MIND INVERSION

Let me paint you a picture: the year is 2004; I’m a junior in high school, and it’s spring time. The weather is beautiful outside, and the country roads welcome my friends and I with open arms; more impressively, Lil’ Wayne could rap… and well. More often than not, Tha Carter was the soundtrack to those beautiful afternoons. On “This is the Carter”, Lil’ Wayne boastfully says “I’m finally perfect”; that statement couldn’t be more true about Wayne’s fourth solo outing. Mannie Fresh’s production on Tha Carter is near legendary, and Lil’ Wayne’s vivid imagery and raw lyricism were the best they’ve ever been.

Let me be clear, I’m not reviewing this album because I am guilty of sleeping on it; I’m reviewing Tha Carter because Lil’ Wayne’s fans criminally sleep on this album. In my opinion, Tha Carter is arguably Wayne’s strongest outing as an artist; furthermore, I don’t think Wayne will ever be able to impress me as he did on this album. The concept of this album is flawlessly executed, and every track blends seamlessly without skipping a beat. From the very moment you “Walk In”, Tha Carter hits it’s momentum in full stride, and Weezy F gives you a taste of what you can expect to hear throughout his defining opus.

Tracks like “This is the Carter”, “Go DJ” and “Tha Heat” remind me of how great Wayne used to be. “Snitch” is my favorite track on Tha Carter, and I feel like it’s by far one of the best songs Weezy Wee has ever done. Mannie Fresh lays down the perfect beat for Lil’ Wayne to spit more real talk than Twitter, “I’m rollin’ with my goons/and I would never roll on my nigga take that to my tomb/ain’t no girl came out of mom’s womb/real nigga shit motherfucker I’m tuned/and I was taught if a man talk about another man while that ain’t present, a man don’t listen/they throwin’ bricks by they hands is missin’/just watch what you’re sayin’ sissy.”

Tha Carter is an incredible album, and I still enjoy it just as much as I did back in high school. It just pains me that Weezy Stans generally only talk about Tha Carter III and everything after that; I don’t know how people mention Lil’ Wayne’s best material and completely neglect to mention Tha Carter. If Wayne were to release Tha Carter today, it would still be relevant, and it would still be just as incredible as it was eight years ago.

9/10

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 5, 2012 at 6:17 pm and is filed under Music Reviews, Slept on Saturdays with tags Cash Money Records, Lil' Wayne, Mannie Fresh, Tha Carter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.