Tha Carter III is the sixth studio album by American rapper Lil Wayne, released June 10, 2008 on Cash Money Records. It follows a long string of mixtape releases and guest appearances on other hip hop and R&B artists records, helping to increase his exposure in the mainstream.^[1] The album's cover art features a baby picture of Wayne and is similar to covers of hip hop albums such as Illmatic (1994) and Ready to Die (1994).^[2] Amid release delays and leaks,^[1] Tha Carter III became one of the most anticipated releases of 2008.^[3][4][5]

The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 1,005,545 copies in its first week. It reached sales of 2.88 million copies by the end of 2008 and produced four singles that achieved chart success, including the international hit "Lollipop" and Billboard hits "A Milli", "Got Money", and "Mrs. Officer". Tha Carter III received general acclaim from music critics upon its release and earned Lil Wayne several accolades. It has been certified triple-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America and has sold 3.6 million copies in the United States.

Background and recording[link]

Lil Wayne stated that producers would include The Alchemist, Cool & Dre, Deezle, Jim Jonsin, Just Blaze, Kanye West, Mannie Fresh, The Runners, Timbaland, Danja, The Sjkid,Arash, and will.i.am.^[6][7][8] In an interview with HipHopCanada.com, Solitair of the Black Jays stated that he and Cipha Sounds produced a track called "Outstanding", which later eventually leaked.^[9] The Runners have stated that they have produced three tracks for Tha Carter III.^[10] Lil Wayne revealed that he has a track for Eminem, which he has yet to send to him.^[11] He described this song as the "craziest".^[11] However, it is thought that Eminem turned down the request.^[12]

The album features guest appearances by Fabolous,^[13] T-Pain, Brisco, Bobby V, Betty Wright, Static Major, Robin Thicke, Kidd Kidd, Jay-Z,^[14] Juelz Santana,^[15] and Busta Rhymes.^[16] MTV reported that Wyclef Jean worked on a couple of tracks for the album and that a song featuring Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado, and Timbaland is likely to appear on the album.^[11][17] However, that Timbaland-produced track did not make the final cut. David Banner confirmed that he will be credited for five tracks on the final cut of Tha Carter III, but only one is featured on the album.^[18] After the copyright controversy of "Playing with Fire", the track was later removed and replaced with another David Banner-produced track "Pussy Monster". Swizz Beatz stated he was also working on the album.^[19] When asked about how many tracks Kanye West had contributed, he answered:

On the first visit he had five joints, on the second visit he gave me a CD with fifteen joints on it. I then told him to slow down and he left me alone, but we got a good three on the album. He confirmed that he had a few tracks on The Leak that are produced by Kanye West.^[20]

Music[link]

Tha Carter III's lead single, "Lollipop", peaked at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, staying at the top for three weeks. It was Wayne's most successful solo single in his career, winning one Grammy Award, a BET Award, and an MTV VMA. The song was praised as an "electro-bumpin'...infectious track",^[21] perceived as more of a "bubblegum" pop track than rap.^[22] The second track on the album, "Mr. Carter", was nominated for a Grammy while also peaking within the Hot 100. It was praised for featuring Jay-Z, which was seen as Jay-Z passing the throne to Wayne.^[23][24] The second single, "A Milli", was a top ten hit and was praised as one of the best songs of 2008.^[25] The song garnered countless freestyles and remixes, while Wayne's original version was praised with "spectacular rhyme".^[24] "Dr. Carter", the sixth track, was also praised for lyrical content and humor as Wayne took on the persona of a doctor performing surgery on various patients (a metaphor for Wayne resurrecting hip-hop^[23]).^[22] "Tie My Hands", featuring Robin Thicke, was praised as a deep track featuring "political commentary" and "despair" with Thicke's performance being the most complementary to Wayne.^[21] "Phone Home" also features various alien metaphors reminiscent of the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982).^[21][22]

Release and promotion[link]

Leaks[link]

After most of the album leaked on the Internet in mid-2007, Lil Wayne used the leaked tracks, plus four new songs to make an album titled The Leak.^[3] The Leak was to be officially released on December 18, 2007, with the actual album being delayed until June 10, 2008.^[26] When questioned about the unplanned leak, Lil Wayne said:

We have to find out exactly what's out there. I'll probably just [collect] all the songs that's floating around and make my own mixtape called The Leak since people want the music so bad. To tell you the truth though, there's a song I did with Kanye West out there—of course you want to save that for your album, but the rest of them songs probably wouldn't have made the album. There's a song floating around that says 'produced by Timbaland'.^[27]

On May 24, 2008, 10-second snippets of multiple songs were leaked onto AT&T Media Mall.^[28] On May 30–31, Tha Carter III was leaked internationally. The first of the leaks were distributed on May 30 at around 8pm where five songs from the track list were available on the internet. Hours later on May 31 at 12am-1am the whole album was leaked and posted on various websites for free download. The DJ responsible for the leaks was DJ Chuck T who retaliated for an interview conducted by Wayne, where he discredited all DJs and the mixtape scene days before.^{[citation needed]} Lil Wayne later called DJ Drama's radio show Shade 45 Sirius Satellite Radio to explain that his comments were meant specifically for DJ Empire who leaked his materials periodically without his permission, consent, or knowledge; he also apologized for any misunderstandings between him and the numerous DJs that have aided him in the mixtape industry. He made it clear, however, that he wished for any feelings of dislike or resentment to remain.^[29]

Singles[link]

The album's lead single, "Lollipop", topped the US Billboard Hot 100 for 5 non-consecutive weeks, making it Wayne's most successful single in his career. It features the late rap singer Static Major. The album's second single, "A Milli", was another top ten. It reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also won a Grammy for Best Rap Song. The video for the second single, "A Milli", was set to be released in May, and has since been mainstreamed. Multiple versions of the track were to be included on the album as "skit-like" tracks, featuring artists such as Tyga, Cory Gunz, Hurricane Chris and Lil Mama.^[30] Another artist, 13-year-old Lil Chuckee, was also set to appear on one of the "A Milli" skits. None of the skits made the final cut of the album. The third single is "Got Money", featuring T-Pain. It reached #10 on the Billboard Hot 100. The fourth single is "Mrs. Officer", featuring Bobby Valentino. It made the Top 20 in just four weeks. "Lollipop", "A Milli", "Got Money", and another track, "Mr. Carter", were nominated for a Grammy. Lil Wayne also performed "Tie My Hands" with Robin Thicke at the 51st Grammy Awards.

The album also featured the releases of promo singles. "3 Peat" peaked at number 66 on the Billboard 100. "You Ain't Got Nuthin" featuring Fabolous and Juelz Santana was released as a promo single, peaking at number 81 on the Billboard 100. "Mr. Carter", featuring Jay-Z, peaked at number 62 on the Billboard 100, number 27 on the Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs chart, and number 13 on the Top Rap Songs. It was nominated for a Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or a Group in 2009.

Lawsuits[link]

On July 24, 2008, Abkco Music Inc. filed a lawsuit against Lil Wayne for copyright infringement and unfair competition, specifically referring to the track "Playing with Fire".^[31] In the lawsuit, Abkco claims that the song was obviously derived from The Rolling Stones' "Play with Fire", to which Abkco owns the rights.^[31][32] Subsequently, "Playing with Fire" was removed from the tracklist of Tha Carter III on all online music stores and replaced with the David Banner produced track, "Pussy Monster".^[33][34][35]

On March 2011, producer Deezle (Darius Harrison) sued Wayne and his parent labels Cash Money Records over unpaid royalties from Tha Carter III album.^[36] On May 2011, producer Bangladesh also filed a lawsuit against Weezy & Co. over unpaid royalties as well.^[37] In early June 2011, another producer named David Kirkwood filed a lawsuit against Young Money Entertainment and Cash Money Records on claims that the labels have failed to pay him over $1.5 million dollars in royalties and production services for his work on the album, also including his songwriting on "Love Me or Hate Me", a bonus song featured only on the deluxe edition of the album.^[38] Also in June 2011, Dallas producers Play-N-Skillz filed a lawsuit against him claiming Wayne owed them at least $1 million in unpaid royalties for "Got Money" from Tha Carter III.^[39]

Reception[link]

Commercial performance[link]

With opening day sales figures of approximately 423,000,^[40] the album sold 1,005,545 copies in its first week in the United States.^[41] With its first week sales, it is the largest first week sales for any album in 2008 in the United States and the first album to reach the million mark in one week since 50 Cent's The Massacre (2005).^[42] Tha Carter III has also reached the top spot in the Canadian Albums Chart, selling nearly 21,000 units. Elsewhere, the album achieved moderate success, entering at only number 23 in the UK and number 34 on the Irish Album Chart. In the album's second week, it sold a reported 309,000 copies, helping Tha Carter III towards becoming Lil Wayne's most successful selling album to date.^[43]

Tha Carter III had sold approximately 2.88 million copies in 2008,^[44] after selling another 985,000 and 964,000 in two week span week June 24–July 8 and well over 697,000 the following week in a 7 day span, becoming 2008's best-selling album.^[45][46] By the end of 2008, it was named the best-selling album of the year in the United States by Billboard.^[44] On February 12, 2009, the album was certified triple-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), following shipments of three million copies.^[47] As of July 2011, it has sold 3.6 million copies in the US.^[48]

Critical response[link]

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[21]
Robert Christgau	A−[49]
Entertainment Weekly	B−[50]
The Guardian	[51]
The New York Times	(favorable)[52]
Pitchfork Media	(8.7/10)[53]
Rolling Stone	[54]
Slant Magazine	[55]
URB	[56]
The Village Voice	(mixed)[57]

Tha Carter III received general acclaim from music critics.^[58] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 84, based on 26 reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim".^[58] Allmusic editor David Jeffries gave it four out of five stars and praised Wayne's "entertaining wordplay and plenty of well-executed, left-field ideas".^[21] NOW gave it a five out of five rating and called it a "sub­versive masterpiece".^[59] The Guardian's Alex Macpherson lauded Wayne's rapping, stating "Just trying to keep up with Wayne's mind as he proves the case is a thrill. He breaks language down into building blocks for new metaphors, exploiting every possible semantic and phonetic loophole for humour and yanking pop culture references into startling new contexts".^[51] Rolling Stone writer Jody Rosen commended its themes and stated "This isn't a mixtape, it's a suite of songs, paced and sequenced for maxaqimum [sic] impact."^[54] Jonah Weiner of Blender gave the album four-and-a-half out of five stars and called it "a weird, gripping triumph".^[60] Jon Pareles of The New York Times commented that Wayne "has clearly worked to make 'Tha Carter III' a statement of its own: one that moves beyond standard hip-hop boasting (though there's plenty of that) to thoughts that can be introspective or gleefully unhinged".^[52] Pitchfork Media's Ryan Dombal stated, "he distills the myriad metaphors, convulsing flows, and vein-splitting emotions into a commercially gratifying package".^[53] In his consumer guide for MSN Music, critic Robert Christgau gave it an A- rating,^[49] indicating "the kind of garden-variety good record that is the great luxury of musical micromarketing and overproduction. Anyone open to its aesthetic will enjoy more than half its tracks."^[61] Christgau noted that "every track attends to detail" and quipped, "From the start you know this is no mixtape because it's clearer and more forceful."^[49]

The Washington Post's J. Freedom du Lac commended Wayne for his "impulses to be outrageous and unconventional", calling him a "nonsensical genius", but found the album "uneven".^[62] Tom Breihan of The Village Voice described it as "a sprawling mess, and it clangs nearly as often as it clicks" and "a work of staggering heights and maddening inconsistencies", but commended Wayne for his unconventional performance, stating "On paper, this is a textbook focus-grouped major-label hodgepodge, replete with girl songs and club songs and street songs. But every facet of the album comes animated and atomized by Wayne's absurdist drug-gobbling persona".^[57] Drew Hinshaw of PopMatters gave it an eight out of 10 rating and stated "Tha Carter III is a monumental album full of powerful, self-defeating statements that obliterate rap's internal logic without offering too much more than indifferent bong logic in return. Judged, however, as a collection of singles and quotable verses—the criteria on which we've been grading hip-hop records since the end of disco—Tha Carter III is an agonizing piece of work".^[63] Jeff Weiss of the Los Angeles Times gave the album three out of four stars and found it "scattershot", stating "When Wayne's mad alchemy works, Tha Carter III evinces shades of brilliance that merit the wild hype, but in its transparent attempts to define its era, it fails, falling victim to the imperial bloat of its big-budget mishmash of styles."^[64] Jon Caramanica of Entertainment Weekly wrote that "this schizoid album [...] is alternately mesmerizing and inscrutable."^[50] Slant Magazine's Dave Hughes viewed that it lacks a "focus" as an album and stated, "while there are a lot of [...] great moments here, Carter III is not the definitive statement of Wayne's mastery that he clearly intended it to be."^[55] Brandon Perkins of URB commented that "As a sum of its parts, Tha Carter III does not transcend, but a good number of those parts are otherworldly enough."^[56]

Accolades[link]

Tha Carter III was ranked number one in Blender's list of the 33 best albums of 2008.^[65] It was also ranked number three on Rolling Stone's list of the top 50 albums of 2008.^[66] It was nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year,^[67] and it won for Best Rap Album at the 2009 Grammy Awards, while "Lollipop" won for Best Rap Song and "A Milli" won for Best Rap Solo Performance.^[68] Billboard magazine ranked the album number 103 on its list of the Top 200 Albums of the Decade.^[69] In 2012, the album was ranked number 437 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.^[70]

Track listing[link]

Bonus tracks

Notes^[71]

• ¹ Kidd Kidd is uncredited for his work on "Mrs. Officer"
• ² "Playing with Fire" was replaced on later pressings with "Pussy Monster" due to an ABKCO Records lawsuit^[33][34][35]
• "A Milli" contains samples of "Don't Burn Down the Bridge" by Gladys Knight & the Pips and "I Left My Wallet in El Segundo (Vampire Mix)" by A Tribe Called Quest.
• "Comfortable" contains samples of "You Don't Know My Name" by Alicia Keys and "Player's Ball" by OutKast.
• "Dr. Carter" contains a sample of "Holy Thursday" by David Axelrod.
• "Let the Beat Build" contains a sample of "Day by Day" by Eddie Kendricks.
• "Dontgetit" contains a sample of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" by Nina Simone.
• "Action" contains a sample of "I'm So Hood" by DJ Khaled.
• "I'm Me" contains samples of "Go D.J.", "Fireman", "Hustler Musik", and "Cash Money Millionaires" by Lil Wayne, "God Moving Over the Face of the Waters" by Moby, and "Rubberband Man" by T.I..
• "Gossip" contains a sample of "Stop in the Name of Love" by Margie Joseph.
• "Kush" contains a sample of "Honey Wild" by Con Funk Shun.
• "Ms. Officer" interpolates "Crooked Officer" by The Geto Boyz

Personnel[link]

Credits for Tha Carter III adapted from Allmusic.^[72]

Charts and certifications[link]

Chart procession and succession[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Tha Carter III at Discogs
• Tha Carter III at Metacritic

This article uses bare URLs for citations. Please consider adding full citations so that the article remains verifiable. Several templates and the Reflinks tool are available to assist in formatting. (Reflinks documentation) (August 2011)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
RapReviews	(7.5/10) [2]
Rhapsody	(favorable) [3]
Rolling Stone	[4]
Sputnikmusic	[5]
XXL	(XL)[citation needed]

Tha Carter is the fourth studio album by American rapper Lil Wayne. It was released on June 29, 2004 on Cash Money Records and Universal Records.

Background[link]

The album was the last featuring Cash Money's former in-house producer, Mannie Fresh before he split from the label. The album is based on Lil Wayne's last name, Carter. Tha Carter is generally considered as Lil Wayne's "break out" album, due to the maturity in both his subject matter, and delivery compared to his first three albums.^{[citation needed]} Tha Carter was the start of a highly successful album saga for Wayne. The album has spawned three sequels, Tha Carter II which was released in 2005, Tha Carter III which was released in 2008, Tha Carter IV which was released in 2011.

Reception[link]

Commercial performance[link]

Tha Carter followed Lil Wayne's work in Da Drought mixtape. The album debuted at number five on the US Billboard 200, and number two on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart with 116,000 copies sold in its first week.^[6] The album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and has sold over 1,272,000 copies in the US as of 29 February 2012. ^[7]

Track listing[link]

Charts[link]

References[link]

Lil Wayne
Lil Wayne in 2006
Background information
Birth name	Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr.
Born	(1982-09-27) September 27, 1982 (age 29)
Origin	New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
Genres	Hip hop
Occupations	Rapper, songwriter
Years active	1992–present
Labels	Cash Money, Young Money,Universal Republic
Associated acts	Birdman, Drake, Cash Money Millionaires, Hot Boys, Young Money, The B.G.'z, Nicki Minaj, Juelz Santana[1]
Website	lilwayne-online.com

Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. (born September 27, 1982), better known by his stage name Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. At the age of nine, Lil Wayne joined Cash Money Records as the youngest member of the label, and half of the duo, The B.G.'z, with B.G.. In 1997, Lil Wayne joined the group Hot Boys, which also included rappers Juvenile, B.G., and Young Turk. Hot Boys debuted with Get It How U Live! that year. Lil Wayne gained most of his success with the group's major selling album Guerrilla Warfare, released in 1999. Also in 1999, Lil Wayne released his Platinum debut album Tha Block Is Hot, selling over one million copies in the U.S.

Although his next two albums Lights Out (2000) and 500 Degreez (2002) were not as successful (only reaching Gold status), Lil Wayne reached higher popularity in 2004 with Tha Carter, which included the single "Go D.J." Wayne also appeared on the Destiny's Child top ten single "Soldier" that year. In 2005, the sequel to Tha Carter, Tha Carter II, was released. In 2006 and 2007, Lil Wayne released several mixtapes and appeared on several popular rap and R&B singles. His most successful album, Tha Carter III, was released in 2008 and sold over 1 million copies in the U.S. its first week of release. It included the number-one single "Lollipop" featuring Static Major. It also includes the singles "A Milli" and "Got Money" featuring T-Pain and won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album.

Lil Wayne released his debut rock album, Rebirth, in 2010 to primarily negative reception from critics. The album eventually went gold. In March 2010, Lil Wayne began serving an 8-month prison sentence in New York after being convicted of criminal possession of a weapon stemming from an incident in July 2007. While in prison he released another album entitled I Am Not a Human Being in September 2010, featuring Young Money artists such as Drake, Nicki Minaj and Lil Twist. His ninth studio album and first since being released from prison, Tha Carter IV, was released on August 29, 2011.^[2] The album includes the songs "6 Foot 7 Foot" featuring Cory Gunz, "How to Love" and "She Will" featuring Drake. It sold 964,000 copies in the U.S. its first week out.

Early life[link]

Lil Wayne was born Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. and grew up in the Hollygrove neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana.^[3] Carter was born when his mother, a chef, was 19 years old. His parents were divorced when he was 2, and his father permanently abandoned the family. Carter enrolled in the gifted program of Lafayette Elementary School and in the drama club of Eleanor McMain Secondary School.^[4]

He wrote his first rap song at age eight.^[5] In the summer of 1991, he met Bryan Williams, rapper and owner of Cash Money Records. Carter recorded freestyle raps on Williams's answering machine, leading him to mentor the young Carter and include him in Cash Money-distributed songs. He also recorded his first ever collaboration album True Story with rapper B.G.. At the time, Carter was 11, and B.G. was 14, and was billed as "The B.G.'z".^[6] When he was 12, he played the part of the Tin Man in his middle school drama club's production of The Wiz.^[7] At age 13, he accidentally shot himself with a 9 mm handgun, and off-duty police officer Robert Hoobler drove him to the hospital.^[8] At McMain Magnet School, Carter was an honor student, but he dropped out at the age of 14 to focus on a musical career.^[9]

Career[link]

1997–99: Hot Boys[link]

In 1997, Carter joined the Hot Boys along with rappers Juvenile, B.G., and Turk. At age 15, Carter was the youngest member at that time. Hot Boys' debut album Get It How U Live! was released the same year, followed in 1999 by the group's major-label debut Guerrilla Warfare,^[3] which reached No. 1 on the Billboard magazine Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and No. 5 on the Billboard 200.^[10] During their career, the Hot Boys had two charting singles, "We on Fire" from Get It How U Live! and "I Need a Hot Girl" from Guerrilla Warfare.^[11] Carter was also featured on Juvenile's single "Back That Azz Up", which reached No. 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 5 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks.^[12] Let 'Em Burn, a compilation album of unreleased tracks recorded during 1999 and 2000, came out in 2003, several years after the group disbanded.^[13] It reached No. 3 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and No. 14 on the Billboard 200.^[10]

Carter's debut solo album Tha Block Is Hot at age 17 featured significant contributions from the Hot Boys and was certified platinum, debuting at No. 3 on the Billboard album charts.^[3] The album earned him a 1999 Source magazine award nomination for "Best New Artist",^[14] and also became a Top Ten hit.^[3] The lead single was "Tha Block Is Hot". After the release of Tha Block is Hot, Carter was featured on the single, "Bling Bling", with B.G., Juvenile, and Big Tymers. His verse was featured on the radio edition, and on the album version, only his hook was featured on the single.

[edit] 2000-03: Lights Out and 500 Degreez

His 2000 follow-up album Lights Out failed to attain the level of success achieved by his debut^[3] but was certified gold by RIAA.^[15] Critics pointed to the lack of coherent narratives in his verses as evidence that he had yet to mature to the level of his fellow Hot Boys.^[16] The lead single was "Get Off The Corner" which was noticed for an improvement in lyrical content and style, it also received a music video. The second single which received less attention was "Shine" featuring The Hot Boys. Near the release of Lights Out, Lil Wayne was featured on the single, "1# Stunna" with Big Tymers and Juvenile, which rose to 24th place on the Hot Rap Tracks charts.

Lil Wayne's third album 500 Degreez, released in 2002, followed the format of his previous two, with significant contributions from the Hot Boys and Mannie Fresh. While certified Gold like its predecessor,^[15] it too failed to match the success of his debut.^[3] The title was a reference to the recently estranged Hot Boys member Juvenile's recording, 400 Degreez.^[17] The lead single was "Way Of Life" which like the album failed to match the success of his previous singles. After the release of 500 Degreez, he was featured in the single "Neva Get Enuf" by 3LW.^[18]

[edit] 2003-05: Tha Carter and Tha Carter II

In the summer of 2004, Wayne's album Tha Carter was released, marking what critics considered advancement in his rapping style and lyrical themes.^[19] In addition, the album's cover art featured the debut of Wayne's now-signature dreadlocks.^[3] Tha Carter gained Wayne significant recognition, selling 878,000 copies in the United States, while the single "Go DJ" became a Top 5 Hit on the R&B/Hip-Hop chart.^[20] After the release of Tha Carter, Lil Wayne was featured in Destiny's Child's single "Soldier" with T.I., which peaked at No. 3 on the U.S. Hot 100 and the U.S. R&B Charts.^[21]

Tha Carter II, the follow-up to the original Tha Carter album, was released in December 2005, this time without production by longtime Cash Money Records producer Mannie Fresh, who had since left the label. Tha Carter II sold more than 238,000 copies in its first week of release, debuting at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, and went on to sell 2,000,000 copies world wide. The lead single, "Fireman," became a hit in the US, peaking at 32 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Other singles included "Grown Man", "Hustler Muzik", and "Shooter" (featuring R&B singer Robin Thicke). Lil Wayne also appeared on a remix of Bobby Valentino's "Tell Me", which rose to No. 13 on the U.S. R&B Charts. In 2005, Lil Wayne was named president of Cash Money, and in the same year he founded Young Money Entertainment as an imprint of Cash Money.^[22] However, as of late 2007, Lil Wayne reported that he has stepped down from the management of both labels and has handed management of Young Money over to Cortez Bryant.^[23]

Lil Wayne performing at the Beacon Theatre on July 23, 2007

[edit] 2006-08: Like Father, Like Son, Mixtapes and collaborations

In 2006, Lil Wayne collaborated with rapper Birdman for the album Like Father, Like Son, whose first single "Stuntin' Like My Daddy", reached No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Instead of a follow-up solo album, Lil Wayne reached his audience through a plethora of mixtapes and guest appearances on a variety of pop and hip-hop singles.^[3] Of his many mixtapes, Dedication 2 and Da Drought 3 received the most media exposure and critical review. Dedication 2, released in 2006, paired Lil Wayne with DJ Drama and contained the acclaimed socially conscious track "Georgia Bush," in which Lil Wayne critiqued former US president George W. Bush's response to the effects of Hurricane Katrina on the city of New Orleans. Da Drought 3 was released the following year and was available for free legal download. It contained Lil Wayne rapping over a variety of beats from recent hits by other musicians. Numerous of features in prominent hip-hop magazines such as XXL^[24] and Vibe^[9] covered the mixtape. Christian Hoard of Rolling Stone magazine considered the mixtapes Da Drought 3 and The Drought Is Over 2 "among the best albums of 2007."^[4]

Despite no album release for two years, Lil Wayne appeared in numerous singles as a featured performer, including "Gimme That" by Chris Brown, "Make It Rain" by Fat Joe, "You" by Lloyd, and "We Takin' Over" by DJ Khaled (also featuring Akon, T.I., Rick Ross, Fat Joe, and Birdman), "Duffle Bag Boy" by Playaz Circle, "Sweetest Girl (Dollar Bill)" by Wyclef Jean (also featuring Akon), and the remix to "I'm So Hood" by DJ Khaled (also featuring T-Pain, Young Jeezy, Ludacris, Busta Rhymes, Big Boi, Fat Joe, Birdman, and Rick Ross). All these singles charted within the top 20 spots on the Billboard Hot 100, Hot Rap Tracks, and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts. On Birdman's 2007 album 5 * Stunna, Lil Wayne appeared on the singles "100 Million" and "I Run This" among several other tracks. Wayne also appeared on tracks from albums Getback by Little Brother, American Gangster by Jay-Z, and Graduation by Kanye West and Insomniac by Enrique Iglesias. "Make it Rain", a Scott Storch production that peaked at number 13 on the Hot 100 and number two on the Hot Rap Tracks chart,^[25] was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for 2008.^[26]

Vibe magazine ranked a list of 77 of Lil Wayne's songs from 2007 and ranked his verse in DJ Khaled's "We Takin Over" as his best of 2007, with "Dough Is What I Got" (a freestyle over the beat of Jay-Z's "Show Me What You Got") from Da Drought 3 the second song.^[9] At the end of 2007, an MTV poll selected Lil Wayne as "Hottest MC in the Game",^[27] The New Yorker magazine ranked him "Rapper of the Year",^[6] and GQ magazine named him "Workaholic of the Year".^[28] In 2008 he was named "Best MC" by Rolling Stone.^[4] Another article, built around Lil Wayne's 2007 mixtape work, cites his creative practice as an example of post performance creative practice.^[29]