‘Tha Carter 4′ Disappoints

Last week Lil Wayne released “Tha Carter 4″ (Cash Money). The New York Times wrote, “this is Lil Wayne at his laziest or most uninterested”. Rapping seems to be the furthest thing from Lil Wayne’s mind and to be honest it shows with this album.

On the track “Nightmares of the Bottom” Lil Wayne sounded like he just wanted to get it over with. “Two Shots” was catchy and very mainstream, but it just wasn’t a very good song. “I’m a pimp under pressure, leave my money on the dresser”, was about the best line in that track.

Lil Wayne could have made “President Carter” one of the best tracks on this album. Despite loosing interest within the first 50 seconds of the song I forced my self to listen to the repetitive line “President Carter” for the whole 4 minutes and 28 seconds the song lasted for. Lets just say I’m surprised my ears didn’t start bleeding. “I like the view” isn’t even worth listening to.

“How to Hate” is the perfect example of crappy mainstream. T-Pains auto-tone is annoying.

The bass on “Up Up and Away” was beast but the lyrics were pointless, and he used verses from other songs in this track.

I know not all the tracks are going to be as good as others so I’ll give Lil Wayne a break because the rest of the album was actually not too bad. “Abortion” was a really good song. However its not about abortion, the lyrics are much deeper. I’ve noticed Lil Wayne is becoming more real every year, “Tha Carter 4″ is definitely moving away from mainstream.

“I got some Money on me” sounds like it came fresh off the “Carter 1″ it flowed good. “So Special” features John Legend. I actually enjoyed this song., I wasn’t too sure about it at first just because Lil Wayne and Legend have such different styles but the combination sounded great together.

“Mirror” which features Bruno Mars was okay. Its a song meant for the radio. “Novocain” was one of the best songs on here. The lyrics flowed perfectly together and the beat was slow and low. “Blunt Blowin” is the second song on “Tha Carter 4″ and is one of the better songs on the album that actually makes sense. The interlude and outro featured Tech N9ne, Andre 3000 (who killed the inrolude). The outro included Bun B, Nas, Shyne, and Busta Rhymes. Nas dominated by far with only one verse, although Imo surprised Nas would even show up on a Lil Wayne album.

It seems like some of the best songs on ”Tha Carter 4″ don’t even have Lil Wayne in them.

The album also includes “How to Love” top 10 on the billboard pop charts. The music video for “How to Love” was amazing and if you have’t seen it you should. “Tha Carter 4″ sold 964,000 albums  in the first week alone. If your a Lil Wayne fan you might be a little let down this album definentaly doesn’t compare to his 07′, 08′ albums, however there are some good tracks so I recommend turning to itunes for the songs you like. Don’t waste your money on this probably over priced album.

Taylor Swift Speaks Now

At only 17, Taylor Swift broke into the entertainment world and captured the eyes and hearts of thousands of teenager girls. Famous for the relevance of her songs to reality, Swift has produced around 40 tracks. Her newest album, Speak Now, released October 23, is easily the peak of her career.

Swift’s previous albums, Taylor Swift and Fearless, focused more on the cliché heartbreaks girls often endure during high school. Swift’s lyrics connected with the audience, but she failed to connect with them. Leaving only a half satisfaction for listeners.

Speak Now comes as Taylor Swift turns 20, an age at which she can finally comprehend and describe love and heartbreak more passionately. While her teenaged album, Fearless stayed at the top of the charts for numerous months, the CD played it safe. However, with her not quite a grown woman persona, Speak Now, can cross bridges into territories seemingly unfamiliar to Swift fans.

The album had the most powerful affect over her audiences yet. The songs, which finally sound heartfelt, draw the listener for the most musically “enchanting” hour and six minutes of Taylor Swift’s career. The creatively worded and complex lyrics of all 14 tracks were carefully cloaked with naïve titles and appealing beats to clench the audience’s attention.

Her song “Mean,” is perhaps the most agonizing abuse song of mainstream country. Swift’s simile of “words like knives and swords and weapons that you use against me,” depicts the persistent bullying that scars high school hallways. But unlike her the songs that cover her previous two CD’s, Mean offers a way out of the situation. In her immature Fearless, Swift’s lyrics gave up on the predicament.

“Dear John,” a reflection on the despair that John Mayer kindled in Swift’s love life, even uses a tune similar to that of various Mayer songs.

Swift also reminisces on the infamous Kanye West interruption in

“Innocent.”

And although the stories that inspired a few of the tracks are heart wrenching, and even make for an interesting story, a few were unnecessary. Speak Now could have procured new fans without “Last Kiss,” which happened to be one five minute song too many.

At last, Swift has actually produced a convincingly emotional album. The masterly crafted “Sparks Fly” track makes listeners wonder if Swift really is the innocent-blonde-American-sweetheart the media has portrayed her to be.

Speak Now, a Swift masterpiece, has demonstrated that she may in fact actually have more talent than her former high pitched, childlike performances proved.  This calm yet vivacious paradox of an album has set a standard for all teenage and young artists.