Lil Wayne is back for what he claims will be the final album of his career.
But he might want to rethink that after selling more than 900,000 units in the first week with his newest album, “Tha Carter IV.”
Lil Wayne is no stranger to controversy, nor does he hide from it in real life and on “Tha Carter IV.”
Besides Lil Wayne’s lyrics, the main element that stands out on “Tha Carter IV” is the production, with Polow Da Don and Cool & Dre being the only two notable names featured on the album.
Many new names stand out including producer Bangladesh, who really creates a hit with the acclaimed “6-foot-7-foot” featuring Cory Gunz.
The song that stands out production-wise is “John” featuring Rick Ross. Polow Da Don creates a classic with a mix of rap and rock.
When listening to the song, it’s hard to hear anything but rap production, but at the VMAs, the drummer playing the beat for the song brought out the rock.
The production values on the “Tha Carter IV” are nicely done.
For the list of producers that aren’t well known, the CD’s success is a compliment to their work
On “John,” Lil Wayne and Rick Ross play off each other well, similar to the way 50 Cent and Eminem collaborated on “Psycho.” Wayne sounds the hungriest he has been in years on this track.
The other bright spots of the album stand out on the Intro, Interlude and Outro. This is where Wayne and his guest features are at their best as the songs are just freestyling to decent beats.
This gets a little repetitive toward the end of the album as they give it a mixtape feel.
With that being said, Wayne stepped out of his niche on this album and tried something no other artist has done on a major CD.
However, Wayne sounds out of place when he switches up his rapping style. Perfect examples of this are on the songs “Nightmares at the Bottom,” “How to Hate” and “How to Love.”
The need for a crossover of songs that are radio -friendly is understandable, but Wayne should have done it in a way that works with his rapping style.
The odd thing is, except for “How to Love,” none of these songs will make top-40 radio. Lil Wayne would have been just fine leaving these songs off or his normal.
On “How to Hate” featuring T-Pain, Wayne sounds out of his element as he is trying to crossover to an R&B style to work with T-Pain. It kills the mood of the “Tha Carter IV,” which up to that point had been good.
Overall, “Tha Carter IV” is a win. The production on this CD was top notch with few known producers.
What’s the most impressive is that Wayne is not afraid to step out of the box by using freestyles on three different songs.
Another thing that stands out is Wayne’s use of metaphors.
He has put himself into a category as one of the greatest lyricists in the music game today. Even with the disappointments, “Tha Carter IV” still can’t be stopped.
