Lil Wayne created his fourth addition to "Tha Carter" series. After "Tha Carter III" he did a rock-influenced album: "Rebirth" and the "I'm Not A Human" EP. Now Lil Tunechi return to his element with a complete work. "Tha Carter IV" had a strong first day in the market and based on this fact, calculations say that it is going to be easily No1 with 850.000-900.000 copies. But let's take things from the start:
Let's start from the cover: The edition that I hold in my hands is the deluxe one, which means a white backround and the Lil Wayne - baby (now a kid) that we 've seen on "Tha Carter III" cover with a graduation hat. Quite simple, and maybe with the message that after so many albums he finally graduates from Hip-Hop school (Let's not forget that he said that this might be his last work).
Now let's go "inside" the album. The intro is quite playfull and leads to the "Blunt Blowing" track, which one of the tracks that caught my attention even from the 1st listening. "Megaman" doesn't have anything special so I hit next on my iPod: "6 Foot 7 Foot"!!! Probablly the best song and the first feature of the alum: Cory Gunz. The song is really like an "A Milli" on steroids as the producer prommised us. Next on the album is "Nightmares Of The Bottom" and has nothing to do with "6 Foot 7 Foot". It is a slow, low key song with a piano constantly playing in the backround, that leads nice to "She Will" that features Drake. "She Will" has one of the best production in the album and I have only one objection: Drake's hook is really small. On the other hand it is Wayne's album and not Drake's. "How To Hate" features T-Pain and gives you the sense that T-Pain's presence is more than expected... "Interlude" features Tech N9ne and Lil Wayne is nowhere. Next on the list is "John", one of my favorites and with one of the best productions in the whole album: Tunechi raps "If I die today remember me like John Lennon" with Rick Ross on his side. "Abortion" comes nice after "John" and leads nice to "So Special" that has a good production and great vocals by John Legend, as Wayne raps about his girl. "How To Love" reminds us that he loves playing the guitar! Very good low key - kind of a ballad song! No 13 is "President Carter" which holds an anti-war message and got a very good production. "It's Good" starts strong with Jadakiss who pass the mic to Drake and Lil Wayne closes the song with a nice flow. The standart edition would end with No 15: "Outro" that borrows the music from "Intro" and adds Bun B, Nas, Shyne and Busta Rhymes to a strong result. The deluxe edition has 3 more songs: "I Like The View", the great "Mirror" that features Bruno Mars and "Two Shots"
Conclusion: Lil Wayne sounds more confident than ever. He raps more methodical and isn't as inventive as he was on "Tha Carter IV" or on "I'm Not A Human" EP, but he doesn't gives you the impression that he was going for it (I mean being inventive). He is sure about what he want to say and the the way he want to say it. "Tha Carter IV" gives you a totally different taste than its predecessor "Tha Carter III". We want artists to evolve and make different things. That is sure what Lil Wayne did the last three years and on his latest album! I totally recommend this album to everyone, from a Lil Wayne fan to Hip-Hop and music fan!
Tracks We Like: "Blunt Blowing", "6 Foot 7 Foot" ft Cory Gunz, "She Will" ft Drake, "John" ft Rick Ross, "How To Love", "President Carter", "Nightmares Of The Bottom"
