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It’s eclectic, eccentric and yes, essential.
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From the start you know this is no mixtape because it's clearer and more forceful. Every track attends to detail, with fun tricks like the chipmunk-chorused "Mr. Carter"'s sudden descent into screwed-and-chopped before Jay-Z comes in.
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This isn't a mixtape, it's a suite of songs, paced and sequenced for maxaqimum impact.
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Maybe that's how we need to view this record--a little less anxious in our anticipation and balanced out with a little more enjoyment. Then, it just might be a classic.
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BlenderThere's an exhilarating, disorienting sense of freedom tot he album, the ruse of rules being ignored. [Aug 2008, p.79]
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All rappers ride on the claim that they’re the best, but on III Wayne makes his case.
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Instead of hiding his bootleg-bred quirks in anticipation of the big-budget spotlight, he distills the myriad metaphors, convulsing flows, and vein-splitting emotions into a commercially gratifying package that's as weird as it wants to be; he eventually finds his guitar but keeps the strumming in check.
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Tha Carter III soars because of Wayne’s to-date under-appreciated ability to turn himself down.
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The album is listenable, exciting and succeeds in reigniting interest in hip hop and rappers that dedicate their life to become great MC's, not just hustlers.
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Though wrong and stupid kinda work (in a good way!), Tha Carter III is more a balanced, self-conscious synthesis of everything viably great about Lil Wayne, hyperbolic or not, than the penultimate statement of the MC’s “legendary” status.
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Filled with bold, entertaining wordplay and plenty of well-executed, left-field ideas, Tha Carter III should be considered as a wild, somewhat difficult child of Weezy's magnum opus in motion, one that allows the listener an exhilarating and unapologetic taste of artistic freedom.
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That said, it's not an instant classic, but it is the best rap album since Kanye West dropped "Graduation" last year.
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We should have known. If his raspy, cartoonish voice didn't mark him as different, his quick wit, offhanded wordplay and quirky subject matter should have in a genre populated largely by grim-faced imitators.
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He breaks language down into building blocks for new metaphors, exploiting every possible semantic and phonetic loophole for humour and yanking pop culture references into startling new contexts.
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With help from A-list guest stars (T-Pain, Robin Thicke) and producers (Kanye West, Swizz Beatz), Lil Wayne backs up the boasts [of "best rapper alive"] on the oft-delayed Tha Carter III.
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Tha Carter III is a monumental album full of powerful, self-defeating statements that obliterate rap’s internal logic without offering too much more than indifferent bong logic in return. Judged, however, as a collection of singles and quotable verses--the criteria on which we’ve been grading hip-hop records since the end of disco--Tha Carter III is an agonizing piece of work.
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Tha Carter III hearkens to when rap meant rapp: Isaac Hayes talking for days about some girl he broke with, or Bobby Womack signifying while strumming a blues guitar.
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UncutIn which the prince of hip hop get a blessing from the king. [Sep 2008, p.110]
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Ultimately, Tha Carter III will have you believing in Wayne's greatness but wondering why, as often as not, he just isn't very good.
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He's the man of the moment, but the disc's best moments strive for timelessness and attain it.
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One could easily pick and choose from the songs here to make a more coherent 12-track album; such a record would likely have more immediate impact. But it'd also be kind of painful to cut anything.
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Entertainment WeeklyFor merely running in place, TC3 can be transfixing. But it is not enough. [20 June 2008, p.66]
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It's Wayne's personality that both floats and sinks TC III.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 274 out of 380
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Mixed: 41 out of 380
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Negative: 65 out of 380
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Oct 17, 2014
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Jun 27, 2011
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UndergroundmysteryAug 25, 2009