Tha Carter III [PA] by Lil Wayne

Personnel: Eddie Montilla (strings, keyboards); Ludas Charles (keyboards); Darius Harrison (drums). Additional personnel: Sha-Ron Prescott (background vocals); Pro-Jay, Robin Thicke, Cool & Dre, Jim Jonsin. Audio Mixers: Miguel Bermudez; Andrew Dawson; Edward Lido; Fabian Marasciullo. Although his first studio album in three years has been long-awaited and repeatedly delayed, Lil Wayne has been anything but absent. Since THA CARTER II, Weezy has left an impressive mass of recordings--from mixtapes (authorized and otherwise) to guest appearances--in his wake as he blusters through the rap industry. In the third installment of the THA CARTER series, Wayne shows he's earned the right to ego-trip as he lets his off-kilter flow, freak-out lyrics, and vocal acrobatics run wild over 16 tracks. Scaling the heights of hubris on "Dr. Carter," he plays an MC/doctor treating a certain music genre diagnosed as lifeless and closes with a quintessential Weezy snarl: "Welcome back hip-hop/I saved your life." Wayne then ...