So, ‘Carter 3’s neither a classic nor a total disaster. It’s like most of the stuff Lil Wayne’s released since he was a Hot Boy. The biggest concern for those obsessing over his mixtapes of the past few years was that he just couldn’t find a way to balance his increasingly off-kilter raps with something resembling a conventional song structure. His most out-there freestyles abruptly stopped with the beat falling-off or Wayne announcing “I’m gone!” and his more conventional songs awkwardly tumbled from crazy space-shit that don’t make no sense into a typical chorus or hook. ‘Tha Carter 3′ does a fairly good job of precariously balancing Wayne’s faults with musical convention–why he doesn’t just have a CD of batshit crazy raps that don’t adhere to musical standards, I’m not sure– but that also makes it feel like more of the same. I didn’t buy into the whole Wayne’s going to rap his way into overkill theory, but it’s true. Skeptics won’t be won over by anything on ‘Tha Carter 3′ and will find plenty more to make fun of, converts get more of the same at best, and at worse, some songs that almost give you the feeling of his mixtape highlights.
Almost everything great on ‘Carter 3′ can be found on a mixtape or guest verse somewhere else and on a few songs, he even seems to have made the decision to make a new song that sounds like one of his mixtape classics rather than just stick the original song on there. Intro track ‘3 Peat’ is just a slightly less exciting version of ‘I’m Me’ off ‘The Leak EP’, the unfortunate ‘Tie My Hands’ is sonically, a second attempt at the already pretty-bad ‘Shooter’ off ‘Carter 2′, and lyrically aims for the poignancy of ‘Georgia…Bush’ and would get there if ‘George…Bush’ didn’t already exist, the Rolling Stones interpolating ‘Playin’ With Fire’ sounds like the Franz-Ferdinand sampling ‘Burn This City’ meets the Heart-sampling ‘Something You Forgot’ with some like queerby ‘American Idol’ understanding of “rock” vocals, and ‘La La’ (not to be confused with the really good ‘Haters (La La La)’) is a beat that thinks it sounds like the weirdo Wayne-ness of ‘I Feel like Dying’ but is just annoying.
Only ‘Dr. Carter’ works in referencing another Wayne song (‘Gossip’) and improving upon or matching it, by extending the concept of Wayne being able to kill and/or revive rappers and signifying it through life-support beeps. The concept’s pretty well-delivered, features one of his best weirdo punchlines (“Fly, go hard/Like a geese erection”) and the Swizz Beat production is perfect and on the same simple soul-loop shit as Busta Rhymes’ ‘Don’t Touch Me’ (Swizz Beatz is pretty much keeping old-style soul-rap beats alive in the mainstream, weird…).
It’s interesting that the only total layover from his mixtapes is the great and very affecting ‘Comfortable’, a track that has Wayne going away from his typical oscillation between tough-talk and space-shit and into like nerdy, seasoned relationship raps. Along with ‘Shoot Me Down’, a track that really shouldn’t work but is one of the album’s best (and on some like actually emotional indie rock type shit), ‘Comfortable’ is the only song where we get of Wayne in total confessional mode- something ‘Tha Carter 3′ needs more of to work.
There’s plenty of good weird tracks, a few total misfires (especially ‘Tie My Hands’ and ‘La La’), and the expected ones where Wayne raps his ass off over spastic electronic beats, but as an album, it has no trajectory, either sonically or thematically. ‘Got Money’s the kind of song that destroys everything before or after it with thick buzz-synths but it’s followed by the downbeat ‘Comfortable’. The sinister ‘Nothin On Me’ is sandwiched between the Oompa-Loompa retardation of ‘La La’ and the mournful Kanye-produced ‘Let the Beat Build’ (Kanye’s beats here, really kill and don’t sound much like other shit he’s done). Every song feels like it should be the bad-ass track that starts the album, the regret-filled track that closes the album, or some piece of shit that should’ve never made it on the album and just flutters around. Weezy still hasn’t found a way to properly navigate his varied personae and since this is an album, he’s mostly doing tough-talk, punctuated with some honest stuff and some really out-there stuff, but it never gels or works even as complex contrast. It’s just this style or that style for a song and that’s awesome but it makes a pretty-good album that’s at times, frustrating.
Wayne’s talents are ever-growing and his frame of reference and ability to pull from any and everywhere remains, but as an artist, ‘Tha Carter 3′ hardly improves on ‘Carter 2′, is nowhere near the first ‘Carter’, and shares all of the sloppy indulgence of his mixtapes, which I guess is all we should have expected anyway.
Tha Carter 3 Redux…
My immediate thoughts upon hearing ‘Tha Carter 3′ is how buried in poor sequencing and a couple of really poor decisions, there’s a really good album there and I’d try to make it. I did this with another album that was half-great and half boner kill, Kanye West’s ‘Late Registration’, and it was pretty fun, so I’d thought I’d try it again. If you took all of the tracks Wayne’s dropped in the past few years, you could make an absolutely killer album or “mix”, so I tried to stick to two main rules when making my version of ‘Tha Carter 3′:
Rule 1. It had to use tracks that were commercially released. This meant tracks on ‘Tha Carter III’ and on ‘The Leak EP’. Additionally, I allowed for the use of ‘Haters (La, La, La)’ because it got some radio play and a lot of Satellite radio play like, six months ago. The same would apply for ‘I Feel Like Dying’–which I could’ve found a place for undoubtedly– but the recent lawsuit disqualified it and since I’m sort of playing make-believe mountain-man with an electric guitar here…
Rule 2. No matter the hype or “artistry” found or supposedly found on ‘Tha Carter 3′, this is still a CASH-MONEY record which makes this shit over 70 minutes no matter what. There’s a really good 40 or 50 minute album in here but that’s just not how Birdman and company roll, right? I could’ve stuck one more song on here to max-out the running-time (probably would’ve gone with ‘Talkin’ About It’ off ‘The Leak EP’) but ‘Carter 3′ only moves into that CD max-out time because of the long-ass ramble that takes up most of ‘Misunderstood’ anyway.
Here’s my version:
1. I’m Me [off The Leak EP]
2. 3 Peat
3. A Milli
4. Got Money
5. Nothin’ On Me
6. Playin’ With Fire
7. Gossip [off The Leak EP]
8. Dr. Carter
9. Phone Home
10. Lollipop
11. Mr. Carter
12. Haters (La La La) [from numerous mixtapes]
13. Comfortable
14. Mrs. Officer
15. Shoot Me Down
16. Love Me or Hate Me [off The Leak EP]
17. Let the Beat Build
Tracks I Removed
8. ‘Tie My Hands’ featuring Robin Thicke
What is it with vaguely soulful white guys and political apathy masquerading as being like, worldy wise? File Thicke’s parts of this song right next to John Mayer’s ‘Waitin’ On the World to Change’. His first part about how “we’re at war…with the universe” is ridiculous and his later addition of “I work at the corner store” is as generic and silly as Wayne’s politicism is impassioned and personal. Wayne does the confessional thing pretty well, especially the “deny being down low” line and skillyfully moves into the political, but Thicke’s singing is just too absurd. But a lot of people like ‘Shooter’ so, who knows. This will probably be the next single and it shouldn’t even be on the album.
12. ‘La La’ featuring Brisco & Busta Rhymes
Again, Wayne kills this track just like he kills every other track but this beat is just inexcusably retarded. And coming after ‘Lollipop’, the album needs something a little more real. ‘Lollipop’ is this not very good but also sort of great song that albums like ‘Carter 3’ need and it’s positioning on the album is right before essentially the home-stretch where the album needs to regain its focus and instead you get this, the hard-ass ‘Nothing On Me’, the soul-loops of ‘Let the Beat Build’, the for-the-ladies ‘Mrs. Officer’ and then the outro track, ‘Misunderstood’. The album just really doesn’t need a song like this at this point and it only adds to the messy back-end (no homo) of ‘Carter 3’.
17. ‘Misunderstood’
Again, nothing wrong with this track but it’s fairly underwhelming, is based on a played-out Nina Simone sample—why not sample the Santa Esmeralda version, that’s more Wayne’s style—and isn’t the message song Wayne thinks it is. The discrepancies between crack and other drug convictions and the “reasoning” for busting the black community are worth noting–as is Wayne mentioning that it’s a “white guy’ he heard saying this– is all poignant, but I’d rather hear a verse about it than a rant. When he discusses how they should leave dealers alone and deal with actual criminals, I was waiting for a discussion of corporate fucks and politicians and instead it’s a weird rant against sex offenders, which is just kind of dumb and obvious. ‘Misunderstood’ is a pretty typical “outro” track but ‘Carter 3’ isn’t really a typical album and, as I explain below, there’s already a perfect final track.
The Final Tracklisting
1. I’m Me
2. 3 Peat
Both of these songs are purposefully similar and it almost feels like ‘3 Peat’ only exists because ‘I’m Me’ has been out for awhile now and Wayne’s afraid of being accused of recycling, especially because his bit is that he’s this endlessly inspired rapper. The songs complement one another enough that having them open the album one after another still works. ‘I’m Me’ sounds like the perfect intro track, especially because of those clips at the beginning and end of older Wayne songs. ‘3 Peat’s essentially an even higher-energy version and that energy’s upped even further when ‘A Milli’ follows, so the album starts-out right.
3. A Milli
4. Got Money
Basically, ‘Carter 3’ doesn’t really start to fall apart until ‘Tie My Hands’ but the rest of it is such a mess that dividing up the early tracks is the only way to save the album. Still, I had to cheat with these two because they work perfectly together and maintain the energy level of ‘I’m Me’ and ‘3 Peat’. The placement of ‘Mr. Carter’ at track two on the real album is confusing because it’s this traditionalist chipmunk soul sandwiched between the insane strings of ‘3 Peat’ and the all-out weirdness of ‘A Milli’. Also, if Wayne’s going to claim legendary status, he shouldn’t need a Jay-Z appearance at track two, even if it’s a song connecting the two and one where the legendary Carter apes the younger Carter’s flow. Sticking it late in the album is a kind of subtle suggestion of Wayne’s importance.
5. Nothin’ On Me
‘Mr. Carter’ is a song that should be towards the end of the album and this is a song that should show up way sooner. The best albums are sequenced like a good mix, with mini-movements or even “suites” of sonically or thematically (or both) similar songs and so ‘Nothin On Me’ fits right in with all of these high-energy, booming electro beats, most of which are essentially shit-talking, hard-ass rap songs. The album will move further and further away from shit-talking and more towards introspection.
6. Playin’ With Fire
The terrible chorus of this song makes it a sore-thumb no matter where it falls, but putting it early in the album actually makes it way more digestable. If I had real power I’d totally remove it or at least cut down the 40-second intro, but it still works as is here. At track 6, you haven’t lost your listeners yet, so some weird-ass or even kinda terrible shit doesn’t feel as heavy on listeners’ ears as it will later in the album. Think of Outkast’s ‘Aquemini’ which is all over the place and doesn’t really gel into a solid sound until like, track 8. Also, the transition from ‘Nothin’ On Me’ to the next track ‘Gossip’ just doesn’t sound right but the transition between ‘Fire’ and ‘Gossip’ works well.
7. Gossip
8. Dr. Carter
This is sort of the second “movement” of the album. A brief dive into overt conceptual rap, with Weezy “killing” other rappers on ‘Gossip’ and then “reviving” them on ‘Dr. Carter’. The failing life support sound that ends ‘Gossip’ transitions well enough into the hospital dialogue of ‘Dr. Carter’. These songs also introduce some beats that are outside of the electronic stomp of the first six. There’s also some obvious but fun parallelism between the flatlining at the end of ‘Gossip’ and the revived heart at the end of ‘Dr. Carter’.
9. Phone Home
This song’s really crazy and would probably be my second choice for an ‘Intro’ track if the rest of ‘Tha Carter 3′ were a little more insane. I put it here because it has this ‘General Hospital’-style theme music that introduces the track which connects to the corny like, Rex Morgan M.D stuff on ‘Dr. Carter’ and there’s some subtle sonic connections between the pumping heartbeat that ends ‘Dr. Carter’ and the drums on this song. Also, a return to the shit-talking, self-asserting tracks that started the album, but a little stranger.
10. Lollipop
The spaceship taking-off sound that ends ‘Phone Home’ transitions well into the space beep-bloops of ‘Lollipop’ and both songs are sort of these mid-tempo weirdo party tracks. This is also the last of the electronics you’ll hear on the album, as I’ve made the final bunch of tracks some relationship/sensitive-guy raps mainly supported by more soul-oriented beats.
11. Mr. Carter
12. Haters (La La La)
This is kind of the final movement of the album and it’s a little more sophisticated or conventional than the rest and so, it’s a good place to stick the collabo with Jay-Z. As I said, burying this pretty great track late in the album makes Jay-Z more like another guest than some event rapper. The pianos that play-out at the end of ‘Mr. Carter’ almost sounds like they fade-out and fade back-in on ‘Haters (La La La),’ a song that’s kind of on some ‘Hard Knock Life’ shit and so there’s that Jay-Z connection too.
13. Comfortable
14. Mrs. Officer
15. Shoot Me Down
16. Love Me or Hate Me
Wayne’s good at weaving introspective rhymes in songs that don’t immediately appear introspective, but I think it would actually be a good look for him to focus on this side of his raps more explicitly. ‘Comfortable’s a great song and maintains the momentum of ‘Mr. Carter’ and ‘Haters’ and adds the smart, nice guy part of his persona that can get outshined by all the pussy -eating talk. ‘Mrs. Officer’ doesn’t really fit but is a song for the ladies that’s actually really good and albums like ‘Tha Carter 3′ always have songs like ‘Mrs. Officer’ on them. It complements Wayne’s emotional honesty with the woman in ‘Comfortable, well. We then move from these sensitive songs to outwardly vulnerable songs from Wayne. ‘Shoot Me Down’ is essentially a reaction to all the people who apparently want him to fail and ‘Love Me or Hate Me’ is a confident but still upset address of his own hype and ability or inability to live up to it.
17. Let the Beat Build
When this song came on the first time I heard the album, I really wanted it to the end the album because it’s so perfect. It’s like the end of ‘Good Times’ or something. Ending the album on a soulful, uplifting note puts a finality to the album that the rambling ‘Misunderstood’ does not and it just feels more hopeful and excited than a depressed, half-right rant. This is like ‘Dipset Forever’ at the end of ‘Purple Haze’ or ‘Love’ on ‘Pretty Toney’ or ‘13th Floor/Growing Old’ on ‘ATLiens’…you get the picture.
Robinson’s debut film ‘ATL’, is undoubtedly the work of a music video director, with a mix of 2003-2005 summer jams playing in the background for almost all of the movie’s running time, but it ultimately works, as most of the movie’s set in the music-friendly settings of a roller-rink and house-parties.
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