Complete List of Lil Wayne Albums

There are 11 total Lil Wayne albums in his iconic career, with hopefully many more on the way. Starting with Tha Block is Hot all the way back in 1999, ranging to the most recent 2016 effort of his Free Weezy Album (FWA). Weezy has sold over 100 million albums worldwide and supplied one of the most loyal of fan bases with consistent album output since he was 17 years old.

Lil Wayne's Latest Album: Free Weezy Album

FWA was a massively underrated masterpiece. With many songs focused on love without being "love songs," FWA is one of Lil Wayne's most introspective and musically soothing works to date. Coming at a time of high pressure and an extremely unpredictable future, Weezy put in an emotionally raw effort that resulted in an incredible album. With songs like Living Right ft. Wiz Khalifa, and London Roads, there's a smooth artfulness to Weezy's flow and cadence that feel 1000% in sync with the beats.

Heavy horns on My Hear Races On and some great vocals from Bibi Bourelly on Without You, support Wayne's more emotional romance-centered songs to provide some real substance from the love angle that Weezy doesn't usually produce for an entire song. You'll have to get Tidal to listen to it, but it's absolutely worth every penny to hear it.

I Am Not a Human Being II

IANAHB2 is an album that any real Lil Wayne fan will appreciate. It's full of Weezy's free-wheeling metaphors and similes that seemingly have no limits. Truthfully it was in a timeframe for Lil Wayne in which he wasn't as disciplined with his wordplay as he should have been.

He was almost bitten by his own poison by letting his figures of speech go so wild that many started to question them. It's a common problem for Weezy in this era of his work, including Sorry 4 the Wait and Tha Carter IV, not keeping a focused range on the metaphors and caused listeners to start to feel that he was choosing his rhymes in a lazy way. For example, in Gunwalk, Wayne rhymes "I can't fuck with these niggas, man these niggas gummy bears" and in Beat the Shit he rhymes "don't open ya mouth I'm a dentist." He also goes a little crazy with food references, such as "bust yo fucking grape nigga, turn yo ass to red wine."

However, the other side of that argument is that the lack of discipline in metaphor choice allowed Wayne to come up with some of his most creative lyrical moments. In Trippy Wayne rhymes "My skin crawling, my walls talking, the pictures in here looking at me. The ground moving, I'm seeing shit... I see lights flashing, lights passing, hot flashes, my tongue numb, I can't talk, no balance, my spine hurt, my mind surf, my eye jerk. I try different drugs, I'm diverse, goodbye Earth, farewell, high as Heaven, eyes low as Hell. Keep scratching, keep biting my nails, keep lighting the L's."

That style of "stream on consciousness rap" is one that only Lil Wayne can pull of in such a masterful way.

Tha Carter IV

The Carter IV was a vastly underrated album, mainly because it came after Tha Carter III and had an impossible bill to live up to. Songs like 6' 7', Nightmares of the Bottom, President Carter, Two Shots, How to Hate, I Like the View, and It's Good, were all heavyweights that made this one of Wayne's best albums ever.

This album came out in a time when Lil Wayne hate started to become the popular thing to do, and unluckily for Weezy, the trend caught on like wildfire. However, some of the haters did have a point, which I mentioned above in the section about some of his rhymes being undisciplined. Lines like Blunt Blowin's "All about my riches, my name should be Richard" left more than a little to be desired from the second song on the most anticipated album of the year.

However, two lines later Weezy rhymes "Still got da vision like a line between two dots" and "yeah the tables turn but I'm still sitting at 'em." Later he raps "Why that? Why this? Why you on that Why shit? Motherfuckers ask me why I say 'YM!'".  And  in 6'7', Weezy spits too many legendary rhymes to even begin singling any out, as it would absolutely lead to me typing out the entire lyrics.

Overall, this is an outstanding album that never gets the credit it deserves.

I Am Not a Human Being

IANAHB is one of the most fun albums Wayne has ever made. Classic hits like Single, Gonorrhea, and Right Above It were pounding through the clubs during all of 2010. Lines like "Skinny pants and some vans, call me Triple A get my advance and advance" kept fan singing Lil Wayne songs without a break from Tha Carter III to No Ceilings to IANAHB.

With You is a nice change up from the love song angle which provided an interesting preview to what a Lil Wayne + Drake collaboration album could have looked like.

Rebirth

Rebirth is one of the most hated on albums of all time, while at the same time being one of the most creative, innovative, and just plain entertaining rap albums of all time. There were major problems with it, but there were still plenty of high quality songs that made it better than almost any other rap album that came out in 2010.

I'm still of the belief that One Way Trip was one of the best songs that came out in 2010. The opening from Weezy "Beat the beat up till the beat get punch drunk, drown in my flow motherfucker bring ya swimming trunks. Everybody say they just do it, well I just don't. Times may change motherfucker but the gun don't." Later he brings the heat with "It's fucked up how you ain't never me. I got blind money, money you will never see. And only in the mirror's where you find a better me. I make money and my fingers make the letter B. I am very sick. Very sicker than you. And when I play sick, I'm Jordan with the flu."

Fan favorites like Knockout and Drop the World were commercial hits, but even the more experimental rock influences songs like Paradice, Da Da Da, and I'll Die for You were great songs that real Lil Wayne fans loved.

Tha Carter III

What is there to say about Tha Carter III? One of the greatest rap albums of all time, it propelled Wayne into rap legend status and sold over a million copies in the first week. Hip Hop classics such as A Milli, Lollipop, Mr. Carter, La La, Let the Beat Build, and many others, put this album in a class of its own, probably the best rap album of its decade.

When the world eventually crowns Lil Wayne as the Greatest Rapper of All Time, this will be the album they reference.

Tha Carter II

Tha Carter II is Lil Wayne's most southern rap album, and one that many feel is the most "true Weezy." This was the album where he told the world that he was coming for the title of Best Rapper Alive, and from this album on, he took no prisoners. When I listen to this album, I picture a young Jordan before winning a title, feeling hunger and fire in his stomach and knowing championships lay in the horizon.

The second Carter is a smash mouth rap album with force and fury. Great bluesy guitar feels a times, a soulful collaboration with Robin Thicke on Shooter, it manages to mix different styles and flows while still keeping a consistent structure throughout the whole album.

Wayne is an assassin on Hit Em Up, a smooth crooner on Hustler Musik, a Jamaican style king on Mo Fire, and a southern G with Money on My Mind.

This album will make you see some comparisons to later albums and wonder about the criticisms leveled at Weezy later in his career. Lines like "Dear Mr. Toilet, I'm the shit. Got these other haters pissed cuz my toilet paper thick" are what gave Wayne his massive fan base. He follows it up with "But trip in that 40, make a chip out of a potato head whip and then like ranch I dip." Those two lines are classic favorites, but if they were done in 2013, it seems like fans wouldn't appreciate them. It could be because people want to see more progression and variety.

Tha Carter

Tha Carter was Lil Wayne's true coming out party as solo star. With one of his biggest hits ever, Go DJ, Lil Wayne hit radio waves and was there to stay. Other hits BM J.R. and I Miss My Dawgs, Weezy left no doubt that he had the potential to command space on the main stage of hip hop. Lesser known treats like Walk In, We Don't,  and Bring it Back make it a complete project worthy of fans love.

500 Degreez

This Lil Wayne album was a 21 song effort laden with jazzy southern beats, typical of the late 90's and Weezy's New Orleans surroundings. Manny Fresh is frequently heard on the tracks providing vocal back up, and a dynamic element to the production. Wayne's fast spitting flow is in it's prime here. Gangsta Shit ft. Petey Pablo features a lightning fast Weezy, even making a stylish mention of "Wipe Me Down" about 10 years before the future Lil Webbie hit.

The album is representative of the school of hip hop that existed before the shift over to the early 2000's with the leadership of Nelly and Jay Z.

Lights Out

Get Off the Corner is certainly the best and most well known song from the album. Wayne takes the beat hostage and doesn't let up until the last second ticks off the track. It's a very young Weezy that many modern day Lil Wayne fans may not know, but the album is worth a listen for a lesson in the history of our beloved Weezy.

 

Lil Wayne's First Album: Tha Block is Hot

The Block is Hot is Lil Wayne's first solo album. There was plenty of support from other Hot Boyz B!G, Turk and Juvenille, as well as plenty of appearances from the Big Tymers. For his first solo album ever, this album is a nice throwback. No Lil Wayne fan's education is complete without a listen to this album. Fuck the World is a raw and emotional southern rap ballad, styled after the soulful artists of New Orleans and Houston at they time. Overall, it's an entertaining album, from a young and hungry future legend.