Lil’ Wayne Has Never Released A Classic Album

Avatar photo·

Weezy

Let’s get one thing clear first: I consider Lil’ Wayne a great rapper. Not the greatest mind you, but a great rapper. He has released an insane amount of music and his work ethic in Hip-Hop may be unparalleled. But that’s the thing, the reason some people agree with Wayne about him being the “best rapper alive” isn’t because of one particular album, it’s because at one point in time it felt like Weezy has a endless pool of flows, wordplay, & scene stealing cameos.

But that brings us back to the title of this article: Lil’ Wayne Has Never Released A Classic Album. And he hasn’t. When you ask Wayne stans if Wayne has dropped a classic album, you get all sorts of answers. You’ll probably hear people say Tha Carter II or Tha Carter III or even The Block Is Hot. Maybe even Dedication II & Da Drought 3 (Which I don’t count because there mixtapes). I guess the point I’m trying to make is that with most great rappers, there seems to be a general consensus on when they dropped a classic album. With Nas you can look at Illmatic, with Outkast it’s ATLiens or Aquemini, and with Jay-Z it’s The Blueprint or The Black Album. Hell, even with Kendrick Lamar it felt like most people were in agreement that good kid, m.A.A.d city felt like a classic. With Lil’ Wayne’s catalog, and it’s not a bad catalog, that feeling never happened with any of his 10 solo studio albums.

Not to say that Wayne hasn’t been running this rap shit. He had a great run and at one point he had a claim to the title “The Best Rapper Alive”. But it wasn’t because he dropped a classic or almost classic album. It was because we as rap fans appreciated the work Weezy was putting in.

I guess this whole article came about because of the recent release of Wayne’s 10th album I Am Not A Human Being II. To put it lightly, it wasn’t met with rave reviews. Not only did the nappyafro staff generally dislike the album, but it seems like most critics felt the same way. Now it feels like a classic may not be in Weezy’s future. With a recent major health scare and maybe even just plain boredom with rap in general, it’s a good chance Lil’ Wayne will never release that elusive classic album.

Tags
Avatar photo
B-Easy
Founder
The geek out of the bunch. He is also Jay-Z’s biggest fan. He looks like your cousin from the burbs. He is “Pro Black” (not anti-white, just “Pro Black”). Probably the wittiest out of the bunch. It is said that he got fired from the same job three times.
Related
Previous Tyga feat. 2Pac & Jadakiss – “Hit Em Up”
Next Pusha T feat. Kevin Gates – “Trust You” [Video]

44 Comments

  1. I think Wayne has always been best on his mixtapes. Squad Up and the first two Dedications to me are Wayne’s best work period. Carter 3 may be the closest CD in his catalogue to a ‘classic’, in my opinion.

    Reply

  2. Basically what I heard was this.. he has a hall of fame career & since you can’t point to single best year of his career, because they are so evenly spread out ,he loses a stripe When comparing him to Jay & NAS? This better be your version of April fool’s B Eazy

    Reply

  3. C2 or C3 are as close as he’s getting, and those are 4 star albums at best. I never bought into the “Best Rapper Alive” hype, but Wayne was significantly better from 04-08 and has gradually declined since then.

    Reply

  4. April Fools, right? C3 is a classic off the cover alone! I know we ain’t doing that bad that we got to make up outlandish headlines!

    Reply

    1. C3 isn’t a classic! Way too many low points. It had Lollipop on it and Phone Home. You can argue for the fact that Carter 2 is, but he doesn’t have some of the crazy stories like Dr. Carter. Wayne could’ve finished as a top 5 Emcee of all time, but he has drastically fallen off. I don’t even think he is in the top 5 right now.

      Reply

      1. Phone Home was DOPE! Let’s not forget that it got leaked and had to put I’m Me and Gossip as bonus tracks. Let’s not forget him spazzing on Hov on Mr. Carter.

        Reply

        1. You’re right he spazzed on Hov, using recycled Jay-Z lyrics from Lucky Me. Come on nigga everybody is dealing with leaks nowadays. That ain’t no good reason to claim C3 is a classic

          Reply

          4. Lmao so those weren’t Hov’s lyrics? Niggas don’t leak all the time now? Where was I wrong?

          5. The leak part of my comment was referring to it getting leaked months prior and he had to go back in the lab and do it all over and still did numbers. But add far add him recycling some Hov lyrics…I can’t even say he did. So I guess you wrong about that too.

          6. Jay-Z “Lucky Me”

            Swear to everything when I leave this earth
            It’s gon’ be on both feet, never knees in the dirt
            You could try me fucka but when I squeeze it hurts, fine
            We’ll lose two lives, yours and mines
            Gimme any amount of time dont let Ms. Carter grieve
            at the funeral parlor drippin’ tears on my sleeve
            Told the judge didn’t budge it was him or me
            and I ain’t trying to be hard but I’m guilty as charged

            Lil Wayne “Mr. Carter”

            And I swear to everything, when I leave this earth
            It’s gonna be on both feet, never knees in this dirt
            And you can try me, fucker, but when I squeeze it hurt
            Ah, we’ll lose two lives, yours and mine
            Gimme any amount of time, don’t let Miss Carter grieve
            At the Funeral Parlor, drippin’ tears down my sleeve
            Gimme any amount of time, don’t let Miss Carter grieve…

            Those ain’t recycled Hov lyrics?

          11. Ummm…. Not sure when that mattered. The point was Wayne didn’t kill Jay on the track. He used Hovs lyrics. So…. I’m not sure what point you were attempting to make.

          12. He used his lyrics where? AT THE END OF THE SONG, NOT IN HIS ACTUAL VERSES, BUT AT THE END? C’mon DuB…do better.

  5. Another thing, I know everybody is saying that KDot’s album is a “classic” but is it that because it sticks out above the competition? How does it weigh against other albums deemed “classic”? I really don’t think its a all-time classic, but a last 2-3 year classic. I don’t think I will be throwing this one on like I would do Doggystyle, 20 years after the fact. People are so quick to call something the best without giving it time to develop.

    see what I did there?

    Reply

          2. Kendrick better than Makaveli well 2Pac albums before his death? You’re tripping. Pac must have pissed in your baby bottle or something.

          3. Umm ok nigga.

            Did Pac at least give you head before you started dick riding so hard????

  6. The Carter 3 is not a classic. “Got Money” was not that great. Fabolous had the best verse on “You Aint Got Nothin,'” “Playing With Fire” was a great beat wasted with recycled rhymes, “Don’t Get It” featured him rapping for 2 minutes and then rambling on for 6 minutes about pedophiles, Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton. The main reason why The Carter 3 is not classic is because of two little words, “La, La.” That song with Brisco and Busta Rhymes is HORRIBLE.

    Reply

  7. The obsession with a classic album has, arguably, lowered the quality of rap albums significantly. So many rap albums trying to Illmatic only to sound tragic. That’s why I like most of Wayne’s catalog: fairly solid, not trying to make a legacy for the most part, just trying to make good music Wayne’s way. Not so much too recently, but Wayne’s been fairly solid, partly because he embraces his own inconsistency.

    Reply

    1. He doesn’t have to make an Illmatic, but he does have to make an album that we can point to when his career is over and say, “When Wayne was on top of his game, this is what he is capable of producing”. He hasn’t done that. You can look at his talent and tell that he hasn’t gone into the studio and said I want to make the “best album I can” ever. If you go and listen to some of his interviews, he doesn’t even know what songs are going to be on his album. That shows his lack of wanting to make a classic. That is almost disrespectful to the art.

      Reply

      1. Disrespectful to the art? As if you hip hop purists own what is respectful or disrespectful to “the art”? God man, back when Wayne was a relevant and truly great rapper, he made music his way, and it sounded terrific and flawed. Why does everything in hip hop have to be a I HAVE TO MAKE A LEGENDARY ALBUM sort of thing. That’s why I’m totally repelled by most of the people that talk about hip hop: they don’t get it in the sense of artists making music their way instead of your way.

        Reply

        1. Here is what people like you don’t understand. No one is claiming he can’t or doesn’t have the talent to make a classic. We are all appalled because he can but never actually puts his all into it. I think Wayne is just as talented as Jay, Nas, and Biggie. All of them took the time to craft great albums while Wayne is lazy when crafting entire projects. On top of that he tries to sell a product he didn’t work hard to craft. That is disrespectful to the art, and any fans of the art.

          Reply

  8. *steps on soap box*

    I think most people are missing the point when it comes to the whole “classic album” thing. For the most part I think everyone can agree that Lil Wayne has been putting out alot of bullshit over the past couple of years, and his skills have shown a sharp decline. Now this isn’t anything new for any artist, but the thing is with Lil Wayne, that unlike with a Jay-Z or and an Eminem, it seems like there’s no justification for it.

    If you have an album that is widely considered a classic, a testament to your ability to conduct your craft to a level near perfection, then anything you put out after that that isn’t is understandable. People says Nas has been riding off of Illmatic for years, well…yeah you can do that when you put in the work and made something worthwhile, But if the only thing Lil Wayne is legendary for is his work ethic, the fact that he was unnecessarily on EVERYONE’s shit, then him burning out is his fault. He didn’t bother trying to concentrate that energy into anything worthwhile, just an exaggerated body of music that continually decreased in quality.

    Am I still a Lil Wayne fan? Yes. Do I still enjoy his music? Yes. Am I going make excuses for him? No.

    *steps off soap box*

    Reply

    1. Glad to be back on the site, it’s been a min. And 2nd, how can C2 NOT be deemed a classic? It came out a couple months after Katrina hit, Wayne brought his best lyrically and production wise. No filler and the guests were limited. Maybe I just hold that album too high on my preferences, but that was a 5 out 5 for me.

      Reply

  10. I think Carter I & II are his best efforts with The Block Is Hot being 3rd as his best albums…. But his worst I’ll have to say 500 Degreez, Lights Out, and I Am A Human Being II. Those are definitely his worst albums I can’t say which is worst than the other. The Carter III & IV wasn’t that great either but they were decent. With all that being said Lil Wayne do not have a classic album, he have classic songs I’ll say that much. It’s songs from each album he released that I’ll go back and listen to from time to time but the whole album, naw! He have a lot of fillers.

    Reply

  12. Tha Carter II Dedication II and the Tha Drought 3 are his best bodies of work in my opinion. Now if u wanna deem them as classics or not izz up to you as the listener but when Weezy decides to hang up the mic, people are gonna look back at those projects and agree that those were the strongest examples that legitimized his claim to glory during that time period. And if that doesn’t at least garner a tip of the hat then maybe we need to re-establish the foundation of which an artist izz based off of..

    Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

@ 2024 nappyafro, LLC