Lil Wayne
Tha Carter III
(Universal)
Tha Carter III is the most anticipated album of 2008 (unless Dre finally decides to drop Detox). While it may appear that Lil Wayne came out of nowhere to take the hip-hop scene by storm, he’s appeared on countless singles and seems to have taken up residence in the studio, while flooding the scene with a deluge of mix tapes in addition to his latest studio effort. This disc is a testament to Wayne’s evolution from relative emcee obscurity on Tha Carter II to becoming one of the most important modern-day emcees (next to Kanye). And, while Weezy seemingly appears everywhere, his lyrics clearly show that his heart lies inNew Orleans.
—Trevor Savory
This article appears in Aug 21-27, 2008.