Tha Carter II [Edited]

Performer: Lil Wayne
Engineer: Fabian Marasciullo; Andrews Correa
Producer: The Heatmakerz; Tmix & Batman
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: A one-time member of New Orleans's Hot Boys, rapper Lil Wayne attained a new level of confidence and skill on 2004's THA CARTER. That album featured only a few guest shots (as opposed to typically star-studded hip-hop records), and this 2005 sequel once again keeps things focused on Wayne, with the MC flying solo on almost every track. This uncluttered scenario, which relies on a spare, yet distinctly Cash Money-style musical backdrop, gives Wayne the freedom to let his laid-back rhymes stretch out, as best revealed on the ominous "Fireman" and the boastful "Best Rapper Alive." Clearly Wayne knows how to work a winning concept, since THA CARTER II stays true to both its predecessor and the relentless, unapologetic spirit of Southern rap.

Entertainment Weekly (p.88) - "[W]ith a handful of sturdy funk-blues tracks that offer genuine value." -- Grade: B The Wire (p.64) - "Wayne's album is a surprisingly coherent assemblage of rags, riches and a bit of doubt-me-now rage."

Along with fellow Cash Money Click labelmate Juvenile, Lil Wayne is one of the most important MCs in the unfairly overlooked early 21st-century New Orleans rap scene. Blunt ghetto narratives about the hustler's life and woozy nearly psychedelic free associations fill Wayne's albums, but it's his allegiance to his home town that makes him a unique and forceful presence in hip-hop, and an important reminder that there is more to the Big Easy than Fats Domino and Dr. John.

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