It’s Been Seven Weeks. Do You Know Where Your Copy Of Tha Carter III Is?
SMOKE BREAK By TSSCrew on July 29, 2008 at 9:30 pmWords By Patrick M.
While the singles “A Milli” and “Got Money,” continue to receive rotation on the Clear Channel matrix and sales of the Tha Carter III have slowly crept over 2 million, Wayne and the album seem strangely absent from Hip-Hop’s buzz lists. And my iPod rotation. The monsters of ‘07, Graduation and American Gangster, have both stayed in popular Hip-Hop’s orbit 6 months to a year after their releases. Hot 97’s playlist confirms this fact: both “Flashing Lights,” and “I Know,” remain in their primary rotation.
That’s what’s drives albums into longevity: a steady stream of singles that can hold up in people’s ears for months at a time. And that’s what Tha Carter III is missing. And the biggest culprit is Wayne himself. He’s the ultimate popcorn rapper: the lyrics may be good for a snack, but you can’t base your meals around him. There isn’t enough there to keep you fed and you go looking for more.
Nothing against Weezy here. He released a decent album, satisfied his younger fan base, and kept his name in the limelight. But for Tha Carter III, a year of anticipation looks like it’s going to lead into three months of rotation. And that’s not how you become the best rapper alive.
Sean_Paul-Gimme_The_Light-_VLS
Shawnna_Ft_Ludacris_Lil_Wayne_Pharrell-Gettin_Some__Remix_-Promo_CDS
Norman Connors – You Are My Starship
Crooked Lettaz – Grey Skies
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Snoop_Doggy_Dogg_Ft_Nate_Dogg_Warren_G_And_Kurupt-Aint_No_Fun-VLS
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Onyx – WerDaFucIzOnyx
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Jadakiss-Why_Remix_BW_Shine__VLS
Consequence – The Wait Is Over
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Posted in SMOKE BREAK — Tags: Album Sales, Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III
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78 Comments
To this day, I only know one person that purchased the Carter tre. Damn.
My copy’s still on the shelves at your local retailer.
Me too. My 14 year old cousin, who swears by Weezy.
Jay vs. Gaye: Brooklyn Soul >>>>>>> American Gangster.
I actually forgot how the og AG sounds
My copy (which has “Memorex” plastered across the front) is resting in my cd book roughly 8 weeks since its last spin. I played it for a week or so after the leak and that was pretty much it.
What I’m trippin on is why would “Flashing Lights” still be on any radio station’s playlist?? How old is that song? Same goes for “I Know”.
like weezy’s back piece up there, this album will go down as “seemed like a good idea at the time.”
I bought the album. Bumped it once. Added it to cd rack dubbed “not for rotation, only for archival purposes because of a few dope tracks”. Done.
I listen to Wayne, but C3 got waaaaaay more love from the critics than it deserved in my opinion. If I wouldn’t have heard the leak, I probably would’ve went and copped it on the strength of the mixtapes. Unfortunately, mine is still on the shelves at your local retailer too! LOL
Can’t front…I’ve moved on. Good album, but it just dosn’t have alotta replay value.
Ps. He gave himself that gunshot wound…. NH
you wanna talk about a forgetable album check no further than your boy algernods last table coaster.
every fucking song sounds exactly the same.
“I ______ like ______, so call me ______” …. etc etc etc….
i could only take so much
The Carter III album was an overpriced mixtape distributed by Universal/CashMoney. Speaking of overpriced material, I walked into HMV last Friday and saw the Jim Jones “Members of ByrdGang” album marked as an “import” for $26.99!!! Getthafuckouttahere!!! I like Capo but I ain’t buying that shit for damn near $30, especially with no Max B or Stack Bundles. That ain’t wavy dude, OOOWWW!!!
But for Tha Carter III, a year of anticipation looks like it’s going to lead into three months of rotation. And that’s not how you become the best rapper alive.
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Damn the hate is strong. Everyones a critic. I think we all can agree the albums hot and in the same breath also agree that we can’t hear “A MIlli” or “Lollipop” one more time. I still play the hell outta “Let The Beat Build” and “You Aint Got Nothin On Me”. Wayne is nice and the album just may be one of the most successful albums (hip hop or not) of this year. Give respect where it’s due, he put out a dope album that i feel has longevity thats evident in tracks like “Tie My Hands ” and “Comfortable”. As far as him being a popcorn rapper i don’t agree. I feel like “Real Rap” that yes doesn’t appear on the album but still non the less shows his range as an artist and discredits that assertion in a little over three minutes. I do get what your trying to say as at the end of my 6 disc changer sits American Gangster where it’s been since November but only a few discs away from that past IPA2TG and a few mixes sits C3, an album that I think has a spot reserved until an artist can knock it out and it doesn’t look like theres one in the near future side from Jeezys new shit but we’ll see.
This album was all good, oops I meant all right…
I still bump the Milli with the Cory Gunz verse cuz he ripped it. Wale’s mixtape had way more replayability
@ B.Payton
By 4th quarter (November/December) nobody will even remember that C3 dropped, let alone years from now. Wayne is hot, unfortunately his album wasn’t. Looking forward to the next mixtape though!!!
*STILL hasnt listened to C3*
Good CD, but Killer Mike moved Weezy outta my rotation with ease…
@ Gunzoid
Brooklyn Soul is nowhere near as hot as American Gangster….
American Gangster > Brooklyn Soul = You. Are. Buggin’.
@ B.Payton, how come when people disagree with u and dislike something u like, its considered ‘hate’?
an u say give respect where its due….since when does album sales equal respect? many great albums havent sold shit, while many awful albums have sold millions….
There’s an alternative to every Wayne song on C3. I go to Wale for Mr. Carter, Fab/Jada/Gunz for A Milli, Crooked I for Lollipop, and Cam or Free for Let The Beat Build. Got Money is some typical T-Pain fuckery, and for that I just go to Rick Ross – The Boss. I’d rather listen to Earthquake or Receipt than Comfortable. Tie My Hands is the track I’ll give him respect for doing.
No one’s saying that Wayne was never good, but the C3 isn’t near his best work.
In rotation, carter3 is a victim of the internets short attention span. But if the album had a coherant thought stream it’d be classic. Nobody raps better than Weezy, but there are 100 better Emcees. Thats what’s missing Emceeing. Emceeing = topic expounded and Wayne mostly babbles. I wonder what Baby is doing with his 800k copies?
let’s forget tc3, how many of y’all actually bump dude’s mixtapes still? there’s like 1,300 to choose from (with about 9 hot verses.
^ Dedication 2 and Drought 3 get HEAVY rotation homie
Graduation: i cant stand that motherfucker Kanye West, his musics watered down shit for the masses
American Gangster: Im sick of fantasies and bullshit myth perpetuation by grown men who should know better. That cat the movies based on was running dope for the CIA. Jay Z is a corporate billionaire. Ice Cube is a hollywood actor who does family movie fucking garbage.
Gangster? I dont think so.
Lil Wayne? At least he’s a fucking freak. A misfit, an outcast, for want of a better word: an artist.
great album, i listen to it every day. best of the year so far imo..
real talk, its like its “en vogue” for cats to act like theyre better than listening to wayne, like hes vailla ice or some shit..
and i agree with B.Payton.. the article was written with a lot of hate in mind.
I wonder what Baby is doing with his 800k copies?
_________________________________________________________
Bananas!
@ Uptown, it was underwelming, period. Tie my Hands bodies the whole album because it shows what wayne could be. Thats why it passed me by. Its like looking at a son who ends up at community college with D1 skills just because he doesn’t want to do homework.
To answer your question, I listened to “Dr. Carter” yesterday to confirm an Axelrod sample, and then I put on Carter II.
And going forward, fuck you and your “popcorn” rapper accusations. Lil Wayne has more brain food per verse than most of yall could consume in a week’s worth of meals, and there’s no “nothing against…” precursors you could claim that would make you look like any less of a hater.
If you haven’t listened to this album in a while, go to your favorite hip-hop lyrics site and READ it. If you do that with an open mind, I guarantee you will be impressed. But I also bet your foolish pride will prevent you from ever acknowledging that you could be wrong, so instead, we will allow you to play yourself in front of millions of sets of eyes. Just remember, whether its 10 years, 20 years, or however long it takes for all this hate to subside, there will be this on the permanent record of you going against the man who is, and will (hopefully) be for a while, the best rapper alive.
The truth is revealing over time. Bet.
PEACE
Niggaz need to listen more and talk less for real man.
@ B.Payton
By 4th quarter (November/December) nobody will even remember that C3 dropped, let alone years from now. Wayne is hot, unfortunately his album wasn’t. Looking forward to the next mixtape though!!!
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A couple million people will remember c3 for sure. and I’m sure millions more know what it is :-)
and dare I say even more will be lookin foward to C4!
Seriously a lot of you arent making much sense. Don’t let personal biases gauge your respect of that mans hustle. I’m not the biggest fan of Wayne but I can respect what he did in this day & age of zshare and rapidshare. Maybe you should too.
Gotta co-sign that this article had a lot of “hate” undertones in it. But it’s fashionable to front on wayne these days…. being on top of the game comes with a price
i guess wayne kissin baby has made it cool for some of yall to come out the closet with how hard u ride his dick….
@ B.Payton, how come when people disagree with u and dislike something u like, its considered ‘hate’?
an u say give respect where its due….since when does album sales equal respect? many great albums havent sold shit, while many awful albums have sold millions….
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I feel like your opinion is one thing but going all out and saying one of the most successful rappers of this day & age is “the ultimate popcorn rapper” is negative and further more hateful especially when there’s no real evidence (in the article atleast) that backs the assertion. And no one necessarily has to respect his album numbers but you’d be hard pressed to find someone that doesn’t respect how an artist can grow, still come up with fresh verse’s and song concepts (i.e Dr. Carter) and garner world wide success without losing their credibility or validity in the streets. C3 doesn’t have that same (“flip ya vehicle split ya windshield”) that the original Carter had but what it lacks there it makes up for with a fresh original sound and creativity. And no I’m no Wayne stan, he’s barely in my top ten but I’ll give respect where it’s due any day of the week.
i guess wayne kissin baby has made it cool for some of yall to come out the closet with how hard u ride his dick….
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hahahaha in any hip hop debate the homophobia never fails to show it’s ugly head. hahahaha that trains never late
congrants to weezy. he doin his shit. stop fuckin hatin
I’ve been listening to Swisha House’s Benjamin’s & Grants 2k8 the past 2 or 3 weeks now. I think I listened to TC3, maybe twice. And like 2 songs a few times more. Haven’t really been listening to anything tho other than Benjamin’s & Grants with a strange mix of some tracks from MM3, and a new track w/ a friend.
Trai D – X Pill. Song just has me hooked.
Wit-E- Says:
i guess wayne kissin baby has made it cool for some of yall to come out the closet with how hard u ride his dick….
________________
well, gadddamn.
wow.
*bows as he backsteps out of Wit-E’s territory*
“Nothing against Weezy here. He released a decent album, satisfied his younger fan base”
^^Believing The Carter 3 only satisfied and appealed to Waynes “younger fan base” is just silly. The fact is alot of Waynes fans supported The Carter 3 and weren’t disappointed. It was about supporting Wayne and all the music he released between The Carter 2 and The Carter 3 as much as it was supporting The Carter 3 specifically. I doubt anyone who bought the album is mad they spent 10 bucks on it cause I’m sure everyone downloaded it before coppin so they knew what they were gettin in advance.
“Wayne and the album seem strangely absent from Hip-Hop’s buzz lists…The monsters of ‘07, Graduation and American Gangster, have both stayed in popular Hip-Hop’s orbit 6 months to a year after their releases. Hot 97’s playlist confirms this fact”
^^I know your not hatin but are u serious? Cause Hot 97 plays Mr. Carter, Lollipop, A Milli and Got Money all the time and I’m sure 6 months from now any one of those tracks will still get just as many random spins as Flashing Lights and I Know do now.
Not that I care to hear them 6 months from now but I don’t care to hear Flashing Lights or I Know anymore either. And I Know was never a monster.
It’s clear that folks who think Dr. Carter is such genius clearly don’t remember classics like The Formula (doc), Nose Job (DU) and Doctor, Doctor (Xzibit/tha Liks) which took the whole doctor metaphor and did better and first.
hahahaha in any hip hop debate the homophobia never fails to show it’s ugly head. hahahaha that trains never late
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choo-choo lol
I’m sorry but that shit was doo-doo
But to each his own. Half the shit I’m still rotating from January, I know nobody else is even considering.
I still bump C3 and Drought 3, shit goes hard(no homo) IMO
3.5 Cigs
Ya’ll know we were onpoint with OUR review. Can’t speak for nobody else’s.
Tie My Hands was cool… played that just this week for the first time in a long time…. sounded good..
but when I want to hear a rapper flipping that so-called “free association style”, I typically play a Sean P(eeeeee!) album…
Was it “hate(ful)” to say that? I’m not sure, but it was truthful.
@ OED
I still get a chuckle when I think about you hearing “Let The Beat Build” and saying “what a buncha fluff”
LOL!!!
I listened to it in it’s entirety yesterday and thought it wasn’t as bad as some people said, but wasn’t as great as others had said. It’s a good album…for the era we’re in. NaS and Killer Mike’s album on the other hand…hole lee shit…
Fluff was polite, right?
LOL
*hasn’t heard C3*
i could care less….my biggest problem wit wayne is his diccriders…most of them r ignorant…..oh n his lyrics”maserati on a bridge pussypoppin”..wtf?
in the words of immortal tecnique “just cause you sold a million albums has nothing to do with luck, it just means that a million people are stupid as fuck”
in six months from now i hopefully will be crackin that Detox in the whip. weezy gets no love in the accord or altec lansing speakers at the crib.
All these Wayne fans around here are kinda hilarious to me. “Read his album, and it’s genius”
His simple ass metaphors are not GENIUS. If you are so caught up in genius metaphorical lyrics on a hip hop album, do yourself a favor and go listen to some MF DOOM.
Lil’ Wayne is like DOOM’s younger cousin with a small case of down syndrome and a syrup addiction (and the pockets for Kanye West beats)
I really like some of Wayne’s older shit TC1 and TC2 included, but this Best Rapper Alive talk needs to cease.
I am not a Weezy fan, I didn’t buy the album and I don’t feel like the article was hate based.
The article is geared towards the rap/HipHop fan that felt like the album didn’t hold the attention. Which contrary to all your stomping up and down, is ALOT of us. Period
Weezy sold over 2 mil.. great way to go. And if you want to call it hate you can. Hate IS was the game is about.. hate does not mean yoou don’t respect someone’s craft and grind, its about getting what you think should be recognized, recognized.
And for those that felt offended by the last sentence in his article.. go to your self.. pull out your ‘Ready to Die’ disc and your C3… Put them both on at the exact same time and same volume level and see which one you just “feel” is the strongest.. That my youngin is a way you can measure if Weezy is the best alive and trust me.. He. Is. Not. ***WHAT THE FUCK, IS RAKIM DEAD???!!!****
disposable garbage. he better chill with the syrup, i don’t wanna see the brotha die in his prime
Word, K1ng, Word. TC, where are you?! read that man’s comments! DOOM!
@ David D.
Nothing more but fluff from behind a mask…
Let The Beat Build
Shoot Me Down
Tie My Hands
You Ain’t Got Nuthin
Have managed to stay in my rotation. Mr. Carter comes up every once in awhile and manages to put a smile on my face. I burned out on Lollipop, Got Money, & A Milli… didn’t like any of the other songs on the album.
RMF…
Cats do love to hate Wayne & I still think TC3 has a handful of noteworthy joints. The album is sortalike MF Doom with a heavy dose of mainstream appeal. It kinda requires a certain mindstate for listening. Plus, with IPATTG2, T.O.S.(surprised? me too), Untitled & a gang of other albums both recent & vintage, Wayne sorta got thrown out of regular rotation. Real talk though, my custom “The Leak EP” with a buncha songs that shoulda made the album (ie. “La La La”, “I Feel Like Dying” “Kush”, Did It Before” etc.) still gets plenty burn & I’ve been bumping some of those joints for over a year. The kid is still a monster & I don’t think the two million plus that purchased the album are wholly made up of Weezy’s “younger fan base”. TC3 may not have been the classic people expected but it’s a step in the right direction & it firmly sets Lil’ Wayne outside the box as an artist.
nah, I got the bootlegg bout a week b4 it came out, and now that I think of it, I only really play it when somebody else is in the car and wants to hear it.
Not that it’s bad but I jus don’t bump it.
I’m playin N.E.R.D. “Seeing Sounds”, Nas “Untitled” AND “The Nigger Tape”, Coldplay “Viva La Vida”, bunch of other shit
Instead of hating on the accomplishments Lil Wayne has acheived; go out and support the artist that you feel deserves it. For all of the Wayne hate; Little Brother can’t go gold, Talib can’t go gold, and a list of other talented MC’s aren’t getting the support they deserve. Actions speak louder than words!!!
She wanted to lick the Rapper, so I became a RAPPPERRR!!!!
BAWSE!!!
LOL
Wit-E- Says:
*STILL hasnt listened to C3*
“If you heard Lil Wayne on the radio, then you heard the Carter 3 cd…
On the topic of Mr.Carter, don’t know if any one linked this yet…
Lil Wayne featuring T-Pain & Mack Maine – Got Money Video
http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?id=1518071&vid=261300
At least we now know where the budget for the A Milli vid went…
RMF…
I deleted all but “You Ain’t Got Nuthin on Me”
The Alc beat combined with Fab and Juelz goin hard….. but I cut it off when Weezy’s verse starts
The 808 and snares come in like “Oh Shit!” Weezy’s about to go in hard!
then
“CHECK 1 2 3 4 LIKE THE NUMBER AFTER 1 IMA GET ME 2 FUCK YOU……”
It had so much potential then he just shoots in the head and hopscotch’s around for two minutes…..SMH
In the article Patrick didn’t deny Wayne’s talent or said he couldn’t sale records. It just states that some people were disappointed by it, and the question of “Do you still listen to it?” was raised. Only somebody who is a TRUE DICK-RIDING STAN would take that is a diss and run with it. TSS asked the same thing about Snoop’s “Ego Trippin” and nobody felt disrespected about questioning that living legend’s last album. The only reason some even pose this type of question about C3 is because they really like Wayne, and believe he has the potential of making a “great/classic” album.
Weezy rapping is great!!!
Carter 3 was okay/disappointing.
LMAO @ TC
“FLUFF”
…I’ma get you into DOOM before it’s all said and done though.
dont know about yall but in philly mr carter, comfortable, lollipop, n milli get mad radio play. aint that enough?
*remembers when FEMALES were the only groupies*
http://realtalkny.uproxx.com/2008/07/topic/topic/vixens/flavor-of-loves-seezinz-in-smooth-magazine/
Here is something we all can agree with!!!!
As a fan of both DOOM and Wayne, I find the comparisons a bit misguided, but intriguing nonetheless.
I’m still laughing at the fool who wrote this, publishes it to get the masses hyped, and then doesn’t come back to defend his own honor.
I’ll leave it at this: who else has Babyface on their records these days? If Kenneth Edmonds co-signature isn’t strong enough proof that this young man is special, well, I dont know what it will take to satisfy y’all goons.
Hate harder. Its only fuel to the fire, folks.
PEACE
@OED, you and me both…I been trying to preach about DOOM to TC for a minute now…some people just can’t get it. smh
@ austin..how much u think dat cosign cost wayne? no “hate’ jus a question
@ Old.Sole and Austin,
That Comfortable track with Babyface ACTUALLY wasn’t made for Wayne. Babyface made that track in the booth with Kanye, b/c Ye blessed ‘Face’s new CD. Little Wayne wasn’t even in the studio with ‘Ye with either. The beat was premade, and handed to Wayne on a CD.
So the beat was a favor to Mr. West. Why do you think there’s no adlibs?
I guess that makes him guilty by association to greatness, which is invaluable.
Holl@!!
PEACE
@ darius..like i said..i still aint heard C3 so i wuz jus goin wit wut austin sed. i dont think ima eva hear c3
Sorry ass weezy may have sold 2mill but how much dough do he have to give back for not clearing samples hmmmm so what does that brings his sell to
who cares about how much he sells, its about album quality. Which granted, it wasn’t great, but i think people are blowing this a bit out of proportion. Most rappers would kill for the supposed ‘only 3 months rotation’ he’s got. And I’m not even a Weezy fan really.
I agree with the guy who said Tie My Hands gets respect, mind. In fact, all the Robin Thicke/Weezy collabos are good.
And I also don’t understand why everyone loved Kanye’s last album. I thought it was diabolical. Lazy pop rap for the masses. He’s a shadow of the man he was on The College Dropout. If i wanted to listen to a pop album I’d buy Rihanna’s. And i f**king hate Rihanna.
can’t front…i bang the leak ep more than carter 3…still not a wayne fan but dude has the ability to make good music…just shows that you can’t completely saturate the market with your music before your album drops…how does that line go…always leave them wanting more???
This album is trash. No hater.
I would rather bump 500 Degreez or the Carter I.
Wayne talent is known, he just aint used not a one bit of it in the last 3 years. He been getting by on popularity, “swag”(as the kids say), and making wierd voices as he raps…. I want content nigga, content
Fuck Carter III. Wayne will never progress if yall Keep Dickriding this bullshit he puttin out. Let Wayne know his album is trash and he need to go back to writing while sober. Syrup +Cocaine+ freestyling = C3
Yes I noe where my copy is. It’s in my room with the rest of my CD’s cuz CD’s aren’t meant to last forever. I’m the type of person that changes the songs on my ipod every 2 weeks, but I always keep wayne in my itunes. Graduation was a really good album, but it’s old as hell and it was dead 3 weeks after i heard it. AMerican Gangster is a piece of shit. U dont got to rock Wayne’s samw shit all da time cuz he keeps coming out with more. Tha CArter III’s the shit. haters fall back.
“U dont got to rock Wayne’s samw shit all da time cuz he keeps coming out with more. Tha CArter III’s the shit. haters fall back.”
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Man, it would be easier to listen to all the Wayne fans in this thread about the “haters”…except damn. Everyone of ya’ll has said something stupid as hell in your response so I gotta throw it out. Either ya’ll calling him the “best rapper ever” (like someone else already said…did Rakim die??) or you insulting a rapper (Kanye, Jay-Z) I’ve always had respect for in an attempt to make Wayne sound better. Not a good look, folks.
Anyway, my copy of TC3 is in the same place most of ya’lls seem to be–on the shelf at my local music store. I heard some of it while I was riding with my boy the other day–it was aight, but damn if I shell out ten bucks for it.
Carter III is what gives wayne the possibility to come with an actual classic album. Once that happens he will be able to be considered as one of the best in the game. No one gets credit for their mixtape material after they’ve put out an album. I repeat no one. So please stop bringing up his mixtapes most of the songs were mediocre anyway. Line for line Wayne is a wack rapper but if you take his whole career he has longevity and everyone actually cares about his new music as long as he has that anything can happen in the future for him. He has to be more careful with his music though. Carter III is ok. carter 4 better be a classic. He has no classic albums not even classic songs. Nas has classics. Jay has classics. even Fat Joe has classics. so lil wayne no classics.