does a nice job with it. Its a typical intro because Wayne sets the bar at average, he doesn’t come out guns a blazing and doesn’t come out weak, so as typical of a intro you know that the heat is to come later and this is just pace setter, and its a good pace setter.
From their we pick up the pace bit with “Blunt Blowin” where he talks about smoking of course and just getting things off his mind chest to clear his mind via a simple 80’s type synthesizer beat. The lyrics are decent, but it shines based on Waynes ability to create a song and show his knowledge of music, not just hip hop because for the hook he uses the same flow pattern as Everlast - “Black Jesus” and classic Aerosmith - “Dream On” with out directly sampling them. Its a good exercise in knowledge and versatility.
From then on business picks up immediately as we travel into the Albums best lyrical delivery with “ Mega Man”, as wayne goes in, in a cypher type manner, dropping line after line of heat. Reminds you of the mix tape Weezy that gets him so much attention. After that we go directly into 6 foot 7 foot, which is another great lyrical output , but the beat tends to get annoying.
From this point on the album gets very heavy and dependent on features. Some of very expected i.e Drake, T-Pain and Rick Ross and then a few surprises i.e John Legend, Andre 3000, Tech N9ne, Jadakiss, Nas, Busta Ryhmes.
The album continues to flow as we get to “How to Hate” featuring T-Pain, which every man will be able to relate to and will have in rotation for break ups and angry with women situations.
The albums high water mark is the “Interlude” which feature unlikely duo of Tech N9ne and Andre 3000 who both absolutely murder the track and show great chemistry on the record, the problem is Wayne does not rap on the track and he probably should have considering its his album and because theses are two lyrical giants, would have been nice to see him trade with two legends and long time vets.
The Best feature appearance with Wayne on the track ( more on this later) the most chemistry comes on “John” featuring Rick Ross. A go hard track for the streets or your cars.
From the go hard section we get into the experimental section of the album “ So special” featuring John Legend, where Wayne makes a erotic slightly R&B song, possibly t be used in a strip club setting. The theres “How to Love” immediately following in which he sings the whole song using some effects. How to love is a different more positive song for Wayne, that Im glad he released, and if you’ve seen the video it gives it more life and meaning, and it shows range and growth for him. But it may have been better executed by a singer with him just serving as the writer, but other than that no complaints, its a pleasant surprise from him, we applaud the courage to release and make such a song.
Another experimental joint is the very conceptual “President Carter” which is very, very creatively put together and delivered, right down to the samples President Jimmy Carters inauguration being used in the back drop.
As we near the end of the album we creep up on the song with the best production “Its Good” featuring Jadakiss and Drake. Both features are good, with Jada doing what he does best showing why he’s a Mc’s Mc. But the song is something else for Wayne, as we get a lil controversial by taking shots at Jay-Z. Not the first time, probably wont be the last, but its nothing major or a knock out blow, its not a great battle verse, its delivered well but honestly has been over analyzed. And the beat, Jadakiss and the controversy are the stars of this song.
Then its on to the Outro a crew track of heavy weight lyrics and delivery and legends and buzz, featuring Bun B, Nas, Shyne, and Busta Rhymes. Nas and Bust Compete for best verse over the same beat as the intro, but Wayne doesn’t appear. If they are going to be counted as two separate tracks its one of the best, if not the best. Even if the Intro and Outro were put together the verse Wayne delivers on the intro is not strong enough to stand with the output given by the others on the Outro, maybe its why they are separate but once again you would have liked to hear him trade with some of the best.
If you have the deluxe edition you get three bonus songs, but none that put the album way over the top , but the song Mirror with Bruno Mars is noteworthy.
Overall the album is pretty good, but it doesn’t live up to hype surrounding it or meet nor exceed expectations, it falls a good deal short. Its sounds like a mix tape or compilation album more than a Solo album. Its heavy, and somewhat dependent on features, the best parts all have features, and there isn’t a lot of carrying the album by Wayne. Lyrically for the album total for him its below average, sonically it doesn’t have an overall thematic sound, the production is average , there are a few bets that grab your attention but not many, the song making is the greatest strength, the entertainment value is average there are moments ad flashes of brilliant, but most are from features, but wayne does have his moments. Originality gets above average marks, while its not the most original thing ever heard there are some creative things done that were unexpected. The versatility is good, he shows his ability to adapt and flow with different types of beats and gel with different types artist styles. His subject range is good also because he takes on somethings more than whats expected of him. The replay value is below average. Its not an album you’ll listen to over and over again maybe a few times and maybe not even the whole album, while there aren’t really any songs that aren’t album quality, or should be taken off, this collection just doesn’t fit together extremely well, it seems unfocused in direction and Im not sure if there are any songs that we will be still talking about 10 years from now. The fact that the two best tracks don’t have Lil Wayne on them I think something has to be said for that. If you’re a die hard Lil Wayne fan or you don’t really get deep into and require a lot from your music and artist, you’ll probably love it, but for those with complex taste and preference we require a lil more. Its a good album, but not good for his ability, or output for the caliber of artist he is. If you just wanted to hear Lil Wayne its good, but if you wanted to hear stellar product from Wayne, you could have waited a lil longer for a more lyrical, and focused output. In a rush to give the people what they want the carter seems to have been a lil rushed. Expect it to sell well, but success, does not equal or define quality. I give it 3 and a half stars out of 6
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