The five lives of Tha Carter V & # 39; from Lil Wayne: NPR

For half a decade or more, he played the role of anomaly in hip-hop, the self-proclaimed monster who ate rappers for breakfast while inhabiting a universe of his own creation. But at the time of Lil Wayne's breakthrough in the late 2000s, when platinum albums and a flood of mixtapes made him rock into cultural ubiquity, nothing has gone so far to keep his legend alive. alive that music do not have Release. After years of creative, financial and legal struggles with his father Bryan "Baby" Williams, the rapper has reached an agreement this summer, releasing him from his longtime Cash Money label and allowing him to release the album expected by fans since 2011 when the last installment of his Carter The series fell on ambivalent ears.

Today, after years of rumors and speculation, the case has been closed with a message from the man himself. Tha Carter V should arrive on the night of September 27 – Wayne's 36th birthday – with a decade of luggage.

In the annals of mythologized LPs, Tha Carter V falls somewhere between Guns N Roses & # 39; Chinese democracy (published in 2008 after almost 15 years of development) and Dr. Dre & # 39; s detoxification (still just a rumor). Anticipation gave birth to a craft industry, made up of artists who managed to get out of the hype by daring to release albums with the same title – although Young Thug was forced to change Barter 6 – Martin Shkreli, to whom rap is nemesis, lets out traces supposed to have been torn from reality. Meanwhile, the industry has changed, as the status of Wayne, an artist ahead of his time, a form as imitated as the vanguard of hip-hop could well ahead.

And as you prepare for an album whose myth has lasted longer than the career of some artists, it's worth taking stock of Lil Wayne: In prison, in court, in the hospital and in our ears – whether on smaller outings, as a guest on songs from other artists or as a source of clear inspiration. To help put Tha Carter V In an appropriate context, here are five key factors in the recent life of the man who made it.

Legal issue

"I am a gangsta, Miss Katie. " When Lil Wayne uttered these infamous words to Katie Couric in her 2009 CBS interview, the "best living rapper" was living her best life. He had just released his sixth solo studio album, Tha Carter III, cementing his image of rap styrofoam cup containing Martian with codeine coated flow. Raised in the crime-plagued Hollygrove neighborhood of New Orleans, Wayne had already survived a shot that he himself had inflicted at the age of 12 and had reached his heart. Indeed, the kid had heart: He was a gangsta, he told Couric, but a handy enough and southerner to respectfully address her as "Miss Katie." "I do not take anything from anyone," he added. "I do what I want." This mentality would eventually catch up with him: he has accumulated drug possession charges in Arizona, in Atlanta, or even an arrest in Idaho. But it was the tough gun laws in New York that eventually placed him in one of the country's most notorious correctional facilities. Following a conviction for weapons charges following an arrest in July 2007, he was sentenced to eight months on Rikers Island. Not since Tupac or T.I. a rapper at the top of the game fell so low.

In the end, a prison sentence could not even compete with the big booth that his contractual problems would put later in his career. Wayne has acknowledged so much in the introduction of Party in November, a book of his compiled prison journals, published in 2016. "Because of all the bulls *** that I go through with my label, I wanted my fans to have something of me while they continue to be always so incredible and patient, "he wrote, sounding the courtly gangsta. – Rodney Carmichael

Drama label

"I want this label and nothing to do with these people. " Wayne's unique set of labels and legal issues leading to Tha Carter V is the biggest pillar of the conversation, not only because it has delayed the balance sheet, but also because it threatened to dismantle one of the most formidable modern dynasties of rap. After two years of revised release dates, delays and losses, Wayne expressed frustration with Cash Money in a series of tweets in December 2014. "I am a prisoner and my creativity too," he writes. "Again, I'm really sorry and I do not blame you if you're sick of waiting for me and this album." After that, things quickly degenerated.

On January 20, 2015, Wayne gave up the free mixtape Sorry 4 The Wait 2, where he dissected Baby on the wax, calling him a snake. A few days later, he sued Cash Money for $ 51 million for holding millions of dollars and did not allow him to release Tha Carter V. Verbal aggression has continued throughout the year, with attacks on etiquette in freestyles and guest couplets and explicit calls at club appearances. In 2016, Baby sat down with Angie Martinez in her Miami home, claiming that he loved Wayne as a son and that he always saw him every day. The boss of the label also warned that even if Wayne left, protected Drake and Nicki Minaj would go nowhere. For fans who watch all this outside the sideline, the conflict was one of the most daunting in the history of rap, showing the cracks of an independent label that had shaped the sound Southern hip-hop and, ultimately, culture as a whole. . – Sidney Madden

Health problems

"I'm standing in the studio, me and my bu. " Lil Wayne's health has become as much a part of his story as his music. His recreational drug use, particularly that of codeine-based cocktails, became a popular topic in his lyrics – but it was speculated that a drink addiction was threatening to destroy him more than a year ago. ;Once. Wayne has been hospitalized for epileptic seizures, a common symptom of overdose of codeine, more than five times in the last six years. On one occasion, TMZ reported prematurely that he was about to die and that he was receiving the last sacraments. Shortly after the 2013 incident, the rapper said in an interview that dehydration and epilepsy were at the root of his fears for health, not of codeine addiction . That same year, he met Katie Couric, the interview's president, and said he had suffered from epileptic seizures since childhood – but had also reduced his alcohol consumption because of doctors' recommendations. .

Wayne's mental health, though less explored, is now part of Carter V discussion too. The story of the rapper shooting himself at age 12 with a weapon found in his mother's room has long existed as a hip-hop factoid, plus a footnote in his release story that one decisive moment. But with the current climate of hip-hop more open than ever about mental health and mental illness – Kid Cudi, Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West and Logic are just a few bold names draining the emotions of the past – Wayne has hinted truth of his chest about this event. In 2016, on a guest verse on "Mad" from Solange, Weezy alludes to a suicide attempt. And in his recent Display panel On the cover, a glimpse of a new verse seems to confirm that the childhood accident was a suicide attempt, "undertaken after his mother told him that he would no longer be allowed to rap ". – Sidney Madden

Influence

"Young militiamen, and I am the commissioner. " Although it's been almost a decade since the last Carter, Wayne's lyrical approach had an influence on rappers in the 2010s: his squeaky and thunderous linguistics, his use of metaphor and phrasing, his bending of syllables. And Wayne's business acumen undoubtedly built the dynasty of his Cash Money Young Money imprint, with the roots of his influence allowing even artists outside his immediate family to flourish. Drake and Nicki Minaj, Weezy's own Young Money signers, have made a career not only as rap titans but also as pop stars, who have redefined the profitability of hip-hop. And because he opened the door for them, both of them opened the door for a generation of artists removed from Wayne himself. Although Drake spends his long time Hercules in the hierarchy of pop culture, Drizzy never forgets that Wayne is the titan to whom he owes his divine ascent. That's why he has a tattoo of Wayne's face on his body, and why the current tour of his Scorpio the album contains a video of him seeing Wayne on his I Am Music Tour. Nicki, in her journey to become the rap queen of the game, is compared to Wayne on every turn – even proclaiming herself "Weezy Woman" and adopting her rhyming style on her first guest verses.

And when Weezy F threatened to retire in 2016Rappers at all levels, from Chance The Rapper to Rick Ross to Missy Elliott, urged him not to do it. Earlier this year, Lil Skies paid tribute to Weezy by making his video "Welcome To The Rodeo" after the visual of Wayne "A Milli". – Sidney Madden

Relevance

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"Please tell the baby, " as in Weezy F. Baby: Wayne made this song-by-song request throughout the 2000s. Given its ubiquity at the time, the recall seemed redundant – but perhaps it already foresaw the day when unconscious fans would debate its cultural relevance.

The last time we collectively called for a LP Lil Wayne was back in 2011: after two unsightly starts in the Carter series (Renaissance and I am not a human being), both released the same year of his stay at Rikers Island Prison, The Carter IV was anticipated as a return to form, but he did not pack the same punch as his Carter III classic. Easily one of the most influential artists of the 21st century, Wayne's DNA cuts through the veins of almost all the traditional rappers working in his wake – but the legal blockages and drama of the labels seem to have contributed to years of creative incoherence.

Its relevance, however, is not determined solely by its production. Like any artist with a long-time mythologized album that has fought a public fight to get out of it, Wayne's cult status is transcendent at this point: he's the anti-hero for whom hip-hop has been rooted and it's time to see if this album will live up to the hype. Maybe there is no way at this stage. But between the commercial reception (which will be completely crazy) and the critical response (which will be uninterrupted), Wayne's return to relevance will be unstoppable in 2018 – even if it's only for a week. –-Rodney Carmichael