Dalton Tevlin/Staff Writer
It’s been seven years since Lil Wayne’s “Tha Carter IV” was released and 5 years since his last full album release with “I am not a human being 2.” The hype began to build for the newest entry in the “Carter” saga in 2013 when Drake took to Twitter to announce that the album was on its way.
This was just the beginning of a five year long legal battle that left fans of Weezy salivating in anticipation. Fast forward to 2018 and Lil Wayne has finally settled his legal conflict with Birdman and “The Carter V” is finally in our hands, but does it live up to the hype?
The album begins with Lil Wayne’s mother giving an emotional spill about her son. Wayne’s mother has been a theme throughout his “Carter” series and she is heard various times throughout the album.
The second track, and first song “Don’t Cry” features late artist XXXTentacion and is one of the biggest surprises in the project. The song is a dark, melodic and emotional mainly due to X’s gripping hook, which is backed by the classic Weezy. If there is anything this album has to offer, quality production and expert-level wordplay by Wayne.
It is unclear how much of the album has been altered in the five years since it’s announcement but there is definitely classic-sounding Lil Wayne on this album.
The wordplay on this project isn’t as clever as in years past, however, a few of the stand out tracks such as “Mona Lisa” featuring Kendrick Lamar, “Open Letter,” “Famous” featuring his daughter Regina Carter, and “Open Safe” reek of early 2010’s Lil Wayne.
The biggest drawback to this problem is its length at 23 tracks. Having an album with such a long length can result in having forgettable songs. Songs such as “Dark Side of the Moon,” “What About Me” and “Start this S*** off Right” are fairly bland and fail to leave a lasting impression. The lack of cohesiveness leaves more to be desired in those areas.
In the era of mumble rap Lil Wayne has definitely influenced as much as almost any artist, he reminds us with “Tha Carter V” that he still has it and he, in fact, never lost it.
The production across the whole project is strong and nostalgic of the dominant Lil Wayne years.
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