Backed by Mannie Fresh’s keyboard, Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter was the greatest display of lyricism by a New Orleans rapper at the time. Although without any input from Fresh, The Carter 2, maintained the bounce sound, re-introduced Wayne to the rap world as a good lyricist, and was an ode of sorts to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

After disappointing sales of Carter 2, Wayne went campaigning as the “Best Rapper Alive,” which brought on a slew of official and unofficial mixtapes and collaborations with everyone from Jay-Z to Enrique Iglesias. Releasing the album seemed like an approach to the finish line of Wayne’s trek for stardom, but did he have to stray so far away from home in the process?

As an album, it is above today’s average rap album, but it fails to live up to its hype. The album does provide Lil Wayne’s best single ever, “Lollipop,” which features the cool crooning Static Major riding shotgun to the R&B version of Lil Wayne. “A Milli,” the album’s second single, is a home run for Lil Wayne, the rapper. Accompanied by a menacing snare and bass, it feels like a psychotic lyrical epiphany: “Threw the pencil and leak / the sheet of the tablet in my mind / ’cause I don’t write shit / ’cause I ain’t got time / ’cause my seconds, minutes, hours / go to the almighty dollar.”

A couple tracks illustrate Wayne’s growth as an artist. “Dr. Carter,” which is backed by one of Swizz Beatz’ greatest productions, is a metaphor of Wayne trying to save hip-hop’s life. On “Misunderstood,” Wayne stands up for hip-hop culture and attacks Rev. Al Sharpton in the process. However, Wayne’s focus on songs seems to come at the expense of lyricism. On the Rockwielder-produced “You Ain’t Got Nuthin,” Fabolous wins the hottest verse of the album award, while Wayne’s verse appears to be a spontaneous rant:

“Wait rats, I hate rats. / I clean them out like Ajax. / Got paper like a fax machine. / I’m asenene / Damn, I mean asinine.”