Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III
Critic Score
Based on 19 reviews
2008 Ratings: #54 / 806
Year End Rank: #8
User Score
2008 Rank: #95
Liked by 203 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
NOW Magazine
It’s eclectic, eccentric and yes, essential.
90
Consequence of Sound
Fortunately, Wayne possesses enough creativity and charisma that, provided he is able to keep his head relatively straight, should keep him on top of the game for a long time to come.
90
Sputnikmusic

Tha Carter III is a contradictory, against-all-odds masterpiece, and Lil Wayne may never perfect this balance again. I sincerely question: will anyone?

90
Rolling Stone
OK, it’s true: he really is the best rapper alive.
87
Pitchfork

This is Wayne's moment and he embraces it on his own terms. 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

85
Prefix

Tha Carter III soars because of Wayne’s to-date under-appreciated ability to turn himself down.

84
Coke Machine Glow

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.

80
PopMatters

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.


 

80
AllMusic

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.

80
Paste

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.

80
The Guardian
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.
80
Uncut
In which the prince of hip hop get a blessing from the king.
75
A.V. Club
He's the man of the moment, but the disc's best moments strive for timelessness and attain it.
75
AllHipHop

Real talk Tha Carter III is a respectable effort. But with all of the incessant chatter of being the best, this disc should have been damn near perfect.

70
HipHopDX

Tha Carter III is flashes of brilliance surrounded by a number of rookie mistakes made by a young veteran of the game.

70
Slant Magazine
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.
67
Entertainment Weekly

Tha Carter III should be an anointment, proof of his arrival in rap's elite. Wayne's genius is of the mad sort, though, and this schizoid album is alternately mesmerizing and inscrutable.

50
Tiny Mix Tapes

Equipped with the stylish, but too-often substance-less Tha Carter III, Lil Wayne seems poised to flip the script on the “rapper racists” (radio stations, MTV) by evolving into the “biggest” rapper alive.

CameronFriezer
60

Favourite: A Milli
Worst: La La

1. 3 Peat - 5
2. Mr. Carter - 7
3. A Milli - 9
4. Got Money - 5
5. Comfortable - 6
6. Dr. Carter - 7
7. Phone Home - 5
8. Tie My Hands - 7
9. Mrs. Officer - 6
10. Let the Beat Build - 6
11. Shoot Me Down - 6
12. Lollipop - 4
13. La La - 4
14. Playing with Fire - 6
15. You Ain't Got Nuthin - 7
16. DontGetIt - 6

Average: 6
Quick Comment: Most overrated rapper of all time. I don't get why so many people adore him? His vocals are frustrating and annoying I mean ... read more

Dax_Wilder
68

Shoutout to my friend @ThePurpleIdiot for listening to this album with me, it was really fun ^~^.

Well... I have been a certified Lil Wayne hater for awhile now. I never really understood the massive hype, the bling-era sound, the constant talk of him being a top 10 rapper, and oh god... his voice. Sure up until this point ive never heard a full Lil Wayne project, but ive heard a couple of songs from him (including a couple from this album I didn't like), and ive heard a ton of features, ... read more

KIDWITHGUNs
88

Amazing

This album gets me everytime πŸ’™

The tone is all over the damn place... what dank were you smoking that made you think "Tie My Hands" (a sensual, delicate song about compassion) was a good follow up to "Phone Home" (a song which has one of the worst chorus' in history)? How am I supposed to take you seriously?

And thats the thing, you CAN'T take this seriously. This honestly had me giggling like a girl all throughout, whether it was Lil Wayne playing his ... read more

Chrollooooo
94

Pussy monster

MudkipJames
80

pussy monster scares me

60

wow alot of these beats did NOT age well

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Track List

13 Peat
3:19
82
2Mr. Carter
5:16
feat. JAY-Z
89
3A Milli
3:41
90
4Got Money
4:04
feat. T-Pain
78
5Comfortable
4:25
feat. Babyface
83
6Dr. Carter
4:24
85
7Phone Home
3:11
68
8Tie My Hands
5:19
78
9Mrs. Officer
4:46
77
10Let the Beat Build
5:09
82
11Shoot Me Down
4:29
feat. D. Smith
78
12Lollipop
4:59
73
13La La
4:22
54
14Playing with Fire
4:21
64
15You Ain't Got Nuthin
5:27
74
16DontGetIt
9:51
77
Total Length: 1 hour, 17 minutes
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