Lil Wayne

Tha Carter III (Cash Money/Universal)

Rap’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (here “Dr. Carter”/”Mr. Carter”) bends and breaks, mumbles and shouts, testing an unfathomable range of voices on Tha Carter III that shrills a clusterfuck of sonic inconsistencies mixed harder than codeine and Coke. It’s Wayne’s personality that both floats and sinks TC III. His “I’m me … C3. … It’s me … times three” rant on opener “3 Peat” plays out simultaneously entertaining and discouraging, while the incessant “A Milli” drones charmingly grating. It’s all a joke, probably, as hinted on “La La.” “Phone Home” broadcasts live from Planet Weezy (one zooted place) and pits the NOLA prince as E.T. on promethazine: “We are not the same – I am an alien, like Gonzalez, young college student, who ‘den flipped the game.” Wayne’s “best rapper alive” claim on the Kanye West-produced “Let the Beat Build” holds no water when Jay-Z torches “Mr. Carter.”

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This article appears in June 20 • 2008.

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