Album Review: Lil Wayne, Tha Carter V

Finally arriving after a protracted dispute with Cash Money Records, Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter V proves to be a powerful meditation on the rapper’s personal travails, which have variously encompassed hospitalisation, incarceration, drugs, guns and scores of controversies.

In the grand tradition of outlaw figures from Kurt Cobain and Axl Rose to Chuck D and Snoop Dogg, Lil Wayne is a man to whom scandal comes easily. On a world class CV of uproar, a highlight is surely his 2010 jail sentencing; having previously been delayed due to the rapper’s dental surgery, sentencing was postponed for a second time when the courthouse basement caught fire.

It’s all grist to the mill on Tha Carter V, which joins the likes of To Pimp A Butterfly and 4 Your Eyez Only as a powerhouse reflection on the black American experience. Even the speech samples – ranging from the emotional outpouring of a family member to Barack Obama’s tribute to Lil Wayne – are inspired.

Notably, the record eschews the singalong party vibes utilised on the sublime ‘Mrs Officer’ for a much moodier feel, with the parade of major guests (including Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg and the late XXXTentaction) all contributing to atmospheric hip-hop and trap numbers. However, on tracks like ‘Don’t Cry’, ‘Mona Lisa’ and ‘Dope Niggaz’, the beats are so seductive, the grooves so hypnotic and the rapping so inspired, the record is impossible to resist.

The current golden age of hip-hop continues.

9/10