Here's Lil Wayne's Tha Carter II (2005), chosen at random from Rolling Stone's top 500 albums list. This was ranked 370. The obvious question is why bother? Is it really likely that this is one of the top 100 albums of all time?
Controversially, I'd go ahead and nominate it. It's good writing. In the opening track, "Tha Mobb," Wayne, reflecting on the inevitability of death, asks "What happens when the Reaper comes? / I'm just hoping he sends the elevator up." This isn't poetry for everyone, but this is poetry nonetheless, and some people will like it. I like it. A couple of other standout songs from the album are "Fireman" and "Hustler Musik."
The writing is good, because most songs have several writers. Wayne is credited as a writer on most songs, but then you see a list of about four others. It's easy to be creative when you have a bunch of creative writers all putting their noggins toward the lyrics.
By way of biography, Lil Wayne was born Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. in New Orleans. As is evident, "Carter" in the album title is in reference to his surname. He's 39 years old.
I don't like all his bad words, but I'd gladly listen to the other albums in the Carter series. It's good Southern hip hop, sometimes mixed with reggae, pop, and rock beds. Wayne's voice is fun to listen to, too: he's a tenor with cottonmouth.
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