Originally calling her third album Moonlight, Ariana Grande began reconsidering the theme around the songs on the album, she reworked the title to Dangerous Woman and kept “Moonlight” as the opening track. Written by Lil Wayne, Ariana Grande, Jeremih, Tommy Brown, Victoria McCants, Steven Franks, OB O’Brien, and Markous Roberts “Let Me Love You,” Ariana Grande, featuring Lil Wayne (2016) I’m not convinced that we’ll ever see this Wayne on wax again, but you can never take the greatness of C2 away from him.4.

Tha Carter II is the gold standard of leveling up. Wanna know why I’m so irritable about today’s young rappers who constantly phone it in and coast off hype? It’s because Wayne proved that you don’t need stan tweets and rants to prove you’re the best, you prove it in the booth. Tha Carter II is a testament to mastering your craft. Fiery punchlines, effortless delivery, and outstanding production that finally broke him out from the Cash Money mold and had him stand as his own man. In 2005, we had peak Wayne, a man who was absolutely determined to prove to every doubter that he was indeed the best alive. A clear headed, focused and hungry Wayne is dangerous man in the booth – which is why I’ve been so hard on his sloppy post-2011 material on this list. Until I heard Tha Carter II and I was never more happy to be wrong. I’d heard the hype around Lil Wayne, the “best rapper alive” claims, how he allegedly was massacring every feature he landed on, how he was set to be the next great rap leader. Soul in Stereo rating: 4.5 stars out of 5Įdd said: In 2005, I was a nonbeliever. This one isn’t as great as your nostalgia proclaims, but it holds up and has a firm place in hip-hop history.įorgotten favorites: “Comfortable,” “Let the Beat Build,” “Playing with Fire” And any album with that raggedy heffa “Mrs Officer” on it will forever get the side-eye from me. At some points it feels like Wayne specifically sequenced the album like this: Good song/OK song/good song/dumb song/Good song. But let’s be real, this album is plagued by inconsistencies. Sure, it has the renowned singles, but an album’s true measure of greatness is its album cuts and, in terms of quality, many outshine those beloved singles. And despite the INCREDIBLY INSANE amount of hype leading into this release after his unprecedented mixtape run, he delivered.

If you’re a rap fan of a certain age, it’s very likely that this is one of the albums that introduced you to hip-hop and is the reason for your fandom today. But lets’s start with facts: Tha Carter III is without question one of the most important albums of its era. Still, it’s a strong outing – and pretty much the swan song of golden era Wayne.įorgotten favorites: “Nightmares of the Bottom,” The Intro/Interlude/OutroĮdd said: Whew, they’re gonna cuss me out for THIS placement. The hits, well, just don’t hit as hard and several tracks feel like lesser versions of their C3 counterparts – see “6 Foot 7 Foot” cosplaying as “A Milli” and “President Carter” as a “Dr. It’s biggest drawback is that it came after Tha Carter III and is unable to escape its massive shadow. In the grand scheme, it’s a pretty solid album, with a solid mix of radio-friendly tracks, some surprising concept songs and the manic delivery that made Wayne a star. So allow me to step into their weird skater shoes: I think Tha Carter IV gets a bad rap and is way better than it gets credit for. I’m sure the comments of this post will reflect that.

We were all rooting for Weezy to win with this one (yes, even me!) but he couldn’t pull it together.įorgotten favorites: “Glory,” “London Roads,” “He’s Dead”Įdd said: Playa, Lil Wayne fans are some of the biggest apologists around – they’ve got a million excuses for every shortcoming. “I smell her panties while she’s in the bathroom and taste whatever she left in them.” Yes, that’s an actual line from a song. It’s wildly uneven, with tracks like “Glory” being among his best outings since his mixtape heyday, but are instantly drowned out by uninspired goofiness. But maybe Birdman was right to try to lock this away because there’s not much sizzle to this overly-hyped steak. Baby tried to block his industry baby from releasing it, but the album eventually landed on Tidal on Independence Day. Long story short, by 2015, our boy Birdman Jr was sick of his allegedly oppressive fake daddy and wanted to drop FWA to tide over fans until Tha Carter V landed. Oh, I’m talking about the story behind the album, not album itself … which is no prize either.

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