Lil Wayne

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Essential Albums

  • Tha Carter IV (Complete Edition)
    Tha Carter IV (Complete Edition)
    Tha Carter IV (Complete Edition)

    Lil Wayne’s place among hip-hop legends was assured by the time he released his ninth studio album; his lyrics’ gymnastics on songs like “6 Foot 7 Foot” and “Blunt Blowin” (“If time is money, I’m an hour past paid”) further cemented his legacy. But on Tha Carter IV, Wayne seeks out new sounds, exploring them to much acclaim on the acoustic guitar-assisted “How to Love” and turning his eye to the world of R&B, accompanied by Drake (“She Will”) and John Legend (“So Special”).

  • Tha Carter III
    Tha Carter III
    Tha Carter III

    For an album to be considered one of Lil Wayne’s most essential works is a tall order; after all, this is a guy who’s released no fewer than 50 mixtapes, albums and EPs. But the rapper’s 2008 mainstream breakout, Tha Carter III, makes a nearly unequivocal case for Wayne’s most commercially and critically successful offering to date. Most importantly to his career, Tha Carter III cemented for the mainstream what the underground already knew to be true: That Wayne possessed not only unparalleled lyrical prowess, but also an undeniable commercial sensibility. Enlisting a laundry list of hit-making producers—including Kanye West, Swizz Beatz, Play-N-Skillz and the late Static Major—the rapper and label-head strived to make an album that would appeal to radio, but that wouldn’t sacrifice his signature ingenious wordplay. The resulting album is among Wayne’s most focused: Though West reportedly gave 20 instrumentals to Wayne, the New Orleans rapper told him to “slow down”, and only used three of West’s tracks (including “Let the Beat Build” and “Comfortable”). The 16 songs that did find their way on Tha Carter III include a few love-centric cuts, like “Mrs. Officer” and the Babyface-assisted “Comfortable”—both of which went on to become instant classics. Still, it was the success of Tha Carter III’s trio of early singles—“Lollipop”, “A Milli” and “Got Money”—that skyrocketed Wayne to global popularity, and helped earn the rapper his first Grammy wins. Wayne claims to be ambivalent about Tha Carter III, even going so far as to say the album “holds no significance” for him. But to fans and critics, the album stands as a mid-2000s masterpiece—a record that, even if just for a moment, backed up Wayne’s claim of being the best rapper alive.

  • Tha Carter II
    Tha Carter II
    Tha Carter II

    Lil Wayne’s fourth solo album Tha Carter woke the hip-hop world up. They’d long known who he was, but that project forced traditionalists who’d previously dismissed him as the “wobble dee, wobble dee” guy to acknowledge that he’d also somehow become extremely good at rapping. That transformation hadn’t happened overnight. The people most in shock had missed the woodshedding Wayne had done over the course of seven Sqad Up mixtapes and his Da Drought 1 and 2 and Prefix releases. But even as Tha Carter pushed him to a new level of acclaim, the album was unable to crown him rap’s ruler, a title he was sure he’d by then already earned. So he did it himself on Tha Carter II with “Best Rapper Alive”. Even as a statement record, “Best Rapper Alive” is difficult to write off as simple posturing. Wayne raps with a fire in his belly across the whole of Tha Carter II, packing every couplet with an otherworldly combination of trippy non sequitur and warlord-stern conviction, a formula that would make him the most in-demand feature MC of the era. “Ain’t nobody fucking with me, man: He-Man/Ski mask, spending next week’s cash, he fast/And I don’t even need a G-pass, I’m past that/I’m passing them out now, and you can’t have that,” he spews on “Fireman”. Sonically, he dabbles in a multitude of soundscapes, interpolating dancehall culture for “Mo Fire”, attacking sluggish West Coast bounce with guesting MC Kurupt on “Lock and Load” and anchoring down in the pocket of producer (and guest vocalist) Robin Thicke’s bluesy guitar strums on “Shooter”. These sounds are a world away from Tha Carter, where one-time Cash Money golden goose Mannie Fresh handles the lion’s share of production. Ever the ladies’ man, Wayne puts his mack down on records like “Grown Man” and “Receipt”, but when he lays bare the pressures of being his family’s drug-dealing breadwinner on “Hustler Musik”, it feels like more than just game. You can tell Wayne believes every word he says.

  • Tha Carter
    Tha Carter
    Tha Carter

    Wayne had merged Jay-Z’s wordplay with his own impish, unpredictable Southern flow, suddenly vaulting the 22-year-old former Hot Boy into the realm of the credible MC. Tha Carter was also notable as the last collaboration between Wayne and legendary Cash Money producer Mannie Fresh. With Wayne coming into his own as a rapper, Fresh provided some of the finest beats of his career: “Go DJ,” “On My Own,” “Snitch,” and “Ain’t It A Bitch.”

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About Lil Wayne

When Lil Wayne debuted as a 12-year-old kid on the B.G.’z 1995 album True Story, it wasn’t exactly clear that he’d become one of the best rappers of his generation. It’s not just that he’s clever or funny—it’s the way his style manages to balance classic, boast-driven rap with the kind of wild metaphors and constellatory thinking often left to poets. In other words, Wayne didn’t just get high, he ate stars; he didn’t just devour rappers, he told you—in gross, gastrointestinal detail—how they felt going down, stretching the conventional vocabulary of rap to its limits. A native of New Orleans (“That’s why I holler ‘Hollygrove’ on each and every song,” he raps on Tha Carter II’s “Fly In”), Wayne (born Dwayne Carter in 1982) started writing rhymes at eight or nine, attracting the attention of Cash Money Records cofounder Bryan “Baby” Williams by freestyling relentlessly into Williams’ voicemail. (As recently as 2015, Wayne still knew the number by heart.) After joining the short-lived but influential Hot Boys with fellow Cash Money rappers Juvenile B.G., and Turk, Wayne launched an instantaneously successful solo career, exploring his ever-evolving lyricism while moving further into the mainstream, turning out a dizzying string of albums and mixtapes in the 2000s that were as radical as they were popular, his Tha Carter series most notable among them. In 2005, he managed to find time to start Young Money Entertainment, signing Nicki Minaj and Drake before most people knew their names. Beset by legal troubles (including a one-year sentence at Rikers Island), health issues (including an epilepsy diagnosis) and disagreements with his label, Wayne had a rough start to the 2010s but barely slowed down, releasing a steady stream of albums and mixtapes—including full-length collaborations with T-Pain and 2 Chainz—that continued to mine his seemingly endless imagination. Even if he made good on his periodic threats to retire (he called 2018’s Tha Carter V his last studio album), the fallout from his impact is everywhere, from Young Thug to Migos to Tyler, the Creator and Chance the Rapper—anyone who zigs when the rest zag.

HOMETOWN
New Orleans, LA, United States
BORN
27 September 1982
GENRE
Hip-Hop/Rap

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