In 2018, Lil Wayne’s long awaited album, Tha Carter V, finally released. Being the fifth album of Wayne’s Tha Carter series, fans of Waynehad to wait 7 years after the previous installment dropped before they were finally able to listen to the official version. Upon release, the album still garnered praise from both fans and critics alike, along with selling a whopping 480,000 copies in its first week.
Two years later, on the anniversary of the original albums release date, an additional 10 songs were officially released under the deluxe version of the album. Although Wayne has already given us two projects this year, it seems he has no problem creating new music to add to his ever-expanding discography.
More To The Story (feat. Raekwon) is one of the standout tracks on the album. Wayne, along with Wu-Tang Clan member Raekwon, tell the story of a drug dealer who dies in a shootout with law enforcement. The song is split up in two chapters, with Wayne rapping the first and Raekwon finishing with the second. Wayne manages to captivate the audience before he even finishes his first stanza, and him being accompanied by a menacing instrumental and a Hip-Hop legend only adds more sensation.
In What About Me (Remix), Wayne recruits American pop artist Post Malone to replace Sosamann, who was on the original 2018 version. In it, Wayne and Post talk about a woman who has been showing another man attention instead of themselves. The pair compliment each other well, and Wayne, for the most part, keeps the theme of the song close to the original.
For In This House, Wayne enlists the Atlanta native rapper Gucci Mane to create the worst song on the album. The song samples Whores In This House by DJ Frank Ski , a flip which was used recently on Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s WAP, which has been dominating the charts recently. Although the song starts off OK, by the time the chorus comes around, it begins to sound like a jumbled mess as layers of Wheezy’s vocals fight to be heard.
In conclusion, although the added songs are good, they don’t really provide anything new to the table. Whereas Tha Carter V had standout songs such as Mona Lisa (feat. Kendrick Lamar), Don’t Cry (feat. XXXTENTACION), Famous (feat. Regina Carter), and Took His Time, the deluxe has none. Despite this, Wheezy has once again proved he can produce enjoyable music, despite him not being in his prime.
Rate: 7/10
Best Songs: Life Of Mr. Carter, Holy, More To The Story, What About Me (Remix), Lost
Worst Songs: In This House (feat. Gucci Mane), Hasta La Vista
