The Student News Site of Monta Vista High School

El Estoque

The Student News Site of Monta Vista High School

El Estoque

The Student News Site of Monta Vista High School

El Estoque

‘Tha Carter IV’ teaches us all ‘How to Hate’

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“Tha Carter IV” is a new low for Lil Wayne. You would think that spending eight months in prison would be pretty hard to top, but apparently not. Photo by Cash Money/Universal Records via Associated Press.

 

Lil Wayne’s new album, the creatively-titled “Tha Carter IV”— the sequel to “Tha Carter,” “Tha Carter II” and the “Tha Carter III”— offers up two opposing lessons in its track listing: “How to Love” and “How to Hate.” It is more effective at teaching us the latter.Listening to Lil Wayne’s raspy voice swear unrelentingly for an hour is not an experience that I would wish upon anyone. The most enjoyable song on the album is the autotuned-beyond-recognition “How to Love,” which somehow manages to smooth out Wayne’s voice into a soft, Bruno Mars-esque croon. It makes for pleasant listening. However, this is not the real Lil Wayne. The real Lil Wayne has a tone less like Bruno Mars and more like fingernails scratching on a blackboard.The real Lil Wayne takes up the other 54 painful minutes of “Tha Carter IV.”The real Lil Wayne prefers to rap not about sweet girls who have lost their way, as he does on “How to Love,” but about sex. Oh, he sure loves rapping about sex. I mean, we get it, Wayne. You have your way with the ladies. Good for you. Now sing about something else, will you?

When he does sing about something else, he certainly achieves better results. The angry, philosophical “Blunt Blowin’” comes from Lil Wayne’s heart, not, you know, his package. As he raps such gems as “I stick to the script, I memorize the lines/’Cause life is a movie that I’ve seen too many times,” his furious swearing and scratchy voice seem to contribute to the tone of the song rather than inducing the usual cringe. Unfortunately, this sort of passion is rarely seen in “Tha Carter IV.”

The album deserves props for experimenting with musical styles not usually heard within the genre of rap: “Blunt Blowin’” features heavy classical violin backing, “How to Love” dabbles in acoustic pop, and “Outro” throws in some guitar solos that can only be described as mariachi. However, not all of these genre-benders are entirely successful. While “Blunt Blowin’” and “How to Love” both function reasonably well, “Outro” simply comes off as confused and muddled.

A slew of guest stars, including T-Pain and Drake, are featured on various tracks throughout the album. The concept of featuring another rapper on a rap song is incomprehensible. On the other hand, John Legend puts in an excellent turn in the piano-fueled “So Special,” far outshining the headlining Lil Wayne.

Maybe the concept of “Tha Carter”s is getting old. Maybe after four albums which all shared the same name, Lil Wayne was just bored. Whatever the rationale, “Tha Carter IV” is hardly a masterpiece. A combination of repetitive lyrics, some strange musical choices and an apparent lack of voice lessons work together to make this album easier to hate than to love.

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