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. 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). Amid release delays and leaks,Tha Carter III became one of the most anticipated releases of 2008.

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.

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.

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.

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. 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.

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.