The most anticipated hip-hop album of the autumn – Kanye West’s Yandhi – did not appear on schedule. Another long-awaited set did, though: Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter V (due in 2013). The wait for C5 has involved label ructions, suits, countersuits, the disgraced Martin Shkreli and the rise of numerous rappers deploying the prefix “Lil” – many of whom model themselves in some way (face tattooes, slurred delivery) on the New Orleans powerhouse.
It’s a measure of water under the bridge that Dedicate – a confident vamp – samples ex-president Obama holding Lil Wayne up as an overachiever. One Wayne protege, Nicki Minaj, guests; it’s unclear why the other biggie, Drake, isn’t here.
Wayne hasn’t exactly been silent – there have been numerous mixtapes – but this melancholic outing confirms both his talent and its decline. Lil Wayne can still spew bars with dizzying dexterity, but his self-editing isn’t great; there are terrific beats (Uproar) and lame ones (Took His Time). Mona Lisa is a piece of storytelling noir in which Wayne goes head-to-head with Kendrick Lamar, and does not come out lacking. It’s not that C5 is too little, too late; more that the baton between the generations passed some time ago.
