The true rebirth of Weezy

By: John Dewberry

Photos: Retrieved from shop.thacarterv.com

Is Carter V good? Can I rate this somewhat objectively without going into detail? God help me, here we go.

Tha Carter V (CV) is now weeks old. I better get on this.

I’m quite late to this one and I apologize for that. This review is a long-time coming. I’m not just going to review the album, I have to give you some context.

Most rap fans or music fans in general know the name Lil Wayne. It’s like Eminem or Dr. Dre, better yet for those of you who know your 90’s cartoons—it’s not dissimilar to Animaniacs.

Lil Wayne is Yakko, Drake is Wakko and Nikki is Dot (or Slappy Squirrel) we love their characters and we know they can bring fire with every bar.

But Wayne has struggled for five years with mentor and label owner Birdman over ownership and personnel. I guess it’s not Like Father, Like Son anymore.

Is Carter V good? Can I rate this somewhat objectively without going into detail? God help me, here we go.

The first half of this album is stellar, with the lone exception of the Travis Scott feature, every other song is great. “Uproar” is going to be the next single. I have nothing against K. Dot—but you can’t put out a song on a first single with two established rappers and hope to sell it by the merits of the featured artist simply because he’s been the more consistent artist you diminish the quality and trust in the primary artist.

That would be the same thing as going to a Michael Bay movie and not getting explosions or Megan Fox; but I digress.

The second half of this album is okay. “Open Letter” is a song that will grow on you, “Took His Time” “Hittas”, “Dope…” and “Let it all Work Out” are the staples.

But I don’t know why he dug up Mac Maine and Ashanti for this project— I mean, Ashanti’s last hits were with Usher and Omarion in the early 2000’s and to be fair you only really remember one of those artists.

Mack Maine is trying so hard to prove to you that he can hold a hook but his cadence won’t convince you.

Sorry Mack, you aren’t Nate Dogg.

How does C5 stack up against his other Carter installments. First and foremost, it is better than Carter IV from a lyrical standpoint, Tha Carter had “ I Miss My Dawgs” and “Ain’t that a Bitch” but lacked in lyrical introspection and memorability  bar a few isolated lines.

I discovered Wayne on Tha Carter II, but the headphone mix in this project is so much better—Mannie Fresh didn’t always make the best production decisions in my opinion.

But this is what you want to know is the favorite between this and Tha Carter III. Sales and singles aside—I’m a little divided.

“Phone Home” and “Mrs. Officer” ruined C3’s quality for me. Those songs haven’t aged well. But where C3 succeeds in not overstaying its welcome, C5 is one hell of a time commitment at an hour-and-a-half.. It’s a good 90 minutes, but its still grating even with the good production and lyricism.

I found myself smacking my phone out of my hand during the runtime because I needed to hear other new albums. It’s better than C3 just by a hair…maybe less than a follicle. For me the track list is seamless.

Unlike C3 wherein “Mrs. Officer” ruined everything, this album has a flow to it that is nearly flawless. There is some filler but Wayne needed to just be generic on these tracks to fulfill a goal. And honestly, I get it—it’s been five years and he needed to give us something longer. You’ve proven it Wayne and we’re grateful.

If this is your final project it’s a great way to go. If not, then please make The Carter VI 15 minutes shorter and don’t invite Mack Maine next time.

9/10