Being a Lil Wayne fan I gave myself enough time to let the waves of nostalgia subside before doing this Carter V review. I’m no reviewer but it’s been 5 years since this album was announced so what the hell right? Plus the album isn’t trash (spoiler alert). If it was, as a fan I wouldn’t have the heart to do it. But it isn’t so it’s cool.
What makes this even more difficult to review is the struggles Weezy has gone through to get any project released. Being locked down creatively by an evil toddler couldn’t have been easy. Even non-fans feel for him. So as you can see, there is also bias where you want to see him win. But as I said earlier, yuh boy has this now. I ran through the album several times over the last two weeks, both in the car and in the gym. I’m ready with my unbiased opinion.
THE GOOD
Lil Wayne is engaged again
We suffered through Dedication 4, 5 and Sorry for the Wait 2. The less said about the Free Weezy album the better. I am not Human 2 doesn’t exist. For a while it seemed that the frenetically prolific punchline spewing genius we grew to love would forever be replaced with an auto-tuned Dad joke dropping shell of himself. But something changed. Maybe it was having to attend court too much. Could have been Young Thug trolling. Or when the tatted infant got his bus shot up.
Whatever it was, Dedication 6 saw an almost return to form which thankfully continues on the Carter V. He’s back to floating on beats like foam on a freshly poured beer on Dedicate and Problems. We get back the weird Wayne, the martian on Dark Side of the Moon (should have gotten more of this). And moment of silence because we got the return of freaking INTROSPECTIVE WAYNE!!! Like where was that nigga tho? Well he’s on Open Letter, Famous, Dope New Gospel, Can’t be Broken and Let it All Work Out. I mean he had five years of material but it’s like he realised time’s ticking and he really put his all.
Slight on the autotune
Any Wayne fan will know that since he started liming with T-Pain around Dedication 3 he’s been high off his own supply of autotune. Some of his most terrible moments on his mixtapes have been from its use. I’m pleased to report that he took it way tf down for this project. And the moments he used it on singing tracks like What about Me, Perfect Strangers and Mess are actually dope. And I hate autotune Wayne.
Messages in the music
As I said earlier, we got some introspective Wayne. What we love about Wayne is the free associative, off the wall, “what did he say” moments yeah. But during his low moments I think he went too far. On the Carter V we got a balance of the free associative off the wall like Dedicate but some storytelling on Mona Lisa. We heard about his mum. We found out about the gun incident on Let It All Work Out. This album has more weight than just a collection of dope freestyles and that’s a good thing.
Easy on the trend hopping
His last album The Carter 4 (I don’t acknowledge I Am Human II) was marred by unoriginal flows. The popular flow then was Rick Ross and you can hear Wayne doing his best Renzel impression on John. It wasn’t bad of course but Wayne is too talented to be me tooing on the flows. On this album we get Wayne being Wayne on his collab with Travis on Let is Fly no Migos flow. After almost two minutes of Trav, Wayne steps in and annihilates the beat in a way only he can. Love it or hate it he’s back to being himself.
The beats are a mix of old and new
Following what I was saying about trend hopping I’m GLAD we didn’t get an album full of trap. Open Safe produced by DJ Mustard sounds exactly like 3-4 years ago when his beats was popping. Can’t Be Broken, which I love, sounds like an extra from The Carter 3. Start This Sh*t Off Right features fricking Ashanti and sounds like early 2000s. Uproar produced by Swizz Beatz sounds early 2000s as well and might even bring Harlem Shaking back. I know this is probably a by-product of how long the album has been germinating but it gives the album an eclectic feel and sets it apart from other releases.
Now for the new. This project could have easily sounded dated and many included me feared that it would. But he added just enough current beats working with Zaytoven to get some heat, working with Travis Scott and Kendrick on features. Word is, he even updated the beats on existing songs to get that current feel. The end product I believe is something truly unique and I’m grateful for that.
The Guests
Thankfully the guests were carefully selected and kept to a minimum. No Gudda Gudda or other CMB weed carriers to throw things off. Surprisingly some of the lesser known guests like Nivea and even Weezy’s own daughter Reginae came up huge on their respective appearances.
The Bad
Too Many Songs
The funny things is, I know there are two many songs but I don’t know which ones to take out. In a way, the amount of songs makes up for the long wait. I get that. Some songs have a redundant vibe like Open Safe and Problems. Maybe one or the other could have been selected. Let me be clear, there isn’t any terrible song in the tracklist. But I feel like there is a shorter version of this album that’s better so I’m nitpicking. Just don’t ask me to drop one 😛
Lack of cohesiveness
This is both a feature and a bug when dealing with Lil Wayne. The Carter 3, as awesome as it was, also lacked cohesion. It’s enjoyable still but it prevents the album from achieving true classic status. The Carter V started off like it would buck the trend. It flowed perfectly until What About Me and then hit a minor hitch. Actually now that I think about it, I would take off What About Me, Start this sh*t off right and Dope Niggas. All perfectly good songs but they throw off the flow.
Wayne isn’t exactly the same Wayne
There is only one reason that The Carter 3 is better than The Carter 5. Lil Wayne was an god level rapper in 2008. Ten years later, Wayne is still a top tier rapper but more demigod level now. Listen how 2008 Wayne casually dismantles this beat without breaking a sweat. This isn’t even one of the top ten songs on The Carter 3. Neither the concept or beat is awesome yet Wayne elevates it from stale beef to filet mignon.
Wayne 2008 would have destroyed Kendrick on Mona Lisa. Wayne 2018 only barely keeps pace with some eclectic storytelling; Kendrick totally washes him flow wise. Wayne 2008 would have deconstructed Uproar to molecules and put it back together; Wayne 2018 only barely gets by the skin of his trademark rasp; he lazily uses the same flow almost the entire song. I eh saying this Wayne is shit eh. Just saying that time is a bitch and so it go. He still gets it in on Dedicate, Problems and a few others but is kinda like Jordan on the Wizards. You go get a 40 point game now and then but doh expect it every night.
FINAL VERDICT
I give it a solid 8 outta 10. The more I listen, the more the length seems like a feature. There is a song for every mood. It really is a good album, don’t listen what the haters say. Is it a classic? Musically no. Might become a classic because of the moment a la All Eyez on Me but only time will tell.
Of course Weezy still spitting bars. Still bringing the lines to make you wheel tracks. I’ll leave you with some of my favourites:
- “I turned a goddamn into a God’s Plan” – Dedicate
- “Billion dollar smile I sell myself short if I grin…“ – Dedicate
- “Take the T off Tunechi and look at it as the crucifix, bitch” – Let It Fly
- “We grew up fast, we rolled up slow” – Uproar
- “And be afraid of who? I made the loot/When money went from army green to navy blue/I said salute…” – Can’t Be Broken
- “I know a lotta niggas think I got a lotta niggas/There’s strength in numbers but there’s honor over strength” – Open Letter
- “She gon’ have to excuse my ex
I’ma have to excuse her pets
She gon’ have to be juicy wet if she gon’ ride on this Tune Express
I’ma have to excuse her text
She gon’ have to exclude the rest
She gon’ have to tell dudes to step
Nigga, to the left, nigga, to the left” – Mess
I hope you enjoyed my review. If you wish to check out my music, feel free to browse to my music page. And if you like what you hear, catch up with me on social media.
Bless