Let's anticipate Lil Wayne, "The Carter III"

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haha

Alex in Baltimore, Wednesday, 16 January 2008 17:35 (sixteen years ago) link

hahaha

s1ocki, Wednesday, 16 January 2008 17:36 (sixteen years ago) link

ethan ftw

J0hn D., Wednesday, 16 January 2008 17:50 (sixteen years ago) link

i love that there's a shaq "best of.."

am0n, Wednesday, 16 January 2008 18:01 (sixteen years ago) link

omg at someone falling for another ethan fake tracklist

J0rdan S., Wednesday, 16 January 2008 19:09 (sixteen years ago) link

30% of the songs on the circulated leak tape were good

J0rdan S., Wednesday, 16 January 2008 19:10 (sixteen years ago) link

this is going to be really great. i'm not saying that just cuz im a wayne stan but all this out there shit that he does isnt going to make it on his albums. there's a reason why t-pain shit and shitty slow verses end uo on dj khaled remixes. the songs on the digital ep are pretty straight forward and great

J0rdan S., Wednesday, 16 January 2008 19:12 (sixteen years ago) link

btw this shit if classic already if the song that name drops juntao from rush hour makes it on the album

J0rdan S., Wednesday, 16 January 2008 19:13 (sixteen years ago) link

how is this not photoshopped to zing me

http://www.vitaklenz.com/shop/images/Svelte1.jpg

J0rdan S., Wednesday, 16 January 2008 19:18 (sixteen years ago) link

why does a gis for svelte turn up so much vadge?

J0rdan S., Wednesday, 16 January 2008 19:18 (sixteen years ago) link

'svelte' is really approaching failed Dom meme status.

Alex in Baltimore, Wednesday, 16 January 2008 19:19 (sixteen years ago) link

he'll respond soon as he can figure out what BIG SARG should be driving

and what, Wednesday, 16 January 2008 19:20 (sixteen years ago) link

aka the weendriver

The Reverend, Wednesday, 16 January 2008 19:45 (sixteen years ago) link

"get svelte, look svelte" is a snap anthem in waiting

BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Wednesday, 16 January 2008 21:16 (sixteen years ago) link

to the tune of Fix Up Look Sharp

dmr, Wednesday, 16 January 2008 21:42 (sixteen years ago) link

Lil Wayne
The Leak EP
[Cash Money/Universal; 2007]
Rating: 7.7
Buy it from Insound
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Lil Wayne is a tease. Even though he's spent the past couple of years flooding the market with mixtapes, he hasn't released a proper solo album since Tha Carter 2 in 2005. Tha Carter 3, his long-awaited follow-up, should've arrived months ago, but Wayne keeps pushing it back. He says he's keeping demand up by making us wait, while message-board gadflies speculate that he just isn't cut out to make a classic full-length album. Late in 2007, he said that he'd end the year with a compilation album called The Leak, clearing away all the best tracks that have trickled past the lax security at Cash Money's offices in preparation for the real thing. But The Leak never came; instead, we got a new solo album from Birdman, Wayne's shitty half-rapping father figure. And then, on Christmas, a new Lil Wayne EP hit online stores like iTunes and Amazon with zero fanfare, without even Wayne's face on the cover. The Leak EP is a meager offering: five songs, ranging in quality from absolute bangers to intriguing sketches, which tell us little about how The Carter 3 might eventually sound.

One of the common critical complaints against Wayne is that he can rap but that he doesn't know how to make songs. His weeded-out free-associative signature doesn't need to conform to old ideas about song structure to do its work; on last year's double-mixtape bonanza Da Drought 3, he mostly just followed his muse over every half-decent recent beat he could find, letting the overblown boasts and batshit similes flow freely. He'd sacrifice none of his demonic magnetism if he just kept rapping at that level forever. But by the end of the year, he appeared to be losing steam; on the November mixtape The Drought Is Over, he busied himself playing around obnoxiously with T-Pain's autotuner effects, and the actual rapping was, by Wayne's high standards, exhausted and uninspired. So it's oddly reassuring to hear Wayne deign to finish a few actual songs, complete with verses and choruses and intros and everything. And even if every song on The Leak finds Wayne sticking to his usual talking points, finding even more clever and circuitous ways to let us know how fly he is, his voice has more urgency and determination than he's shown in recent months. And even at his laziest, he's still riveting.

But first the great. Opener "I'm Me" starts with tinkling ominous piano and stray vocal samples from past Wayne hits ("Go DJ", "Fireman"). And when the titanically jittery drums kick in, the string of possessed one-liners that follows puts the song in the same league as those older ones. Some are perfectly succinct and elegantly constructed: "I know the game is crazy, it's more crazy than it's ever been/ I'm married to that crazy bitch, call me Kevin Federline." Some are borderline nonsensical: "I'm a monster, I tell you, monster Wayne/ I have just swallowed the key to the house of pain." But throughout, there's a strident sense of purpose in his gurgling croak of a voice, like he finally has something at stake. And the third track, "Gossip", brings that purpose into focus. The first time anyone heard it was when he did a fiery rendition of it at the BET Hip Hop Awards a few months ago, and it's rumored to be the response to 50 Cent's recent string of underhanded jabs against Wayne. Over the track's huge, epic chopped-up soul and heart-monitor beeps, Wayne sounds genuinely heated: "Stop analyzing, criticizing/ You should realize what I am and start epitomizing."

The next three tracks never bring back that sense of breathless urgency, but all of them would've made for perfectly acceptable album-tracks on Tha Carter 2. "Kush" is a happy, stoned little dip into Wayne's immense supply of weed-based punchlines. "Love Me or Hate Me" starts Wayne breathing his nonsense over epic swelling strings, no drums in sight. When it kicks in, he brings a guttural sung chorus that works as a distant cousin to his immortal hook on Playaz Circle's "Duffle Bag Boy", but his boasts never cohere into anything concrete. And on "Talkin' About It", he brings an evilly assured singsong flow over a heavy organic bounce track. But those last three tracks are just practice. Or maybe they're victory laps after the apocalyptic openers. Either way, The Leak is an encouraging sign that Wayne's managed to keep himself sharp even after all the material he's already churned out in recent months. Now it's time for him to make good on its promise.
-Tom Breihan, January 17, 2008

J0rdan S., Thursday, 17 January 2008 18:01 (sixteen years ago) link

i have to imagine that this starts out with "lil wayne is a tease" with a wink to him and baby's homoeroticism. maybe not. anyway tom's a good writer but he fucked up the timeline here, and his contention that "thank god this ep is good because the tapes wayne has put out the lately have been shit" is bogus because i think all these songs except "gossip" basically leaked this summer. plus "kush" is the best song on the whole thing

J0rdan S., Thursday, 17 January 2008 18:04 (sixteen years ago) link

no jordan sargeo on that opening

and what, Thursday, 17 January 2008 18:33 (sixteen years ago) link

Lil' Wayne is a tease. After the departure of B.G., Juvenile, Turk, and producer Mannie Fresh, the Cash Money CEO has probably spent a lot of times on his knees in thanks that Weezy is still around. Wayne is still a Hot Boy, albeit one who likes to get his grown man on. He's eager to prove he's far from a little squirt, and he likes to rub it in constantly. Weezy's been beating off the competition for so long now it's understandable if he's feeling a little testy. A rapper with this much spunk coming out his mouth doesn't need to spend any more time boning up on his skills.

But sometimes his spunk dominates "Like Father Like Son" so much it seems Birdman gets the shaft. Fortunately Stunna still has a little thug in him, and he knows when to just sit back and let Weezy do his thing. As president of Cash Money, Baby has been feeling Wayne for years now, and while his previous albums are hardcore classics, he really blows himself away on this one.

In the words of Bay Area hip-hop critic Oliver Wang, new-school Lil' Wayne "sounds more confident as an MC and wields a genuinely impressive array of different styles". It's obvious Weezy is feeling Wang on this, as he bounces from naked emotion to popping shots in the span of a single track. He never lets you forget he's sitting on 20 inches, but when the lyrical rim jobs wear out he's ready to lay himself bare on an emotional tribute of "Like Father, Like Son". Weezy is a man who will bend over backwards for a hot line, and fleshes out his long arcs with violent thrusts of short diction, while never leaning on rhyming words that merely resemble each other - there's no homophones.

The New Orleans hustler brings it uncut on "Over Here Hustlin", proving he knows how to handle the white stuff. But these two aren't just about pumping crack - rhymes like "call my bullets some lumps, I put 'em deep in ya neck" would be a mouthful for anyone. Stunna goes even harder on "Leather So Soft", while "Army Gunz" illustrates this pair still knows how to cock and squeeze. And on "All About That" the self-described "Fireman" continues to bring the flames over imitation Just Blaze production, proving Birdman and Wayne know how to handle spitting on organs. My only complaint is that the pair blow their load early on, and the second half of the album goes down in the process. But don't worry, there's still enough hotness here to make sure you keep coming back for more.

and what, Thursday, 17 January 2008 18:35 (sixteen years ago) link

was gonna say

BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Thursday, 17 January 2008 18:43 (sixteen years ago) link

CLASSIQUE ETHAN

Beatrix Kiddo, Thursday, 17 January 2008 18:47 (sixteen years ago) link

although in his defense i guess it's impossible to write about lil wayne nowadays and not use at least 7-8 phrases that should be followed by no homo

J0rdan S., Thursday, 17 January 2008 18:49 (sixteen years ago) link

dude named an album the leak

max, Thursday, 17 January 2008 19:07 (sixteen years ago) link

trickled past the lax security at Cash Money

w/e

btw we got called "gadflies" ;_;

J0rdan S., Thursday, 17 January 2008 19:11 (sixteen years ago) link

Is lil wayne gay?



NO LIL WAYNE IS NOY GAY STRAIGHT UP BIRDMAN LYKE HIS DADDY AND DAT WAZ A MAFIA KISS. DATZ IT NICCA YA HEARD ME? PLUS LIL WAYNE TOO SEXII TO BE GAY!

and what, Thursday, 17 January 2008 19:11 (sixteen years ago) link

otm?

J0rdan S., Thursday, 17 January 2008 19:13 (sixteen years ago) link

u think wayne aain't gonna merkya e like byron says he raps meta n u don't think he's a real jihad? the theatre is in his XD......... JK he would lump u up like the police in off top forensics i spent time in a squat with him breaking up iron and blowing up industrial glass bulbs in the moment u think its cool but then u think what would ur mom say u baby
it was weird dude and u just ignore strange people like that cuz theyre crazy, they poison society, and the following these monsters breeds makes the youth think they can flow like minstrel shows without even writing BUT TO DO THAT U HAVE TO HAVE AN IRON SOUL OR THELL SMACK U UP

gotta go my girls going away l8rz

WHY IS EVERYBODY TRIPPING MORE RAPPERS NEED TO BRING PEACE LIKE LIL WAYNE LIL WAYNE IS A CULTURAL JURIST AND SHALL SIT AMONG SUFIS AND AFRICAN GRANDMOTHERS WITH 9 BABIES WITH AIDS PAY ATTENTION TO SOMETHING IMPORTANT ETHAN U GOT IT WRONG

U ALWAYS KNOW: HE IS REAL HE IS PRO GUN CONTROL.

Arms, Saturday, 19 January 2008 00:13 (sixteen years ago) link

never ban^

M@tt He1ges0n, Saturday, 19 January 2008 00:28 (sixteen years ago) link

Oh shit.

The Reverend, Saturday, 19 January 2008 02:04 (sixteen years ago) link

U ALWAYS KNOW: HE IS REAL HE IS PRO GUN CONTROL

whoever made the Ornaldo Bloomps for president poster needs to take this one on....

Bo Jackson Overdrive, Saturday, 19 January 2008 02:06 (sixteen years ago) link

i was hoping we would get crazy googlers in this thread!!!

J0rdan S., Saturday, 19 January 2008 03:17 (sixteen years ago) link

unless that's luriqua in which case WELCOME BACK WELCOME BACK WELCOME BAAAAAAAAAAACK

J0rdan S., Saturday, 19 January 2008 03:18 (sixteen years ago) link

i remember when i first heard "welcome back" on the radio, it was so nice to have ma$e back, i welcomed him

The Reverend, Saturday, 19 January 2008 03:26 (sixteen years ago) link

whoops, that should have read "ma$e luriqua"

The Reverend, Saturday, 19 January 2008 03:26 (sixteen years ago) link

lol that matt post is so funny

J0rdan S., Saturday, 19 January 2008 03:28 (sixteen years ago) link

Jordan Sargent u sick
would you like to hang out without gloves then handcuff u to a rail in the blizzard

 7?; 

Arms, Saturday, 19 January 2008 05:41 (sixteen years ago) link

sorry i'm being hypothetical u seriously sounded like a hole parade of gays when u wrote that it sounded weird to me don't get me wrong u got the real nice phrase just i recommend workshopping your posts lets chat 8^7

Arms, Saturday, 19 January 2008 05:43 (sixteen years ago) link

7?;

BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Saturday, 19 January 2008 05:45 (sixteen years ago) link

not to be hubristic i'm just trying to well maybe my interpretation is misguided

it seems like just a process of distilling idea maybe i am prejudiced

Arms, Saturday, 19 January 2008 05:47 (sixteen years ago) link

i mean most of us are guilty of it i know i am

it's a strange medium and requires a degree of sanity, you know?

Arms, Saturday, 19 January 2008 05:48 (sixteen years ago) link

u no u r never alone j but unless u discern homo from no homo. that's naive. what i'm saying is maybe the hu hop mentality is high strung but maybe patterns of speech reflect action. hypersexuality is dying with the evangelist's lamb LOLL

Arms, Saturday, 19 January 2008 05:51 (sixteen years ago) link

maybe violence is worse

Arms, Saturday, 19 January 2008 05:51 (sixteen years ago) link

like i can't judge u i just get a feeling. i hear ur voice as a delusion in my thoughts and it sounds really overzealous sometimes

Arms, Saturday, 19 January 2008 05:53 (sixteen years ago) link

while other times it's clever

Arms, Saturday, 19 January 2008 05:53 (sixteen years ago) link

i don't know

Arms, Saturday, 19 January 2008 05:53 (sixteen years ago) link

t/s luriqua vs. arms vs. i obtain much hardson on your own site

BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Saturday, 19 January 2008 05:54 (sixteen years ago) link

sorry-- a strange medium in its temporality-- it's based on sanity because there is no rechopping

Arms, Saturday, 19 January 2008 05:54 (sixteen years ago) link

in terms of lil wayne

Arms, Saturday, 19 January 2008 05:56 (sixteen years ago) link

i meant. like jordan sargent seriously reminds me of wayne

Arms, Saturday, 19 January 2008 05:57 (sixteen years ago) link

his observations banal or obvious

yeah that part

Surfboard Pre (surfboard dudes get wiped out, totally), Saturday, 13 September 2008 22:24 (fifteen years ago) link

Oxford American isn't VIBE, and he's not writing about Weezy. He's writing about the city and its inhabitants and how he came to understand them.

― HOOS clique iphones fool get ya steen on (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Saturday, September 13, 2008 10:07 PM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark

HOOS clique iphones fool get ya steen on (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Saturday, 13 September 2008 22:25 (fifteen years ago) link

tipsy's last post is basically what i really like about the piece. I like how, despite it being very well-written, I don't get the feeling that the writer is trying to narrow down what the music means to his version of it. There's a certain humility to it, and I think that's what underlies the (yes, still pretentious) snapshot/numbering - the idea being that these different parts don't necessarily add up to a whole.

Tim F, Saturday, 13 September 2008 23:17 (fifteen years ago) link

BTW probably a bad strategic move to ride my dick when it comes to hip hop

Tim F, Saturday, 13 September 2008 23:22 (fifteen years ago) link

two months pass...

So I know this isn't news or anything, but I'm way behind on this shit. Not so far behind that I haven't realised that this is brilliant. It just took me a while is all.

Also, I wish every song on the radio right now sounded like Comfortable.

Tá a fhios agam, nach bhfuil? (I know, right?), Monday, 8 December 2008 04:13 (fifteen years ago) link

"Shawty say i lo lo lo lo look like a lollipop" - Lil Wayne" - real facebook group!!!

yeah I only heard this album about a month or so ago. it's terrific.

miss precious perfect (musically), Thursday, 11 December 2008 05:56 (fifteen years ago) link

okayyyyy...i stand corrected, apparently "shawty say i lo lo lo lo look like a lollipop" is how it goes on the clean version. i was wondering why i kept changing my mind about how that line went, depending on where i had heard it last.

miss precious perfect (musically), Tuesday, 16 December 2008 02:21 (fifteen years ago) link

anyone hear the new empire mixtape?

ianmaxwell, Tuesday, 16 December 2008 02:28 (fifteen years ago) link

three weeks pass...

basically every year end blurb about this is like "yeah it's not perfect - in fact it's really inconsistent, but that makes us love it more! what an awesome look into the crazy drug alien lil wayne! he is so interesting that he can't even make a good front to back album!"

rock critics on some bullshit shocker

jordan s (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 19:27 (fifteen years ago) link

the gq profile of him is pretty good tho

jordan s (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 19:28 (fifteen years ago) link

i'm not sure i can bear to read another lil wayne profile but link?

some dude, Tuesday, 6 January 2009 19:33 (fifteen years ago) link

it's the only feature from their last issue not online so you're just gonna have to take my word for it

jordan s (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 19:36 (fifteen years ago) link

y'know i think i can do that

some dude, Tuesday, 6 January 2009 19:36 (fifteen years ago) link

two months pass...

ww the lies i posted on this thread, typical republican

rorschaq (usic), Friday, 13 March 2009 17:16 (fifteen years ago) link

eleven months pass...

i swaer to god i might flip out of i hear Miss Officer once. and how was this a 'bonus' track and now it's a single? i'm goin bongos over this

Ballistic, Sunday, 28 February 2010 15:23 (fourteen years ago) link

If you hear it once? How do you know that you hate it so much if you haven't heard it yet?

you gone float up with it (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Sunday, 28 February 2010 17:57 (fourteen years ago) link

i meant one more time. good lord the early am is not kind to my fingers and brain.

Ballistic, Sunday, 28 February 2010 17:59 (fourteen years ago) link

it wasn't a bonus track in the traditional 'this is just a little extra addition to the real album' sense so much as in the 'this album was being tinkered with so much up until the last minute that the back cover tracklisting is missing some songs and we had to reprint it as an insert'

dora the explaro (some dude), Sunday, 28 February 2010 18:01 (fourteen years ago) link

ahh that makes a lot more sense then.

Ballistic, Sunday, 28 February 2010 18:02 (fourteen years ago) link

Plus, you know, they're going to be milking as much Weezy stuff as they can for the next year.

you gone float up with it (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Sunday, 28 February 2010 18:06 (fourteen years ago) link

i'll be looking forward to his reimagination of the Reading Rainbow theme by year's end...

Ballistic, Sunday, 28 February 2010 18:08 (fourteen years ago) link

i will be disappointed if he doesn't do anything with "pants on the ground"

musically, Sunday, 28 February 2010 19:01 (fourteen years ago) link

loOOkin like a FOOOOOoooOOOOOl

BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Sunday, 28 February 2010 19:33 (fourteen years ago) link

Plus, you know, they're going to be milking as much Weezy stuff as they can for the next year.

― you gone float up with it (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Sunday, February 28, 2010 1:06 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

we're talking about the "Mrs. Officer" that peaked on the charts 18 months ago right?

dora the explaro (some dude), Sunday, 28 February 2010 22:54 (fourteen years ago) link

yeah what the fuck is this revive even about

waka flocka pedia (J0rdan S.), Sunday, 28 February 2010 22:55 (fourteen years ago) link

heard hes making a follow up to 500 degreez thats meant to b good

plax (ico), Sunday, 28 February 2010 22:59 (fourteen years ago) link

eight months pass...

my friend teaches high school in brooklyn and he told me just the other day that one kid just started reciting and singing word for word "mr. carter" in the middle of class and all the kids laughed a lot

― Surfboard Pre (surfboard dudes get wiped out, totally), Saturday, September 13, 2008 5:14 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

great fuckin story kid

― Patrick Leahy, (D)-VT (deej), Saturday, September 13, 2008 6:18 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark

lol

surfboard dudes get wiped out, totally, Monday, 15 November 2010 20:13 (thirteen years ago) link

So C3 is still great, eh.

altered boners (rennavate), Monday, 15 November 2010 21:24 (thirteen years ago) link

just "a milli", "let the beat build" and "ain't got nuthin"

and "lollipop"

surfboard dudes get wiped out, totally, Monday, 15 November 2010 21:26 (thirteen years ago) link

i'll say that it was pretty much the last listenable full thing he ever did

carter 3 sessions really are so much better tho -- production palate on that was way more in line w/ what i think his persona is/should've been then

basically every year end blurb about this is like "yeah it's not perfect - in fact it's really inconsistent, but that makes us love it more! what an awesome look into the crazy drug alien lil wayne! he is so interesting that he can't even make a good front to back album!"

this still rings true to me tho

thomas smangalter (J0rdan S.), Monday, 15 November 2010 21:27 (thirteen years ago) link

surfboards pretty much otm

thomas smangalter (J0rdan S.), Monday, 15 November 2010 21:27 (thirteen years ago) link

Oh yeah, The Carter 3 Sessions is incredible... "What He Does" "Something You Forgot" "La La La" fucking "WORLD OF FANTASY" (even though it got turned into "Playing With Fire," but "WOF" is still better, imo).

altered boners (rennavate), Monday, 15 November 2010 21:31 (thirteen years ago) link

my niece was 4 when she felt chinchallops

― J0rdan S., Saturday, May 31, 2008 7:41 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark

^^lol'd at myself

thomas smangalter (J0rdan S.), Monday, 15 November 2010 21:31 (thirteen years ago) link

nine years pass...

When a classmate complained about some bullshit policy last semester one of the TAs said "I am just a player in this game you see, so go blame the referee don't complain to me"

XD

― HOOS clique iphones fool get ya steen on (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Saturday, September 13, 2008 6:16 PM bookmarkflaglink

genital giant (Neanderthal), Friday, 1 May 2020 04:20 (four years ago) link


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