10 Facts you probably didn't know about THA CARTER III
10 Facts you probably didn't know about THA CARTER III
Throughout the early 2000s, Lil Wayne’s countless features made his startling work ethic exponentially evident.
After weeding through 300 songs for the The Carter III, the New Orleans rapper wasn’t even sure what tracks the label chose to make the final cut,
but he was confident in one thing: his sales would be massive. In an interview with Tim Westwood (16:10 mark),
he boldly predicted selling a million copies in its first week. He spoke his platinum status into existence becoming one of the few Hip Hop artists to accomplish such a feat. Alongside Eminem and 50 Cent, The Cash Money veteran who had been rapping since the age of 11 finally became collectively recognized among the greats on an international scale.
Heralded by many as his magnum opus, Wayne’s sixth solo album contained beastly bars, unwarranted emotion, Jay Z’s co-sign and groundbreaking production that is still coveted by MCs to this day.
Weezy said it best in an interview with Billboard. “I think this album is going to be one of my best albums…
so I made it so that whatever is on it will stick with you forever.”
Mission accomplished. Keep clicking to learn 10 facts about Wayne’s masterpiece, Tha Carter III.
01.Lil’ Wayne thought about making a video for every track on the album.
Long before Beyonce made a visual album, Wayne believed each song had its own cinematic storyline and toyed with the idea of shooting a video for every song. “I’m a true perfectionist. I might have to work out a deal with Universal to shoot a video for all these songs, that’s how crazy they all are. Every one of them is a movie,” he expressed back in 2008.
02.“Showtime” was supposed to be the album’s first single and a remix with Brisco and Lil’ Boosie was recorded.
While anticipation was brewing for the project to drop, Wayne planned on shooting a video for his first single “Showtime” featuring his own artist, Chanell. During an MTV interview, he stated that visuals were set to be shot, but also revealed that a remix to the track was recorded and featured Brisco and Lil’ Boosie. Once he fell in love with the racy and melodic “Lollipop,” the track was scrapped. Note: The original single seems to fit the description of “Action,” which can found as a bonus cut on some versions of the album.
03. *Wayne wasn’t excited about “Lollipop” until Deezle added drum programming and snare rolls
.
Co-producer Deezle took notice that Weezy wasn’t thrilled with the original version of the track. He vowed to liven it up, but when beatmaker Jim Jonsin found out about the changes, he couldn’t help but feel offended. “I kind of felt disrespected, like, ‘Why the fuck would you do that? I’m an established guy, and you know what my drums sound like.’ But Wayne decided to go another route and have Deezle add his stuff to it, and you know, that’s cool. Obviously, the record was a smash, so everyone’s contribution to it was great. I’m thankful for that.'”
04.*Kanye West overwhelmed Wayne with beat CDs for the project.
.
When asked about Kanye’s input on Tha Carter III, Wayne expressed that Ye bombarded him with so many instrumentals, he had to ask him to quit. “The first visit…he gave me like 5 joints. The second visit he came, he gave me a CD with 15 joints on there. I had to tell him, ‘Slow your roll. Like, stop. Just please stop. Can you leave me alone? Please.'”
(5:25 mark)
05.*2 Chainz was supposed to be on “Mrs. Officer.”
Then known as a member of College Park’s Playaz Circle, 2 Chainz was actually supposed to contribute to the Bobby V-assisted hit dedicated to romancing a female officer. Wayne stated, “He was supposed to have my verse. This was when he was Tity Boi. But I guess I just did my verse and everything worked out.”
06.*About 19 people played live instrumentation on “Phone Home.”
During the recording session at Miami’s Hit Factory, nearly 20 musicians played trombones, violins and horns live on the track. The sound was tripled to give it a “big” feel, and Wayne felt it so much that Cool (of Cool & Dre) witnessed Weezy’s eyes roll behind his head. “We knew he was keeping it because after that it was, ‘What’s up with that ‘Phone Home?’ Weezy’s like, ‘Oh, that’s in the vault.’ He kept certain records in a special vault that was unleakable, shit that he only touched.”
07. *”La La” was a beat David Banner had made for the Shrek 3 soundtrack.
David Banner had been patroned to create a track intended to be on the Shrek 3 soundtrack…up until Wayne heard the playful production. “Shrek ain’t gonna get this one, buddy,” he declared before buying the beat on the spot. “It was crazy, bruh. He literally snatched the beat from Shrek,” Banner recounts. Bonus Fact: Nicki Minaj was also present during the recording session
08.*Lil’ Wayne would have stepped his bars up on “Mr. Carter” if he had been in the studio with Jay Z.
Wanye says his verses on “Mr. Carter” would have been better if he had recorded the track in the studio with Hov. Verses were traded via email instead. Regardless, Weezy described Jigga’s passing of the torch moment as a career milestone. “I don’t need nothing else after that. Period. That’s a personal highlight. You know what I mean? A personal milestone.”
(3:25 mark)
09.*”Dr. Carter” was originally a record for Jay Z.
Swizz Beatz told Wayne that he had the beat reserved for Hov. Weezy recalls Swizz saying, “‘Listen, I got this record for Jay, but I just wanna see what you could do to it ’cause I know you gonna do something crazy to it,’ so when he heard what I done to it, that record was for me.” Though Swizzy revealed Jigga gave it a listen and wanted to “rebirth” a new artist on the cut, Wayne says Jay never got a chance to touch the record.
(5:21 mark)
10.“A Milli” samples a rare remix of A Tribe Called Quest’s “Left My Wallet In El Segundo.”
Long before settling a lawsuit against Wayne for not paying royalties, producer Bangladesh sampled a Vampire Mix of ATCQ’s “Left My Wallet in El Segundo” to compose the explosive track. Expecting Wayne to add a hook to make the song structure radio friendly, he was surprised to hear him constantly spit adept bars and astounding metaphors over the beat instead. Of course, the song became one of Wayne’s most popular radio hits and MCs across the globe did their own lyrical exercises over the beloved production.
Throughout the early 2000s, Lil Wayne’s countless features made his startling work ethic exponentially evident.
After weeding through 300 songs for the The Carter III, the New Orleans rapper wasn’t even sure what tracks the label chose to make the final cut,
but he was confident in one thing: his sales would be massive. In an interview with Tim Westwood (16:10 mark),
he boldly predicted selling a million copies in its first week. He spoke his platinum status into existence becoming one of the few Hip Hop artists to accomplish such a feat. Alongside Eminem and 50 Cent, The Cash Money veteran who had been rapping since the age of 11 finally became collectively recognized among the greats on an international scale.
Heralded by many as his magnum opus, Wayne’s sixth solo album contained beastly bars, unwarranted emotion, Jay Z’s co-sign and groundbreaking production that is still coveted by MCs to this day.
Weezy said it best in an interview with Billboard. “I think this album is going to be one of my best albums…
so I made it so that whatever is on it will stick with you forever.”
Mission accomplished. Keep clicking to learn 10 facts about Wayne’s masterpiece, Tha Carter III.
01.Lil’ Wayne thought about making a video for every track on the album.
Long before Beyonce made a visual album, Wayne believed each song had its own cinematic storyline and toyed with the idea of shooting a video for every song. “I’m a true perfectionist. I might have to work out a deal with Universal to shoot a video for all these songs, that’s how crazy they all are. Every one of them is a movie,” he expressed back in 2008.
02.“Showtime” was supposed to be the album’s first single and a remix with Brisco and Lil’ Boosie was recorded.
While anticipation was brewing for the project to drop, Wayne planned on shooting a video for his first single “Showtime” featuring his own artist, Chanell. During an MTV interview, he stated that visuals were set to be shot, but also revealed that a remix to the track was recorded and featured Brisco and Lil’ Boosie. Once he fell in love with the racy and melodic “Lollipop,” the track was scrapped. Note: The original single seems to fit the description of “Action,” which can found as a bonus cut on some versions of the album.
03. *Wayne wasn’t excited about “Lollipop” until Deezle added drum programming and snare rolls
.
Co-producer Deezle took notice that Weezy wasn’t thrilled with the original version of the track. He vowed to liven it up, but when beatmaker Jim Jonsin found out about the changes, he couldn’t help but feel offended. “I kind of felt disrespected, like, ‘Why the fuck would you do that? I’m an established guy, and you know what my drums sound like.’ But Wayne decided to go another route and have Deezle add his stuff to it, and you know, that’s cool. Obviously, the record was a smash, so everyone’s contribution to it was great. I’m thankful for that.'”
04.*Kanye West overwhelmed Wayne with beat CDs for the project.
.
When asked about Kanye’s input on Tha Carter III, Wayne expressed that Ye bombarded him with so many instrumentals, he had to ask him to quit. “The first visit…he gave me like 5 joints. The second visit he came, he gave me a CD with 15 joints on there. I had to tell him, ‘Slow your roll. Like, stop. Just please stop. Can you leave me alone? Please.'”
(5:25 mark)
05.*2 Chainz was supposed to be on “Mrs. Officer.”
Then known as a member of College Park’s Playaz Circle, 2 Chainz was actually supposed to contribute to the Bobby V-assisted hit dedicated to romancing a female officer. Wayne stated, “He was supposed to have my verse. This was when he was Tity Boi. But I guess I just did my verse and everything worked out.”
06.*About 19 people played live instrumentation on “Phone Home.”
During the recording session at Miami’s Hit Factory, nearly 20 musicians played trombones, violins and horns live on the track. The sound was tripled to give it a “big” feel, and Wayne felt it so much that Cool (of Cool & Dre) witnessed Weezy’s eyes roll behind his head. “We knew he was keeping it because after that it was, ‘What’s up with that ‘Phone Home?’ Weezy’s like, ‘Oh, that’s in the vault.’ He kept certain records in a special vault that was unleakable, shit that he only touched.”
07. *”La La” was a beat David Banner had made for the Shrek 3 soundtrack.
David Banner had been patroned to create a track intended to be on the Shrek 3 soundtrack…up until Wayne heard the playful production. “Shrek ain’t gonna get this one, buddy,” he declared before buying the beat on the spot. “It was crazy, bruh. He literally snatched the beat from Shrek,” Banner recounts. Bonus Fact: Nicki Minaj was also present during the recording session
08.*Lil’ Wayne would have stepped his bars up on “Mr. Carter” if he had been in the studio with Jay Z.
Wanye says his verses on “Mr. Carter” would have been better if he had recorded the track in the studio with Hov. Verses were traded via email instead. Regardless, Weezy described Jigga’s passing of the torch moment as a career milestone. “I don’t need nothing else after that. Period. That’s a personal highlight. You know what I mean? A personal milestone.”
(3:25 mark)
09.*”Dr. Carter” was originally a record for Jay Z.
Swizz Beatz told Wayne that he had the beat reserved for Hov. Weezy recalls Swizz saying, “‘Listen, I got this record for Jay, but I just wanna see what you could do to it ’cause I know you gonna do something crazy to it,’ so when he heard what I done to it, that record was for me.” Though Swizzy revealed Jigga gave it a listen and wanted to “rebirth” a new artist on the cut, Wayne says Jay never got a chance to touch the record.
(5:21 mark)
10.“A Milli” samples a rare remix of A Tribe Called Quest’s “Left My Wallet In El Segundo.”
Long before settling a lawsuit against Wayne for not paying royalties, producer Bangladesh sampled a Vampire Mix of ATCQ’s “Left My Wallet in El Segundo” to compose the explosive track. Expecting Wayne to add a hook to make the song structure radio friendly, he was surprised to hear him constantly spit adept bars and astounding metaphors over the beat instead. Of course, the song became one of Wayne’s most popular radio hits and MCs across the globe did their own lyrical exercises over the beloved production.
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