Dedication 3 [PA]

Performer: Various Artists/Lil Wayne
Artist: Gudda Gudda; Willie the Kid; Mack Maine; Jae Millz; LA The Darkman; Shanell; Lil Twist; Tyga; Nicki Minaj; Drake
Distributor: Deep

Notes: Despite his protestation that "this is just a mixtape" on the title track, Lil Wayne obviously expended plenty of effort on making DEDICATION 3, the third volume of his DEDICATION mixtape series with DJ Drama. While the heavy gangsta themes and comparatively stentorian tones of Wayne's crew members sometimes seem at odds with his own laconic style, Wayne's sardonic-stoner vibe finds precedent in everything from vintage Snoop Dogg to "Family Affair"-era Sly Stone, with a dark sense of humor that makes even the hardest-sounding tracks go down easy. For those who have already bought into the Lil Wayne mythology, that genius can be found on Dedication 3, glittering through the 80 minutes of cracked-voice interludes and Sarah Palin soliloquizing, and popping up in Auto-Tuned "verses" between an endless slew of guest rappers. But make no mistake, the record is frequently garish. The parade of MCs spit hard, but do so smuttily and almost exclusively about weed, as if they were going to infuse the subject with Lil Wayne's artistry. Exacerbating the situation, when faced with the quandary of which single off the most recent T.I. record to include, DJ Drama shrugged and threw both on. It would be fun to hear Wayne murder these beats, but his mind, apparently, was on other things -- namely, warbling. To his credit, acknowledging the record's carnivalesque air, he does strive to serve more as a literal master of ceremonies than MC, letting all the other rappers flit by in the spotlight, briefly entertaining as they are. ~ Clayton Purdom Those hoping for a Dedication 2-style artistic supernova will be disappointed by its follow-up: rather than bugling its creator's genius to the masses, as its predecessor so triumphantly did, Dedication 3 is a fans-only oddity. For those who have already bought into the Lil Wayne mythology, that genius can be found, glittering through the 80 minutes of cracked-voice interludes and Sarah Palin soliloquizing, and popping up in flimsy Auto-Tuned "verses" between an endless slew of subpar guest rappers. But make no mistake, the record is frequently garish. The parade of faceless MCs spit hard, but do so smuttily and almost exclusively about weed, as if they were going to infuse the subject with Lil Wayne's artistry. Exacerbating the situation, DJ Drama's an uninventive curator; when faced with the quandary of which single off the most recent T.I. record to include, he shrugged and threw both on. It would be fun to hear Wayne murder these beats, but his mind, apparently, was on other things -- namely, warbling. To his credit, acknowledging the record's carnivalesque air, he does strive to serve more as a literal master of ceremonies than MC, letting all the other rappers flit by in the spotlight, briefly entertaining as they are. Still, coming directly after the artistic and critical explosion of Tha Carter III, it was fair for fans to expect more Lil Wayne from this Lil Wayne album. ~ Clayton Purdom

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