Tha Carter III

This CD takes listeners on a chaotic trip into the manic mind of Lil Wayne. At times he's sublime with his word crafting, flowing effortlessly from rhyme to rhyme making words connect in novel ways that fit into his own brand of logic ("We pop 'em like Orville Redenbacher"). But at other times the lyrics appear forced and uninspired. Lil Wayne is at his best when you really feel that his rhyming is a stream of consciousness, but he sometimes stumbles on his own hype and his cockiness trips up his lyrical flow.

The expressive experimentation transfers into the music which is chock full of electronic touches, from the synthed-up effects of his hit "Lollipop" to the mixes and samples used effectively throughout. Lil Wayne also surprisingly does a good job of altering his vocal stylings which keep things interesting.