After serving a prison sentence at Rikers Island and pushing back the debut, Lil Wayne finally released his fourth addition of Tha Carter series, "Tha Carter IV."
The album, which still features Wayne's raw lyrics, catchy beats and memorable hooks, fails to live up to the pervious Lil Wayne albums. Although "Tha Carter IV"does include singles "6 Foot 7 Foot," "John," "How to Love" and "She Will," there are no songs with any real substance.
While Wayne has a good handful of hits on this album, there are definitely some misses, songs that seem to have no direction, boring delivery and predictable lyrics. The pace of Wayne's rapping seems to have gotten slower and his approach seems to lack some of the intensity it had in previous albums.
Some of the better songs on the album include "President Carter," an anti-war track in which he raps over a haunting beat, "It's Good" featuring Drake and Jadakiss, where Wayne threatens to kidnap Beyoncé from Jay Z and "John," an upbeat single featuring Rick Ross that reminds listeners of pervious Lil Wayne songs.
One song that really did not seem to have a place on the album is "Abortion." The rhythm and the lyrics, which have nothing to do with the title of the song, are all over the place. "How To Hate," featuring T- Pain, was almost painful to listen to. The song's auto-tuned quality is annoying and overshadows its true meaning.
Although Wayne does make a decent attempt to take his audience on a musical journey, he does not quite accomplish this goal. With "Tha Carter IV" all that seems to be on Wayne's mind is prison, guns and sex.
While he gives it a good try, Wayne has failed to hit the mark with this album.
Briana Knox can be reached at briana.knox@student.shu.edu.
