Lil Wayne - "The Carter VI" Album Review

 

Lil Wayne recently dropped the sixth installment of his famed Carter series, Carter VI to hot and cold responses. While some fans love it, it's also drawn some amusing commentary by people who aren't too fond of it (particularly the elephant song...you'll get it when you hear it).

I gave it a proper straight through listen (as in I didn't play any songs in between, but not straight through with no stops) and I liked it. He has a few songs that I think would've killed during the mixtape era (eg. the Weezer remake "Island Holiday")

I think the major issue is that we've built Wayne up to this larger-than-life figure and our expectations are so high we wouldn't know greatness if we heard it. But don't forget at one point he WAS that mythical figure. Millennials and up (and MAYBE some older Gen Z) remember the mixtape run he had leading up to the Carter I & II that put him in a league of his own. Recently, however, things took a turn for him after the whole Superbowl scenario where he felt he should've been awarded the slot, then people saw footage of him performing and he kinda became a laughingstock (the performance did look terrible, not gonna lie).

So now after this, we've built him up and torn him down while still expecting magic. Don't forget the social media reviewers skimming through snippets to be the first to comment while picking things apart without being able to appreciate it for what it is. 

There are some songs I don't expect to have a long shelf life but the album is good. He's branching out and expanding. He is larger than life. The dude is an arguable Top 10 rapper, collabed with U2's Bono, Jellyroll, rehashed a Weezer song and more. He's able to experiment and go for more stadium songs now. Plus, we've been fans since he was a teenager, what do we expect him to talk about now?

As you may know, I do not review albums. I don't like doing it, I just post what I like. But I felt that this album was unfairly judged a flop and wanted to say something. Time will tell it's shelf life but I expect some beat choices and delivery to influence new songs in the near future.