Tuesday, June 17, 2008

The Carter III

It’s a week to day of the greatly anticipated release of Wayne’s THE CARTER III. A good portion of you that are on my email list are music lovers, I have a couple music producers in the mix and many of you claim a particular genre that tickles your fancy more than another. Me, I have an eclectic ear and developed a love affair with Dwayne Carter when I discovered my love for poetry. Poetry? Yes, poetry. This review is not a straight-forward hip-hop review. I’m writing from a poetic standpoint and as a Weezy fan I must say . . . THE CARTER III is the epitome of immaculate verse. LOLLIPOP was the first single for the album I quickly fell in and out of love with the single because of video and radio rotation, but I’ve come to find that the songs that aren’t released for radio or video are usually the best songs on an album. My personal favorites are Dr. Carter, Mrs. Officer featuring Bobby Valentino, and Let the Beat Build (so far). These are the ones that I keep on 3Peat (another track on the album). I personally believe that real hip-hop and poetry are intertwined. Again, that's real hip-hop. Some may question the state of hip-hop but with the release of THE CARTER III it’s evident that Wayne has not renounced his seat as the Poetic King of the Game. Metaphorically and lyrically, he brought it with little to no effort. And to me, that’s what poetry is. His flow with this one is crazy and his mic is his conduit. Dr. Carter has revived my flow and I have my vocab I.V. in as we speak. His style has evolved and personally I’m more than pleased with what I hear. Now today’s blog is no different. To all my music lovers, holla atch girl and give me your views on THE CARTER III. For those of you that don't know . . . I guess you're out of the loop today.

4 comments:

Big Jerz said...

Though Wayne is pretty much guaranteed success with the final installment of the Carter Trilogy I think overall this album falls from its potentially classic status due to a market saturation. Wayne, having released a total of 77 new songs in 2007 gave us so many lyrical highlights with his mixtape slaughtering of the game, that his current statement of work quite frankly pales in comparison. Poetically still a genius No doubt, some of The Carter III's most quotable quips can be recognized as repeat bars from his many unofficial releases from last Year. Take Lollipop for instance, this entire lyric and concept for the song comes from a remix verse he did last year with Swizz Beats and R. Kelly. The whole "She wanna lick the Rapper" thing has been said before by Wayne. The pure genius of the lyric the FIRST time you hear it makes the same lyric seem cheap and overused when you hear it interpolated time and time again. 2008 is the year of NEW Beginnings and Wayne is certainly contending for the New King of the throne...but poetically he let a FAN down. Because I'm a fan I hold him to the highest standards. If the claim is he dethroned Jay-Z, this album was not necessarily the statement to convince me totally. Just my thoughts though...Don't kill me ! Love Yall. Yolla Buck

Ashley M. said...

I defintitely don't believe he dethroned my nigga Jay but I'm saying some of the shit that was spit on some of the tracks I listed in the blog post were pretty dope. Jerz . . . I think we're at odds with this one dude! I still love you though! LOL!!!

Ashley M. said...

The Carter 3 was a good album. It is not quite a classic though, but a lot better than some of this junk going around these days. Mixtape DJ's did kill the game. For most of us "leakers" and downloaders we've had almost all these tracks for a couple of weeks before it dropped and that kind of made it difficult to really really appreciate the album for its uniqueness. F$*& mixtape DJs. anyway, I think it touched on a lot of basis and grabs at your attention without being too loud, or big. He put Babyface on the album...damn, I mean that's like having a feature with Prince. Lollipop fits right in with the new trendy kind-of hip hop that is out there now, but he took it to the next level and made it a #1 hit that drowns the clubs, radio's and mp3 players. "Phone home" is okay, but I can't STAND Dre!! he makes me not like it. I could do without it. But "3 peat" and "Amili" go hard as you already know. Although I think Amili should have been just a mixtape track, I still like it for the album...a little. But the track with T-pain coulda been left off. There are some remnants of the Carter 1 &2 Weezy (that I still prefer) that snuck in bangers such as the Mannie Fresh sounding Cop Car w/Bobby Valentino and Mr. Carter featuring THE Mr. Carter. Maybe that's why I love those tracks the most. Dr. Carter sets the bar as far as creativity goes. I mean you have the same Swizz beats who has been known for sampling hooks now samples a song and it is different but fits seamlessly with the concept and mood for the song. But the Kanye laced "Let the beat build" kinda took away from the lyrics of the song. All I hear is, oh o oooooo the whole time and how they suspend and layer various tracks in the beat (maybe b/c I'm into making music). I had to listen to it over and over just to get the lyrics. Please don't "shoot me down" and "Misunderstood" are two of the smoke out/zone out tracks. The cult-like Cobain/Hendrix kinda stuff. The beats are hypnotizing and eargasmic to me. I could only see someone like Andre 3k rival such creativity but with Wayne it is like a Big Boi and Dre combined type style. He's definitely on another planet. which leads me to my second response on the topic here shortly (at work, can't do too much typing w/o looking suspisious).
Submitted by J. Peele

Ashley M. said...

Part 2 - from J. Peele

This is how I understand Lil Weezy. I relate it to Star Wars kinda, so if you don't follow, read b/t the lines. If its too long for a reply, use this as a topic or whatever. The references are strictly for fun b/c I'm a Star Wars fan.

Weezy was supposed to be the "Chosen One". The force had been stronger in Weezy than any other rapper at his age. In a sense a prodigy. People witnessed him and proclaimed that he would be a great great rapper once he was allowed to use curse words and so forth. Hell, he's been in the game as long as majority, not all but majority, of the people that listen to his music (18 under) Just like how everyone was introduced to Darth Vader first in 4-6, a lot of people forget that he was once young Anakin. Just as Vader had a great following, so does Weezy. But Lil Wayne knew the force and tried soooo badly just to be a Jedi. But the hip hop coucil won't quite make him a Jedi yet. He had progressed significantly album after album. But under the guidence of the Emperor(Baby) he eventually let his greed (wanting to be the best rapper alive) and love for his Princess Padme (syrup, weed, coke, pills, etc.) eventually turned him to the darkside. Once you're on the darkside, the only way to escape it is death.
Lil Wayne badly wants to be part of the 27 club with the Jimi's, Brian Jones', Janis Joplin's, and Cobains of the world! Think about it. Why would you continuously entertain such drugs that have so OBVIOUSLY doomed others that joined the 27 club? Remember the song "I feel like dying"? Did you hear when the Emperor(Baby) say that he's afraid for Weezy and his lifestyle? Did you see the magazine cover that quoted him as saying he's more afraid of life than death? Who says these kinda things, I ask? All of the true greats died early...Biggie, Pac, Eazy, Jamaster, Left Eye, Marvin Gaye....all Jedi Knights. Jay-Z is already a living Jedi! A master of the craft. Is it okay to procclaim Weezy a Jedi after Carter 3?
At this rate, I don't see Weezy completing another album. Its a scary possibility. It took him 2 years to complete this one and he's pushing 27 soon. With all of those poisons in his body there is no way he becomes a good Jedi. He is the Lord Vader for Hip-Hop, a jedi possibly if you say so, but a Jedi on the darkside.

You know how Jay-Z, Pac and Biggies words took you to the events or times being spoken in their rhymes? How you believed almost all of their statements because of who they were and their character? Look at Wayne. One minute he's dissing someone, then the next apologizing or redirecting his comments. Or procclaiming to be certified Blood which he is not. Or saying he had been shot, after he shot himself. Now, his lyrics are all metaphors and similies that are just put together to make "Ultimate Combo" or Supreme Victory(a lil killer instinct reference) punchlines. How can you believe in someone who's words are just that? That's like a dynamic preacher that could make the Devil praise the lord, but live like a athiest!!!! He will never be one of the true earned Jedi's unless something drastically changes, which sadly is a longer shot than Kobe winning the finals without Shaq.