Tha Carter V

I think that every public figure strives to have a legacy. We all want to be remembered and known for what we put into the world. This makes me think though, what defines a legacy? Is it the highs? Is it the lows? Is it the combination of the two? Or is it simply public perception? For me it’s hard to think about a Legacy because I’m so early in my pursuits. Also I don’t really have shit, if you ask me for credits before a comedy show I will give you a shrug and a “say whatever’s in your heart” every single time. But I digress, rappers don’t age well and a majority of them don’t get to have a legacy. Their whole careers get dwindled down to one song on the radio show and if they’re lucky, a soundbite in a commercial for a white product that features a hit song they had 10 years ago. The ones that are lucky enough to have a full career are often scrutinized heavily by skeptics (aka haters) like myself. Lil Wayne is one of those artists. At one point he was the greatest rapper alive. He was inescapable, he was inevitable. He was like Thanos with a lean addiction. Every beat belonged to him and he could give someone a hit by singing a hook...AND HE COULDN’T EVEN SING. His reign seemed to last forever until it became clear that a new King/Queen was to replace him. While those who followed were influenced by him, the community at large began to forget about Wayne’s prior greatness. Unfortunately, this wasn’t helped by a gun charge that landed him in jail and the label disputes that caused his album to be pushed back for years. Things weren’t looking good for Wayne, his music wasn’t popping, his dreads started falling apart, his light was dimming like one of the forgotten skeletons in Coco. Luckily for us, Tha Carter 5 has finally been released. Tha Carter 5 is a representation of Lil Wayne’s legacy. It took us years to finally get to this place. Birdman held onto it like it was money he owes to Mannie Fresh; I honestly thought we’d never hear it. But by some miracle it’s here. Let’s get to it.

Almost as far back as I can remember, I’ve been a fan of Lil Wayne. And as far back as I can remember, Lil Wayne fans have made jokes about Birdman and Wayne’s relationship. The infamous picture (and less famous footage) of them kissing on the lips aside, Stunna got clowned for making a cameo in what felt like every Weezy video when he had no place being there. Even if it was a split-second shot of him, he’d be there. But all jokes aside, it was clear, even to me as an 11-year-old, that their relationship was special. Many shunned the idea of Birdman being a father figure to Wayne but as a child who’d never met their father, I fully understood the role that an older man can have on a kid and it made sense to me. For years they were adamant that they were father and son despite blood, but that just made those Lil Wayne tweets in December of 2014 all the more insane. “To all my fans, I want u to know that my album won’t and hasn’t been released bekuz Baby & Cash Money Rec. refuse to release it” he tweeted. He left no space for confusion or doubt by mentioning Birdman as well as the label. “I am a prisoner and so is my creativity… I want off this label and nothing to do with these people but unfortunately it ain’t that easy”. To say that this came as a shock to me would be a criminal understatement. I barely even believed it to be true. Surely, he was hacked? Families feud, but to see something break out on Twitter like this was surprising to say the least. Nonetheless, I thought it was a misunderstanding that would be resolved sooner than later so that the album in question, Tha Carter V, could get an early 2015 release. But weeks passed and instead, in January Lil Wayne released Sorry 4 The Wait 2, on it, taking aggressive shots at Birdman. “Who put this shit together, nigga? Me, that’s who, who was there when niggas left us, nigga? Me, that’s who” he rapped over O.T. Genasis’ “CoCo”. He was saying what everyone was thinking in bold fashion. Tensions even arose between him and Young Thug, who was with Birdman a lot at the time and people said was a Wayne clone. The legacy that had been built over the course of two decades was crumbling before our eyes and we barely knew why. Over the years, we’ve come to find out that Stunna owed Wayne money to the tune of $51,000,000 and was hiding the fact from him. It took until June of 2018 for the lawsuit to be resolved and more importantly, Wayne’s freedom to be reinstated. Better late than never. It was time.

On the 28th of September 2018, Lil Wayne aka Tunechi dropped his highly anticipated Tha Carter V album. Fans have been expecting this album since Wayne talked about it in 2012. Listening to Tha Carter V, it is obvious that Wayne channeled his personal and professional struggles into making good music. The public got to see a more vulnerable side of Wayne. Dealing with professional and personal disputes with his stepfather, Bryan “Birdman” Williams and his longtime friends, it is obvious that Wayne has been through a number of challenges since 2014. His health problems and emergency hospital visits made it more apparent to the public that Lil Wayne was struggling. He received public backlash for his “No such thing as racism” comment - even members of his community seemed to turn against him. Luckily for the self proclaimed “Best Rapper Alive” his loyal fans stood by him, even though many disagreed with his comments and public conduct. Looking back on Wayne’s career since 1999, he appeared to reach his peak in the late 2000s. He is a trend setter and is said to have paved the way for many new generation rappers such as the Migos, Drake, Chance the Rapper, Future and so on. However, some of his critics hold him responsible for the decline of true hip hop and the rise of mumble rap. Though there are many unfavorable opinions of Lil Wayne, he is still seen as a hero to a generation of hip hop fans. Much respect should be given to Wayne as he embraced the younger rappers by featuring artists such as XXXTENTACION, Travis Scott, and Kendrick Lamar on his album. He was also able to maintain a balance by working with artists from his era (Swizz Beatz, Nivea, Ashanti), his long term friend Nicki Minaj, his daughter Reginae Carter and legendary rapper Snoop Dogg. Wayne mentioned in 2012 that this is his final studio album and he intends to retire to spend more time with his children. Lil Wayne is fond of using pictures from his childhood as his album cover. Perhaps this refers to his desire to share a more vulnerable side of himself through his music. On Tha Carter V, some might say he outdid himself. He did not shy away from rapping about his inner demons, relationship issues and childhood struggles. It was refreshing to see a more mature and humble side of the rapper. It is quite obvious that he allowed his recent struggles to mold him into a better man and not consume him. The album cover shows an old picture of Wayne as a child with his young mother, Jacida Carter by his side. The first track on the album I love you Dwayne is a two minute message from his mother saying how much she cherishes him and how proud she is to be his mother.

When Lil Wayne announced that he had a new album Carter V in the works, some of us braced ourselves for action. Expectations were high, and preparations to savor the new body of work was in top gear. Finally, series of Lil Wayne joints which would be on our lips for a very long time will soon hit us, I said to myself. However, the album which took seven years to be completed came with a lot of surprises for me, and maybe disappointments for some other people. The album lacked fire. With Late XXXTentacion, Kendrick Lamar, Travis Scott, Nicki Minaj, Wayne’s daughter Regina Carter, Snoop Dogg, Sampha on the album, and Swizz Beatz, Dr Dre, Metro Booming, Mannie Fresh, Zaytoven, DJ Mustard on the production, the 23-track body of work couldn't do much to help itself. I for one was not disappointed. I was surprised though, at the lack of fire and adrenaline that usually characterized Lil Wayne's music. You see, if you have listened to Lil Wayne's earlier works, you would know exactly what I'm talking about. "Lollipop", "Mr Carter" with JAY-Z, "Mirror" with Bruno Mars, "No love" with Eminem, "Drop the world" with Eminem, and many more all reflect the picture that I'm trying to paint. Lil Wayne was in the business of stirring emotions with his music and that worked pretty much for him back then. But in this album, it seemed maturity and life happened to him that he focused much of his energy and musical prowess into inspiring his listeners than just making them vibe to his music. That should mean one of two things - he's redirecting his energy, or preparing for a retirement. But that would be a topic for another day.