More than most rappers, Lil Wayne is a master at self-mythologizing. Like his predecessors the Notorious B.I.G. and Jay-Z, Wayne claims of no longer writing down his lyrics before recording. Given the volume of record-stealing guest appearances and the flood of mixtapes since his last studio album, "Tha Carter II" (2005), that free-association songwriting approach seems all the more remarkable. So much so that he has claimed to be the best rapper alive.
Now with the release of "Tha Carter III," Wayne attempts live up to his own hype, but falls short. The disc is a frustratingly uneven effort that's filled safe songs aimed at commercial radio and a few quirky cuts that feature Wayne's bizarre sense of humour and inflated opinion of his rap skills. The best of the latter is "A Milli," a bizarre, breathless rundown of Wayne's self-worth: "Threw the pencil and leak on the sheet of the tablet in my mind/Cause I don't write (expletive) cause I ain't got time/Cause my seconds, minutes, hours go to the all mighty dollar." He gets conceptual on the jazzy, Swizz Beatz-produced "Dr. Carter," on which he diagnoses and cures rap's ailments. Later Kanye West lends a soaring soul sample under Wayne's staccato, twangy flow on "Let the Beat Build." And on "Phone Home," he channels E.T. in a semi-robotic cadence: "We are not the same/ I am a Martian."
However, it's obvious that Wayne's rap ambition is more dependent on radio play than true experimentation. Hence, there are Auto-Tuned throwaway ditties - "Got Money" with T-Pain and the ubiquitous first single, "Lollipop" featuring the late Static Major. And he further tempers the out-there moments with conventional R&B hooks and smoothed-out grooves - Robin Thicke, Bobby Valentino and Babyface all make appearances. Ultimately the gloss seems to dull Wayne's potential to be one of rap's true innovators.
Check out this track: On the clever "Dr. Carter," Wayne plays Dr. Phil urging rappers to "stand out like Andre 3K" and then offers to put "more vocab in your IV."
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"Tha Carter III"
Lil Wayne (Universal Motown)
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