Tunechi’s Back: Nine Things XXL Noticed About Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter IV

 •  News  •  by Adam Fleischer  •  28 Comments

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  • lil wayne cover gallery
    On Wednesday afternoon, Lil Wayne’s oft delayed, much anticipated album <em>Tha Carter IV</em> leaked to the ‘net less than a week before it was set to hit stores. <em>XXL</em> managed to get our hands on the project (still buying it on Monday), quickly loaded up the iPods and gave it some spins. Here's a handful of things <em>XXL</em> noticed on some of the early listens.
  • #tha carter iv lil wayne
  • lil wayne grammy
    Tunechi is still ashing in his Grammy Award, like he did in the "We Be Steady Mobbin" video. He spits on "Abortion," "I woke up this morning, dick rock hard/Ashed my blunt in my Grammy Award." This time it's probably with cigars.
  • megamind
    The "MegaMan" beat sounds similar to the Lil Wayne and Drake collaboration "Ransom" (produced by Boi-1da). Also, what's with naming the song after the producer? <object width="620" height="30"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Rsvsbl4r3v4?version=3&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Rsvsbl4r3v4?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="620" height="30" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object><object width="620" height="30"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0OshUNQlzKs?version=3&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0OshUNQlzKs?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="620" height="30" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>
  • lil wayne jay z
    Even though he disses Jay-Z late on the album on "It's Good," Dwayne swagger jacks Shawn earlier on "MegaMan," spitting, "Told the judge didn't budge/It was him or me" from Jiggaman's "Lucky Me." Wane borrowed a different part of that same song and verse on "Mr. Carter" off of <em>Tha Carter III</em>.
  • lil wayne tech n9ne
    Upon an early listen, it appears that Lil Wayne doesn't appear on two of the songs: "Interlude," which features Tech N9ne and Andre 3000, and "Outro," which features Bun B, Nas, Shyne and Busta Rhymes. A closer listen, though, reveals that "Interlude" and "Outro" are parts two and three of "Intro," which is the album's opener featuring Lil Wayne. Weezy basically dropped a posse cut feature Tech N9ne, Andre 3000, Bun B, Nas, Shyne and Busta rhymes without anyone noticing.
  • lil wayne and drake
    Drake's mentions of Rikers Island (1) outnumber Wayne's (0) on the album. It's almost as if Drizzy is rhyming from his mentor's perspective on the buzz-building "It's Good."
  • lil wayne tyga travie mccoy
    "Abortion" uses the same beat and hook as 2009's "I Know Your Name," an Alchemist song called "I Know Your Name" featuring President Carter and Travie McCoy.
  • new producers
    Weezy decided to tap into a handful of rather unheralded producers, including Willy Will, Young Frye, and MegaMan. Considering what he said in the July/August issue of <em>XXL</em> ("These niggas' beats been sucking. I'm putting it out there: You producing niggas, what y'all doing?"), it should have come as no surprise that he tested out some new talent.
  • lil wayne skinny jeans supras
    Wayne gives another nod to skater culture when he spits about "skinnies and some supras" on "Blunt Blowin."
  • twitter trending topic
    At many points during Wednesday, five of Twitter's ten U.S. trending topics were <em>Tha Carter IV</em>-related.

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  • jfl11

    It took you guys more than 1 listen to realize the Interlude and Outro were parts 2 and 3 to the Intro? Retarded much?

    • fforfinisher

      nonce

  • Mario

    Hahaha since when do the Skits not play in to each other Duh, They need to hurry up and release this shit though jesus!

  • Shakespeare

    His legacy just wen in the toilet when he took a jab a Jay-Z! I’m going to laugh when his album doesn’t even go gold the first week it is out!

    • jimmyjam33

      no on is saying hes better than jay, not even he believes that.but ur whole gold argument is retarded, hows him not going gold in the first week a failure, no one goes gold first week anymore except em and em has all of white america listening to him, he the male equivelent of lady gaga, has jay ever went gold first week, thts not a big deal.

      • http://xxl enuffwiththe statistics

        em has way more than white america listening to him. your wrong on that. its sucks when peoples say only white people cop his music and not only that thats the other reason he sells besides his talent?

  • canadian

    downloaded it and i must say from begining to end it is a classic . like him or not wayne held it down . carter 4 is a classic . buying it on monday without a doubt .

  • http://xxlmag.com yogi22

    As much of a wayne fan i am started to disbelieve…shame on me the album is amazing!! bout time you here the interlude u realize its something special..Wow @ nas verse.. chills @ 3stacks verse

  • zayzkidd

    SOUTHCIDAL!!!

  • The Real B. Wizz

    “12 Number one albums ,who better than me? Only the Beattles…..” Jay-Z……Lil Wayne has a long way to go. #Fact.
    “I’m like really, half a billi? Nigga you got Baby money. Keep it real with niggas, you niggas aint got my lady’s money.” Jay Z in response to Baby saying in a article that Lil Wayne has more money than Jay-Z. This is really Baby’s beef. He is still salty that he did The Best of Both Worlds Album with R. Kelly that wasn’t released because Def Jam, not Jay-Z, beat him to it and released the Best of Both Worlds 2 with Jay and Kellz. Which was garbage btw because it was the leftovers from the first session. But Def Jam and Jive invested a lot of money in that 1st album and wanted to recoup. It would have made a lot of money but Kellz fuck it off with his legal troubles. Thus spawning the verse in American Gangster…”Even if I fail/fell I’ll land on a bunch of money”….Now most of yall will think I’m a Jay stan…I’m just stating facts…listen to the music or google it. Jay may not be the best rapper in most people eyes, but numbers don’t lie. The fact is as a rapper I like Wayne. But its a picture on the ‘net of him kissing Baby. Not cool. He calls Baby, daddy? Not cool. He sips syrup? Not cool. He is a Blood after Mack 10 brought that life style to Cash Money? Not cool. He has how many number 1 albums? I think its a lot of rappers that is lyrically better than Jay-Z. Nas being one of them. But does that make hm better? No. To be the best you have to lead or be close in a lot of areas. In the mixtape arena I say Wayne is/was King. He hasn’t delivered a decent one in a while. Sorry for the Wait flamed out after a week. Now Wayne has clever metaphors and nice punch lines…but just like yall say all Jay raps about is money? What rapper on top doesn’t? They all do. Even Wayne. But don’t you think hearing Weezy F. Baby and the F is for……. is played by now? Ehhh? All the Blood/Piru references is played knowing that if you do your research that he is not that. Baby either. Look at the videos. He once wore blue rags in his video. Wayne is more relevant to today’s average rap fan because all the mixtapes he drops. No substance. Even when he tries to drop a song with substance, its average at best. Now in saying that. He is a genius cuz he knows his audience. Syrup drinking, kush smoking, pill poppin, oh I’m a Blood too crowd got money too. So why not front to get it. But to compare cat to a rapper that has way more than you is ridiculous. He’s the right now hot rapper. Honestly, can you see Wayne rapping his hit songs at age 40? 45? 50 even? Jay raps in story form and could go on to perform in Vegas some day ,every night. Whats next? The Carter V from the Self Proclaimed Grown Blood? Like Jay said. Do you fools listen to music or do you just scheme through it? Jay spits game. Weezy has good punch lines talking about “shit”. Wayne is entertaining to me when I’m high or drunk. And to be honest, I didn’t even like Watch The Throne until I got past the beats and my own expectations and actually listened to it. I must say. Classic Album. Some real life, braggadocious, money talking, relationship with unborn kids/women, love for old label mates, a song for black history (Coretta Scott King). Does Kanye outshine Jay on alot of songs? Yes. But as a business man, I don’t think Jay mind that money he getting on there. But imo, Kanye outshine alot of people when he flows. To say that Jay is washed up is hogwash and opinions. He 42 going on 43 and still doing it. Who else is 42 and is on 106 and Park? A children’s program. Going against 13 year olds in Mindless Behavior. When Wayne is 42 and still relevant, holla at me. peace…oh and let the hate begin. lol

    • bigs

      dude u dont even make sense

    • $yk

      “He’s (Wayne) the right now hot rapper. Honestly, can you see Wayne rapping his hit songs at age 40? 45? 50 even? Jay raps in story form and could go on to perform in Vegas some day ,every night. Whats next? The Carter V from the Self Proclaimed Grown Blood? Like Jay said. Do you fools listen to music or do you just scheme skim through it?”

      ^ for all of y’all, like the comment down there saying C4 is a classic…ol’ “Back To The Future” commentary…

      just because you like it doesn’t mean it’s CLASSIC

      the mis-usage of this word is like hate…AND you’re taking away the greatness of true classics by misusing it to title new, “hot” material.

      cut it out, you’re embarrassing yourself and this music genre.

    • Dead President

      …taking up space ass nigga SKIM mothafukka SKIM how can u act like u the know all of hip-hop with a novel but fuck up a well known clissic (yes classic) line. I have to ask you fool – do YOU listen to music, or do you just skim through it?? btw this aint hate, constructive criticism so u dont forget it .

  • Dallas22ec

    Wayne has put out numerous mixtapes wayyy better than some of these rappers albums!!!!

  • A.O.N

    In all honesty, I think this isn’t too bad of an album. Don’t get me wrong, im not gonna go out and buy it, but there are a couple songs I will bump again. I found that even though Wayne isn’t that great, he had some dope verses. A couple songs I didn’t feel til I heard the last verse. Im not a Wayne fan, but I can give respect to him on this.
    All in all, this is how I would rate his album if I were part of the staff.
    Beats – XL
    Lyrics – L
    Originality – M
    Overall – L

    Although he had some dope verses, you have to look at the project as a whole, not just pick and choose. The beats were great, his lyrics were strong at certain points and weak in others, and his originality, well, I don’t think his subject matter ever really changes much. Pussy this and Pussy that. Time to step outside the box wayne!!!

    • C3 > C4

      I cosign that!

  • http://nba.com G

    His biggest mistake was leaving “Dear Anne” off the album. SMH… It was dope as F*ck

    • OG

      You crazy loco Dear Anne was the biggest fail of the year to think he actually thought it would live up to “Stan Part 2″….Stoopid Weezy

      Album is dope tho & I ain’t even fan of blood. Bruno Mars joint is crazy 5

  • RapsNHustles

    The guess appearances made this album… Everyone who was featured, went hard

  • tasha24

    i like it!!!it hot like always!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • realness

    Trade “Dear Anne” for “How To Hate” ?????? and whover decided to put How to Hate in front of Mirror is a fucking dumbass.

  • canadian

    a few shitty songs aside overall carter 4 is a classic album. it deserves to move two mill the first week .

  • jr88

    are you guys saying c4 is a classic?…what the hell are you guys hearing?,,,,the album had no real bars just random shit that doesnt relate to the song…it all sounded like drake throw away tracks which is most likely what happened but most of you stans wont ever admit he has ghostwriters…now he is on tech 9s dick so more than likely he is on the ghost writing pay roll….c4=biggest let down of the year

  • brand-new

    @canadian, how can you say it had a few shitty songs, but it’s a classic? a REAL CLASSIC album doesn’t have shitty songs! that makes no sense whatsoever. that’ like going to mcdonald’s and getting a burger and saying a,”a few bites were awful, but it still tasted great!”

    • zherow

      That just might be the best comment I have seen on this site. Cosign to the fullest!

    • $yk

      I don’t even believe that person…

      2 comments of “it’s classic”, even admitting the second time there are some terrible songs, naming NONE…how you don’t know the names of classic songs?

      either it’s an intern/moderator trying to boost hits or a young Weezy fan feeling the sales pitch, because the sales #s are ridiculous.

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