Album Review: Lil' Wayne - 'Tha Carter III'

With the release of his album 'Tha Carter III', Lil' Wayne tries to live up to the 'Best Rapper Alive' hype, but falls flat on his face. When you're supposedly the M.V.P. like Kobe Bryant, championships aren't expected they are required, and currently both he and Kobe are losing their battle. 'Tha Carter III' isn't just the most anticipated major label rap record of the year, it's pretty much the only one since Kanye and Jay-Z have both released albums recently. One of the last superstars standing, Wayne (and his label Universal) took no chances in ensuring that the album fulfills its blockbuster potential, hiring rainmaker producers such as West, Just Blaze, Wyclef and Swizz Beatz and recruiting guest appearances from Busta Rhymes, Robin Thicke, Babyface, Fabolous, T-Pain and that ultimate 2008 status symbol, Mr. Blueprint himself, Jay-Z.

While the album does have its moment, such as 'A Milli', lead single 'Lollipop', and the Robin Thicke and Babyface assisted 'Tie My Hands' and 'Comfortable' respectively, Lil' Wayne fells to tap into new ground as all the songs fall into one of three categories: knockout punches for the heads, ring-tone-ready bangers for the club kids, or emotional album closers for the sentimentalists.

In a quest to make the all-important yet still commercial album, Wayne too often ignores the feature that made his famous in the first place, namely, his raw hunger for rhyming, his facility in stringing together clever non sequiturs and similes, his prodigious ability to shred the simply sliced soul loops and earthquake bass lines that made 'Carter II' just a few hideous editing decisions away from being his much sought-after "classic."

Wayne has continuously delivered when focused and his dedicated drive for greatness has spurred him to heights that few, including me, would have predicted he would reach.

Trying to imitate Jay-Z's and Biggie's practice of not writing down lyrics, his reliance on spontaneity alternately skews genius and generic. Most of the time, he doesn't make a lick of sense, due to a his consistent rambling, but sometimes, it works perfectly, as on another album highlight 'Let the Beat Build', where Wayne wisely opts to let his raspy croak float alongside the beat's moaning gospel maximalism.

By the end of its overly-long 80-minute run time, you realize Lil' Wayne isn't deserving of the title M.V.P., but rather should just be known as another player on the court. That said, it's not an instant classic for Lil' Wayne, but it is the best rap album since Kanye West dropped "Graduation" last year, but still it remains evident that Lil' Wayne's best verses are always on somebody elses song.

3 out of 5