I'm not going to dismiss anyone's "fandom" if you will, but I'm going to tell you why I think Tha Carter IV is a garbage album.
Now while I think the album is garbage, I'm not going to totally bash Wayne based on the fact that he has done something rappers don't do: sell a million in one week on consecutive rap albums (note: Rebirth was a rock album, We Are Young Money was a group album, and I Am Not A Human Being was more like the EP before the album...and he was in prison at the time). Wayne has been hustling to get out as much material as possible, and his hard work has succeeded in a way that even better rappers/artists haven't. Wayne has gone as far as to make basically a brand that audiences will buy no matter how much the product sucks. The proof is in the fact that his last album efforts, whether it's a group or rock album, have surpassed the expectations of the industry.
Honestly Wayne has been grinding for years so he has shown us something that artists say, but don't really do to the extreme as Wayne has. That being the following statement probably said most eloquently by New Jersey rapper 8th W1 (Pronounced eighth one) "you gotta grind like your wack."
Wayne presents to us the fourth installment of Tha Carter series. As the record has shown in the past, this album would have been preceded by another Dedication mixtape. This did not happen for whatever the reason; maybe because he was locked up or what he said about mixtape DJs, I don't know and I won't dare take a guess.
Now before we get into Tha Carter IV and why your taste in rap music sucks if you love this album, let's think back on the albums that led to this album:
Tha Carter: Wayne was one of the sparks out of Cash Money, and after the failure of Lights Out and 500 Degreez (compared to the numbers he made out of Tha Block is Hot), Wayne started to take this whole rap game seriously. Production by Mannie Fresh was a big part of Weezy's album because Mannie could always make a great beat. Don't think that the producer doesn't make a difference, especially when it's Mannie; the house beat maker for Cash Money, the guy that knew Wayne's strengths and weaknesses.
Tha Carter II. Wayne's whole style begins to change. He starts to develop and use more of a vocabulary...now whether that was because of ghostwriters...well that remains to be seen. But lyrically we do see a change in Wayne. Around this time leading up to the next album, Weezy is featured on just about everybody's album in some way. You couldn't go anywhere without hearing a song featuring Wayne. All of this leads up to...
Tha Carter III. A million sales in a week. Tha Carter III was an explosion in some ways, but we also notice that Wayne is subject to follow trends instead of set them. He was in the position to do so, and Tha Carter III was going to sell no matter what, because he built that following from the mixtape world and by being on everybody's song. But take a close listen, doesn't he begin to sound as if he knows he doesn't have to try as hard?
Ah, not trying hard. The first step in some people's failure. But what is considered failure? Tha Carter IV isn't a commercial failure by any means. It did what it was supposed to do, sell. But is it an artistic failure? I am not the judge of that but I remember a time when the "Weezy F Baby and the F stands for" line wasn't as overused as it is now. I thought we heard more than enough but Wayne seems to disagree.
I remember when Wayne would at least rap about a subject for a whole verse. This happens to be very disjointed rap, and not in a conceptual way. It's also sad when the best song on the album doesn't even have Wayne on it. ('Interlude')
How are you going to let people kill you like that? You are not even on the song? It's your album, every song is supposed to be yours!
Rick Ross gets people hype just by saying "uh" to the 'John' beat and that's the highlight of the song in the first 12 seconds, something is wrong here.
Words of advice: Wayne...stop singing. You are one of the few people that sound worse than present day Whitney Houston...and I heard her live. Crack is wack Whitney, remember that. (check the mumblings from 'Abortion' and 'How To Love')
This may be something that only I caught, but it's been annoying me for years. I'm tired of hearing the lighter before the songs.
But there's a lot of terrible lines in this album. "tote my tools like mechanics, mechanisms" (President Carter); and "when it Waynes it pours" (How to Hate) happen to be two of the worst lines I've ever heard.
Wayne takes time to diss Jay-Z by threatening to kidnap and old Beyonce for ransom (It's Good). Little does he know that there are legions of women and gay men that would prevent this from happening. Dissing Jay is stupid because he might address it, he might not because he's bigger than that.
The Outro is the second best song, because Wayne isn't on it. With that said, somebody give Shyne a lozenge, some tea, or something for his throat. Sounds like needs to sound like the biggest (in physical size) rapper in the game. First it was Biggie, now it's Rick Ross.
There are 3 bonus tracks, but after listening to 15 garbage tracks, I couldn't stand the thought of listening to any more. My brain just couldn't take it.
Anyway the two best songs on the album don't feature Wayne at all. Doesn't that say enough for you? The production quality is...okay. Wayne ruins every good thing in this album, but at the same time, it sold a million copies in a week. What does that say about everyone that bought a copy (the album did leak before it's release too)? I've deleted the leaked copy from my hard drive. I don't want this, and you shouldn't either.
If you like or even love this album, let me know so I can make fun of you.
For more reasons, click here!
No comments:
Post a Comment