Lil Wayne / Tha Carter III

BY GLENN GAMBOA | glenn.gamboa@newsday.com

June 10, 2008

Lil Wayne (Photo Courtesy of Universal/Cash Money Records)

Actors of a certain standing live by an old adage - "one for the money, one for the work" - a bit of career calculus where they switch off between working on money-making blockbusters and more artistic, less commercial pursuits.

Rappers, especially in this declining economy, can't afford that kind of luxury, but Lil Wayne comes close on "Tha Carter III" (Cash Money), bouncing between irresistible pop hits and some wild hip-hop experimentation.

The hits are already pretty self-evident. The spacey, synth-filled single "Lollipop" is already a chart-topper, and the club banger "Got Money," with T-Pain, is already starting its run. There's also the much-publicized "Comfortable," a response song to Beyoncé's "Irreplaceable" that features smooth soul from Babyface and his own defiant lines. ("To the left, to the left, if you want to leave me, my guest, you can step.")

Lil Wayne could have stopped there, packing the rest of "Tha Carter III" with Dirty South filler, but instead pulls out the creative stops, rhyming over what sounds like a cartoon theme in "La" and a stunningly simple loop on "A Milli." He even calls out Al Sharpton in the sprawling rant "Misunderstood."

Lil Wayne has always been a hit maker, a hired gun who spices up his surroundings. On "Tha Carter III," he shows he is capable of building a memorable landscape on his own, as well, a place where he isn't just the entertaining jester but where he can actually be king.

THE GRADE: A-

BOTTOM LINE: Somehow a blockbuster and an artistic leap forward.