Thursday Throwdown: Lil Wayne's Tha Carter IV
Sep, 8 2011
Last week we brought you a list of reasons why the world needed some more Lil Wayne in it. So, this week, instead of pointing you to the best Tha Carter IV reviews, I am going to point you to my top 5 favorite negative reviews.
5. "The best that can possibly be said for it is ‘barely better than,’ perhaps ‘inoffensive’ and ‘bland.’" - Chase McMullan, OneThirtyBPM
4. "...it's a guarantee that the two best tracks on C4 are songs Lil Wayne does not appear on." - Andy Hutchins, The Village Voice
3. "Overall, Lil Wayne just sounds depressive throughout. Save for 6 Foot 7 Foot, there are no party songs where he sounds like he’s just having fun..." -Jason Richards, NOW Magazine
2."Tha Carter IV is most likely the greatest disappointment of 2011 other than Katy Perry’s outfit at the 2011 Video Music Awards." -David Amidon Pop Matters
1. "It’s a telling role reversal: once Wayne used to hop on other rappers’ tracks and blow them away. Now his guests magnify his lack of engagement." -Greg Kot, Chicago Tribune
-Erin O.
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Super Bowl Sunday: Wiz Khalifa and Lil Wayne
Feb, 4 2011
This coming Sunday the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Green Bay Packers will go toe to toe in Dallas, Texas’ Cowboys Stadium in Super Bowl XLV, but a whole different kind of competition is heating up as hip-hop's biggest stars continue to release tracks in support of their favorite teams.
In October, Wiz Khalifa released Black and Yellow, a tribute to his hometown team, the Pittsburgh Steelers. But it was only a matter of time before the Packers’ had a hip-hop endorsement and that came courtesy of Lil Wayne. A huge sports fan, though Weezy is a New Orleans native, apparently he’s rooting for the north this weekend, dropping “Green and Yellow” on his blog WeezyThanxYou.com.
While Khalifa’s lyrics are braggadocio-meets-Philly pride, the Young Money Cheesehead’s freestyle is a challenge, a call-out to Steelers’ supporters, but also their linebacker and defensive back.
Other rappers have recorded over Khalifa’s instrumental track. Basketball fans The Game and Snoop Dogg released “Purp and Yellow” in support of the L.A. Lakers, while Paypa recorded “Black and Red” for the Chicago Bulls. Fabulous released homage to the New York Yankees with “White and Navy.”
-Court
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Lil Wayne Exits Prison
Nov, 5 2010
After serving eight months of a 12-month sentence, Lil Wayne was released from New York’s correctional system on Nov. 4, having entered Rikers Island in March after reaching a plea deal on a 2007 weapons charge.
The prolific artist ramped up his writing and recording prior to being locked up, adopting Twitter and founding a website to keep current with his supporters by posting letters he’d penned in Rikers. "I was never scared, worried nor bothered by the situation" behind bars, Wayne said Tuesday through the site.
Joining a roster of successful rappers who have spent time in prison including Tupac Shakur, Lil' Kim, and Foxy Brown, Wayne has long blurred the line between art and real life in a genre born on inner-city streets, and which often chronicles crime and violence.
Several rappers have released albums while locked up; the late Shakur became the first to hit No. 1 while he was imprisoned with 1995's Me Against the World. Weezy also hit No.1 while in jail: his I Am Not a Human Being debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard chart last month with digital-only sales, but rose to top spot after being released on CD.
With Wayne’s freedom there will assuredly be celebrations and, more importantly, new music. It’s anticipated that the rapper will waste no time entering the studio to record Tha Carter IV, the highly anticipated sequel to its multi-milli selling 2008 predecessor.
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Weezy's Human Being Ascends To No.1
Oct, 21 2010
When his label Cash Money announced that the new album by the still-incarcerated Lil Wayne, I Am Not A Human Being, would be released digital-only for two weeks before a CD was released, many analysts predicted that such a staggered release would stop Weezy getting to No.1.
They were wrong: in its third week of release, its first week of being available on CD, Human Being has risen to the top to give Weezy his second Billboard 200 No.1 album. Last week it fell to No.16 with only 23,000 digital sales, but the CD launch this week has resulted in a 443% boost, to a total of 125,000.
According to Billboard, Pearl Jam did a similar thing in 1994, when they released Vitalogy initially on vinyl only. 34,000 records took it to No.55, it fell the following week to No.173, but then leapt up to No.1 in week three when it was released on CD and cassette, with a total of 877,000 sales.
In at No.2 this week is former Hootie & The Blowfish frontman Darius Rucker, with Charleston, SC 1966 selling 101,000. Nickelodeon stars Big Time Rush hit No.3 with their debut album, B.T.R., on 67,000.
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Weezy Preps Two Albums In Two Months
Sep, 20 2010
Prison is no real impediment to America's most prolific rapper: Lil Wayne is set to release two new albums within the next two months, despite having been in jail since March. Weezy has a projected release date of November 4, and Drake has already confirmed there's to be a big "Welcome Home Weezy" concert the following evening.
The concert will also serve as an album launch party if all goes to plan. Young Money are preparing to release the hugely anticipated Tha Carter IV on November 5. The Carter III (2008) was the last album to sell over a million copies in its debut week, and label president Mack Maine has been helping Wayne choose songs for the follow-up. "I let him hear it over the phone," he told MTV last month. "I book him a studio session and let him listen [to tracks] over the phone. 'Do you like this one?' 'Yeah?' "
Before then, I Am Not A Human Being will be out. Human will contain at least ten songs originally slated for TCIV. "I know once he got out [of prison] those songs would be so old to him," Weezy's manager Cortez Bryant told MTV. Those songs will be released before Wayne, on his birthday, September 27.
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Weezy Sued For A Milli
May, 7 2010
Superstar rapper Lil Wayne is being sued by the producers of two of his biggest hits for a combined total of a million dollars, because the producers claim they haven't received the royalties they're due.
The producer of Weezy's smash hit "A Milli" is claiming for a half-milli, that he says Weezy's label Cash Money owes him. "I have kids," Bangladesh told Vibe magazine. "In the hood, people get killed for $10. I couldn't imagine owing someone hundreds of thousands of dollars and just walking around in front of them."
Weezy and Bangladesh haven't been in close company lately because the former is currently in prison, serving a 12-month sentence for weapons violations. But he faces problems when he gets out, because Jim Jonsin, producer of "Lollipop," also wants half-a-million dollars for his work on that song. "This industry is a devilish game," Bangladesh said, "and these are devils controlling the game. I don't wanna be caught up in it."
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Lil Wayne Makes The Most Of His Freedom
Feb, 13 2010
Lil Wayne appeared in court this week expecting to start a jail sentence for criminal weapons possession, but before he went down, he was working hard to ensure there was plenty of new Weezy material for the coming months.
In a flurry of activity, the rapper decided to make use of his last days of freedom by ensuring that there were videos available to promote his long-delayed rap-rock album Rebirth, which finally found its way to record stores at the start of February, and also his much anticipated Tha Carter IV. Of the near-impossible feat of filming, video director David Rosseau told MTV, “It was basically a ‘Mission: Impossible’,” clarifying that the mission was to “keep Wayne on TV and everything for whatever time he’s in.”
In the event, it seems Weezy could have had a lie-in; a dental emergency has kept him a free man for a further month, which in his terms, is probably enough time to shoot a movie-length feature.
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Lil Wayne's Album Gets Pushed Again
Dec, 15 2009
As is tradition at this time of year, the music press is full of features about the best albums and songs of the last twelve months, and some sources are even running useful hints about the best undiscovered musical gems. But one album cover you won’t be seeing in any list soon is the biggest non-release of recent times; especially since even Axl managed to get the oft-delayed Chinese Democracy into record stores. News that Lil Wayne’s genre-busting rock album Rebirth has been denied a delivery date again has resulted in a strangely mixed reaction of frustrated howls, sighs of relief and, for many, nonchalant shrugs. The album was first touted for release way back in April, but was soon rescheduled so many times that even Weezy’s PR people probably forgot the latest schedule. Now on the long list of potential release dates is February 1, 2010, but by then it will have missed its chance to top the rock journo’s lists for this year; judging by the early reaction to leaked songs, it was never going to anyway.
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Lil Wayne
Jul, 14 2009
In May, Kanye West shouted in a capitalized Twitter post that “WAYNE IS HENDRIX,” but his comparison related more to their status and talents than to their sound. But Lil Wayne’s next release, the genre-busting rock album Rebirth, promises to draw the comparison closer. The first single “Prom Queen” reached No.15 on the Billboard charts and suggested that fans may be more tolerant of Weezy’s genre hop than they were of Chris Cornell’s recent foray from rock to Timbaland-tweaked R&B on his latest, Scream. With just over a month to go before fans can try out Wayne’s rock sound, it seems he is about to pay dearly for embracing the Hendrix lifestyle a little too much. Red City Entertainment is suing him for a cool half-million dollars for failing to appear at a gig in the Bahamas: The singer didn’t turn up for the show, and was later discovered to be unconscious in his hotel room. Rumors continue to suggest that Rebirth may be shelved before it hits the stores, and that the next release may be a more comfortable return to Tha Carter III territory, with Tha Carter IV. Being called the new Hendrix is great, but surely being the multi-platinum-selling Lil Wayne is good enough?
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Lil Wayne
Jan, 26 2009
His last album was an unstoppable success, but it seems that Lil Wayne had some surprises up his sleeve for the follow-up. Despite the huge public appetite for a Tha Carter IV to follow Tha Carter III, he has chosen instead to take a completely different direction: surprised reports suggested that his next release would be a rock album and it looks like that’s exactly what we’re going to get. The lead track from the forthcoming Rebirth album, “Prom Queen,” leaked to the internet on January 25 and is currently dividing opinion across the web, with lovers and haters filling the comments boxes in equal measure. The self-proclaimed 'Greatest Rapper Alive' doesn't rap at all: he kinda half-sings, heavily assisted by autotune, a complaint about the high school hottie who wanted nothing to do with him before he was famous. Many have already compared it to Avril Lavigne's "Sk8er Boi," which isn't a comparison any Weezy fan could've anticipated for his new material. Whether it’s rock enough to convince rock fans to buy it, or rap enough to convince rap fans to buy it, remains to be seen: the album is due to hit the stores on April 7.
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Lil Wayne
Jan, 2 2009
There were a handful of artists who seemed inescapable in 2008, but none were as successful as Lil Wayne, whose Tha Carter 3 has been confirmed as the United States' best selling album of 2008. TC3 proved that it is still possible to build major hype for a new record at a time when albums routinely leak online weeks ahead of release. A clutch of Weezy songs which did leak were quickly and humorously re-packaged as The Leak EP, and by the time of TC3's street date, fans couldn't contain their excitement. Since Tha Carter 2, Weezy had guested on dozens of other artists' singles and proven his chops with a series of acclaimed mixtapes, meaning the arrival of his next studio album became a big event. Fans weren't disappointed, as over 400,000 snapped it up on release day, and over a million in its debut week. Blender magazine named it Album of the Year, and in sales terms it held off strong competition from Coldplay, Taylor Swift and Kid Rock to finish No.1 for 2008 with just under three million sold. So congratulations to Weezy, the self-proclaimed "Greatest Rapper Alive," who did all he could in 2008 to justify that grand claim.
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Lil Wayne
Nov, 4 2008
Mark Twain famously announced that “the report of my death is an exaggeration,” but he is far from alone in finding that he has had to debunk rumours of this kind. Such is the habit of the press to falsely report the death of a celebrity, whether by error or malicious misinformation, that websites have sprung up to debunk the rumors. This week, it was Lil Wayne’s turn. A fake BBC web report announced his death, stating that he “…was involved in an altercation with members of rival gang the 'Crips', and brutally shot 6 times with a semi automatic 9mm Smith & Wesson handgun”. So Weezy joins the odd company of several apparently dead, but still living stars, which includes Sir Paul McCartney, who’s been reported dead so many times he’s probably lost count. Conversely, and in the spirit of exploding false rumors, SoundUnwound can report that in spite of enduring rumours to the contrary, Elvis is still, unequivocally, dead.
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Lil Wayne
Oct, 23 2008
It’s been quite a week for Lil Wayne. Last weekend he won Lyricist of the Year at the BET Hip-Hop Awards, which is good enough reason to celebrate in itself. However, he also used the opportunity to announce that he is already working on the follow-up to his recent blockbuster, Tha Carter III. Speaking to MTV, Weezy said, "I think we're gonna release Tha Carter III — a new Carter III with none of the same songs, though… it's gonna be called ... Tha Carter III: The Rebirth. The birth of a new beginning.” But Dwayne Carter Jr wasn’t finished there; he had another new beginning to announce: the impending birth of his first son. Four days later on Oct 22, another lil junior called Dwayne arrived, making his 5' 6" daddy not look so Lil anymore.
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Lil Wayne
Jun, 10 2008
It's been two-and-a-half years since the self-proclaimed 'best rapper in the world' Lil' Wayne released a solo studio album, but he hasn't been resting on his laurels. Since then he's featured as a guest rapper on more than 100 tracks by other artists, and he's taken the art of the hip-hop mix-tape to new levels. Weezy has dropped seven mix-tapes since last proper LP Tha Carter II, and they've all helped build buzz for the follow-up Tha Carter III. Fans dying to know if III is Weezy's Blueprint or Ready to Die can find out this week, when it finally hits the shops.
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