via//chicago

Weezy F. don't-forget-the-Baby

One of the big music stories of the past week was the surprisingly strong performance of former Hot Boy Lil' Wayne and his highly anticipated sixth solo joint, Tha Carter III. Thanks to his never-ending flow of mixtape material and guest appearances, Weezy had built up enough of a buzz that the number one Billboard slot was pretty much a forgone conclusion. What was surprising however, was just how many copies he managed to unload in the first seven days - 1,006,000 (423,000 on the first day alone). Now this may not sound like much when compared to the figures Britney and the boy bands were putting up in the RIAA's cash cow years, but for an industry in its death throes - Weezy's was a pretty impressive figure. The last album to top 1 million in the first week? 50 Cent with his disappointing The Massacre in 2005. Not even Kanye could crack seven digits with his excellent Graduation disc from last year.

To keep these figures in perspective, here's the first week sales of other recent chart toppers:
Mariah Carey - E=MC2 (463,000 copies to reach #1 - the year's pacesetter until now)
Usher - Here I Stand (433,000)
Disturbed - Indestructible (253,000)
Leona Lewis - Spirit (204,000)
Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs (144,000)

Interesting, huh? Time will tell if this says more about Tha Carter III's lengthy gestation period, the rapid success of "Lollipop", or the rebounding of the record industry. I'm guessing more of the first two than the latter, but stranger things have happened.

So, how's the album itself? Worth all the fuss? The short answer - kinda sorta. See, this thing was never going to live up to expectations. For a time this album seemed to be the hip-hop equivalent of Chinese Democracy - a highly anticipated album that kept getting pushed further back on the calendar, with huge predictions on how amazing/awful it was going to be. It was destined to be a disappointment to someone. Many argued that Weezy had wasted all his best material on the handful of mixtapes he tossed off in the last two years, while many others argued that he never had any good material in the first place. The way I figure it though, if you are borderline batshit insane and spend 12-14 hours a day spitting every crazy idea that enters your head into the mic - eventually you're going to hit on something solid. "Lollipop" is the obvious success story here, riding the T-Pain vocoder bit straight to #1 - but its probably only the fourth best song on the disc. The Kanye West produced "Let the Beat Build" is the strongest, with Wayne spitting some of the album's best lyrics over a minimal drum beat and a trademark 'Ye soul sample. Album closer "Dontgetit" finds Wayne at his most smoked-out, venting his thoughts over the classic "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood". The paranoia vibe works really well for the first couple verses, even if it does overstay its welcome by quite a bit. From a production standpoint, David Banner and Bangladesh score big points for "La La" and "A Milli" respectively, though I still slightly prefer the earlier incarnations of both (I guess Weezy couldn't toss on the Cory Gunz verse to allow him to be upstaged on his own disc, could he?).

For all the exciting highlights though, there are some tracks that simply fall flat or fail to build on a decent premise. "Mr. Carter" starts off fairly promising, but the lazy Jay-Z verse towards the end nearly runs the track into the ground, while the Bobby Valentino assisted "Mrs. Officer" exerts way too much energy on a half-hearted "fuck the police" punchline. And the less said about the other Kanye production, "Comfortable" featuring Babyface(?!), the better. Let's just say that Weezy should stay away from the ballads.

In spite of the few mis-steps, this is a pretty fun album. A 5-mic classic? Not even close. But Wayne the hitmaker allows Weezy the character enough free rein to toss out rhymes like "osh-gosh b'gosh Posh Spice's husband couldn't kick it like I kick it" to keep things fun. And that's really what a summer hip-hop album should be all about.

(Related note - is that the best cover art of the year? Or the worst? I think strong arguments could be made either way.)

Lil Wayne - "Playing With Fire (f. Betty Wright)" (taken from Tha Carter III)
Lil Wayne - "Let the Beat Build" (taken from Tha Carter III)