Lil Wayne

Ben Westhoff

Thursday, June 19, 2008 | midnight

Midway through his long-awaited sixth album, Tha Carter III, on the track “Phone Home,” Lil Wayne tries once again to convince us that he is headed to outer space—that he is a Martian and has his own planet. What he mostly does, however, is convince us he smokes too much weed and drinks too much syrup. By all accounts, in fact, he does both for many hours of every day; he’s also reckless with firearms and regularly in trouble with the law. It seems likely, then, that where he is headed is not outer space but off a cliff.

So be it. There’s no stopping him, and if he goes at least he’s left us with this insane, messy, but often fantastic album. It’s about as radio friendly as CDs get, for starters, with the lineup of potential singles going well beyond the chart-topping “Lollipop.” Throw in “A Milli,” “Got Money,” “Mr. Carter,” and “Comfortable,” and Wayne could well wage a Kanye-like chart assault.

Though the disc also has boring stream-of-consciousness banter (“I hate rats/I clean them out like Ajax/Got paper like/A fax machine”) and offensive sex talk (“I make her wear nothing but handcuffs and heels/Then I beat her like a cop”) throughout, Tha Carter III has much food for thought. Elsewhere Wayne discourses on the plight of Hurricane Katrina victims (“Tie Me Down”) and drug and pedophilia laws (“Misunderstood”).

Like most mainstream rappers, Wayne doesn’t shy from telling us how rich he is or how many women he’s bedded. Unlike other emcees, however, he tells it in mystifying and ultimately satisfying ways.

The bottom line: ****