Special Comment: The Problem with Tha Carter 3

Now since I’ve already reviewed Tha Carter 3 and have received a whole heap of death threats and insults from the Wayne stans as a result I thought I would take the opportunity to respond to some of the comments made. Let me preface my comments by saying I do listen to Lil Wayne and have heard everything he has put out from 500 Degreez to the Dj Drama/Empire mixtapes to the Tha Carter series. I think he has improved dramatically from when he first came out, because when he first came out he was the equivalent of a Hurricane Chris.

So it’s pretty remarkable that someone who was looked at as the worst rapper on Earth has made huge strides toward becoming the Best Rapper Alive. It’s also probably part of the reason why Wayne has generated so much attention because of the “you would have never thought” factor. You know, you would have never thought Lil Wayne out of all people would be one of the best lyricist in mainstream hip hop. Think of it as Soulja Boy attaining Jay-Z status 10 years from now.

As for the comments, the most prevalent comment seems to be that Lil Wayne is changing the face of music and blah, blah, blah. Didn’t Kanye do that in September? But anyway, one of the comments the review received was that the “harsh reviews are coming from those who are incapable of excepting growth or change in ones art.” I think every hip hop reviewer, whose not writing for these rock-n-roll mags, knows a hell of lot more about hip hop than most of the Lil Wayne stans. How do I know this?

I’ve talked to a whole heap of Wayne stans within the 15 to 18 age bracket on some focused researched group shit and I’ve come to the absolute positive conclusion they don’t know shit about hip hop. Now I don’t want to come off as those old schoolers who thought KRS-One was sicker than Biggie, but when you have the majority of Wayne fans who haven’t even heard another Lil Wayne album it’s hard to take their opinion seriously. I mean seriously.

See since the Carter 2 was released way before all the Weezy hoopla, a lot of the younger fans haven’t heard anything pre-2007. Their first interaction with hip hop music begins with Jay-Z’s Kingdom Come. These people don’t matter and I don’t just mean their opinion on something as trivial as a Lil Wayne album, I mean their opinion on anything, their self worth as human beings, their life, doesn’t matter. That cuts about 80% of Wayne stans’ off.

Now the other Wayne fans who say Tie My Hands deserves the award for greatest artistic merit ever. Let me ask you one simple question have you lost your fucking minds? What was so insightful in Tie My Hands that anyone watching CNN didn’t already know about the tragedy of Katrina? What insightful lyrics did Lil Wayne spit that Jay-Z didn’t on his Katrina song Minority Report? Wayne is talking about nothing in that song.

If you listen to any Weezy songs where he touches on Katrina, you’ll know he always complains about losing his house. Big deal. The guy is a millionaire with homeowner’s insurance, I don’t want to hear his account of Katrina, just like I didn’t want to hear Jay-Z’s. I’m sure there are some underground rappers from New Orleans, who lost everything in Katrina, and I mean everything, from their house, family members, their jobs, who have made better songs about Katrina than Tie My Hands. Those are the rappers I want to hear talk about Katrina. Not a rapper who keeps a secondary home in Louisiana but actually lives in Miami.

I honestly think that whole song is bullshit and is not deep and that all Lil Wayne’s serious songs are blatant pandering attempts to appeal to the “Grammy” crowd. And for the record, deep and serious rap songs, worthy of winning Grammys are classics such as Tupac’s Dear Mama and Keep Ya Head Up and Brenda’s Got a Baby and Changes. Go listen to those and tell me Tie My Hands deserves mention alongside those records? These are the upper fucking echelon of hip hop serious songs. These are the kind of songs we would play for politicians and old white people and say “See this is what hip hop is!”. We would not play anything from Lil Wayne and it is blasphemous to mention Tha Carter 3 in the same sentence as Ready to Die, Reasonable Doubt, Illmatic, Aquemini, hell even Urban Legend.

The only reason Eastcoasters, like me, listen to Wayne is because of his metaphors. He is like Fabolous in ‘98 with the crazy punchlines. But he is also like Fab in that he can’t be taken seriously and can’t make serious songs and that is the absolute fucking truth. Anyone that has listened to Biggie’s Ready to Die will agree, all those that haven’t your opinion doesn’t matter.