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The 300 Best Albums of the Past 30 Years (1985-2014) | SPIN - Page 5
243. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter II
(Universal/Cash Money, 2005)
Mixtape purists (and Top 40 agnostics) who insist that Lil Wayne doesn�t have a proper LP to rival his stellar non-album output need to reacquaint themselves with Tha Carter II. Weezy�s fifth full-length � and predecessor to his pop crossover � indulges in its star�s signature sprawl, but somehow the 22-track roster doesn�t bloat. Best-of no-brainers (the siren-sounding �Fireman�), slick sweet-talkers (the soulful, Isley Brothers-aping �Receipt�), and minor flashes of brilliance (the laidback bravado of the �On tha Block #1� skit) all feel of a piece, part of the same chiseled monument otherwise known as the finest �Part Two� in hip-hop thus far. � KYLE MCGOVERN
170. Lil Wayne, Da Drought 3(Young Money, 2007)
Lil Wayne was �so motherf�king high I can eat a star.� The rap mixtape, as a format, was somewhere up there, too, and the nascent Young Money boss was part of the reason: His proper albums are more consistent, but unofficial releases like this one explain his feverish cult. Though 50 Cent had already shown the mixtape�s potential industry clout, and the likes of Dipset and Clipse had shown its artistic potential, Wayne�s delirious, smart-dumb free associations were especially suited to the format.
The prior year�s Dedication 2 had the New Orleans rapper�s Hurricane Katrina protest �Georgia�Bush,� but Da Drought 3 had more to say about Wayne�s incipient dominance. On �Upgrade U,� he brazenly upgrades Jay Z�s verse from the Beyonc� original. Elsewhere, lyrics predict the rise of everyone from �young Barack Obama� (in a verse from guest Juelz Santana) to �a chick named Nicki Minaj.� Mixtapes were about to lose their innocence all the more, in part helped by Wayne�s later Young Money signee Drake. And this former Hot Boy was about to go from eating stars to being one. � MARC HOGAN
56. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III(Motown/Cash Money, 200
Lil Wayne ushered in the era of rap albums not needing to be �about� anything, which has had its drawbacks, but his stone(r) classic isn�t one of them because it resurrected the art of what used to be called rhymin� for the sake of riddlin�. Carter III talks a little about how indefatigable Mr. Carter is of course, but it also talks about how he�s an alien, how he�s got money, how he�s a doctor who performs surgery on wack MCs, and how he really f�ks the police. �A Milli� isn�t about a million dollars, it�s about looping the bluntest rhythmic device to underscore his flow and dexterity and how many ways a linguist can bend a syllable to his gap-toothed whims. �Let the Beat Build� is �about� how a great Kanye West beat needn�t try and improve on a faultless perpetual motion machine of a two-bar soul sample. And if you can score a Japanese edition that replaces weakest-in-show �Playing With Fire� with the epic �Pussy Monster,� pair it with the congenial-blowjob No. 1 fluke �Lollipop� and you�ll understand why he�s the most gynephilic rapper alive. � DAN WEISS
243. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter II
(Universal/Cash Money, 2005)
Mixtape purists (and Top 40 agnostics) who insist that Lil Wayne doesn�t have a proper LP to rival his stellar non-album output need to reacquaint themselves with Tha Carter II. Weezy�s fifth full-length � and predecessor to his pop crossover � indulges in its star�s signature sprawl, but somehow the 22-track roster doesn�t bloat. Best-of no-brainers (the siren-sounding �Fireman�), slick sweet-talkers (the soulful, Isley Brothers-aping �Receipt�), and minor flashes of brilliance (the laidback bravado of the �On tha Block #1� skit) all feel of a piece, part of the same chiseled monument otherwise known as the finest �Part Two� in hip-hop thus far. � KYLE MCGOVERN
170. Lil Wayne, Da Drought 3(Young Money, 2007)
Lil Wayne was �so motherf�king high I can eat a star.� The rap mixtape, as a format, was somewhere up there, too, and the nascent Young Money boss was part of the reason: His proper albums are more consistent, but unofficial releases like this one explain his feverish cult. Though 50 Cent had already shown the mixtape�s potential industry clout, and the likes of Dipset and Clipse had shown its artistic potential, Wayne�s delirious, smart-dumb free associations were especially suited to the format.
The prior year�s Dedication 2 had the New Orleans rapper�s Hurricane Katrina protest �Georgia�Bush,� but Da Drought 3 had more to say about Wayne�s incipient dominance. On �Upgrade U,� he brazenly upgrades Jay Z�s verse from the Beyonc� original. Elsewhere, lyrics predict the rise of everyone from �young Barack Obama� (in a verse from guest Juelz Santana) to �a chick named Nicki Minaj.� Mixtapes were about to lose their innocence all the more, in part helped by Wayne�s later Young Money signee Drake. And this former Hot Boy was about to go from eating stars to being one. � MARC HOGAN
56. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III(Motown/Cash Money, 200
Lil Wayne ushered in the era of rap albums not needing to be �about� anything, which has had its drawbacks, but his stone(r) classic isn�t one of them because it resurrected the art of what used to be called rhymin� for the sake of riddlin�. Carter III talks a little about how indefatigable Mr. Carter is of course, but it also talks about how he�s an alien, how he�s got money, how he�s a doctor who performs surgery on wack MCs, and how he really f�ks the police. �A Milli� isn�t about a million dollars, it�s about looping the bluntest rhythmic device to underscore his flow and dexterity and how many ways a linguist can bend a syllable to his gap-toothed whims. �Let the Beat Build� is �about� how a great Kanye West beat needn�t try and improve on a faultless perpetual motion machine of a two-bar soul sample. And if you can score a Japanese edition that replaces weakest-in-show �Playing With Fire� with the epic �Pussy Monster,� pair it with the congenial-blowjob No. 1 fluke �Lollipop� and you�ll understand why he�s the most gynephilic rapper alive. � DAN WEISS
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