Tha Carter Iii Album

[Tarja Hempton]

ThaCarter is the fourth studio album by American rapper Lil Wayne. It was released on June 29, 2004, by Cash Money Records and Universal Records.[1] The production on the album was mostly handled by Cash Money's former in-house producer Mannie Fresh, before Mannie left the label. A chopped and screwed version of the album was also released by Cash Money Records in 2004. The album spawned four sequels: Tha Carter II, Tha Carter III, Tha Carter IV, and Tha Carter V.

The album debuted at number five on the US Billboard 200 chart and received favorable reviews from critics, selling 116,000 copies in its first week.[2] "Go D.J." became Wayne's first mainstream hit as a lead artist, reaching the top 15 of the Billboard Hot 100. The album was later certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in September 2020.[3]

Tha Carter was originally slated to launch in late 2003, but due to a change in musical direction, features and legal issues, it was revised into the mixtape Da Drought. Much of the beats for the album were crafted by then-Cash Money's frequent record producer Mannie Fresh. Wayne eschewed writing and developing his rhymes with intention, and instead focused on feeling, entering a stream-of-consciousness state where he freestyled much of lyrics on the spot. Stylistically the album was developed with tastemakers and public perception in mind, but with a distinct Cash Money/NOLA bent: "We do what people want us to do, but our way," he confirmed.[4]

The album's lead single, "Bring It Back" was released on April 10, 2004, while its second single, "Go D.J." was released on October 5, 2004. Both songs were produced by and featured guest vocals from Mannie Fresh. The album's third single, "Earthquake" was released on March 27, 2005. The song was produced by and featured guest vocals from fellow record producer Jazze Pha.

Tha Carter debuted at number five on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 116,000 copies in its first week.[5] This became Wayne's third US top-ten debut.[2] As of November 2005, the album has sold 878,000 copies in the US, according to Nielsen SoundScan.[6] On September 25, 2020, the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for combined sales and album-equivalent units of a million units in the United States.[3]

As of 2018, all of Wayne's albums have been certified gold or higher by the RIAA. His album sales in the United States stand at over 15 million copies as of July 2013,[3] and his digital track sales stand at over 37 million digital copies.[4]

How long have fans been speculating over the details of Beyonc's new album? It depends when you start counting: Some began buzzing over it the second her previous record, the dance-centric Renaissance, was released in 2022 and touted as "act one" of a trilogy. But the chatter has been especially fervent in the past two months, as singles, visuals and other teases popped up during the Grammys, Super Bowl and on the artist's own social media. The Beyhive's busiest bees analyzed clues that pointed toward a country music-inspired sound; they dissected the history of that genre, and how Black musicians have often been written out of it.

Just as Beyonc's 2022 album, act i: RENAISSANCE, served as a world-building homage to the unsung Black queer youth who created house music, Cowboy Carter continues the lesson plan. In a statement soon after the album's worldwide release, the artist's Parkwood Entertainment shared that each song on the 27-track project is its own version of a reimagined Western film: "She took inspiration from films like Five Fingers for Marseilles, Urban Cowboy, The Hateful Eight, Space Cowboys, The Harder They Fall and Killers of the Flower Moon, often having the films playing on a screen during the recording process."

Each track, whether an interlude, collaboration or poignant solo, rides out like a full-length film full of scenic grandeur, character and conflicts that any Chitlin' Circuit aficionado or spaghetti Western cinephile can obsess over. As a whole, Cowboy Carter serves as a well of discovery, full of samples, sonic Easter eggs, Knowles family callbacks and, most importantly, an appreciation for pioneers in the country world.

In the cowboy, Beyonc finds her ideal figure of the American West and South. She cites the rodeo as the first place where anyone who loved country music and culture could gather and mingle and feel welcome. It's an image that runs counter to the experience that inspired the album: performing her song "Daddy Lessons" at the CMA Awards in 2016, where she has said she "did not feel welcomed ... and it was very clear that I wasn't." The Cowboy Carter character exists in conversation with the history of Black cowboys, the loaded meaning behind the term and its function in the American imagination.

There are plenty of categorically country sounds on Cowboy Carter. String instruments are its sonic heartbeat, and the do-si-do of the slide guitar on "DESERT EAGLE" and "TEXAS HOLD 'EM" feel perfectly matched with Bey's feathery vocals. The jovial wiggle of the accordions on "RIIVERDANCE" tip a hat to zydeco music and the artist's Creole heritage. "PROTECTOR" (featuring Beyonc's youngest daughter, Rumi) is anchored by acoustic guitar. "SWEET HONEY BUCKIIN' " interpolates "I Fall to Pieces," the shuffling standard made famous by Patsy Cline. Compared to Bey's past work in an R&B world full of glitz and glamor, many moments on the album, even with their layered arrangements, feel like intimate jam sessions straight out of a Nashville writing camp.

Across the track list, elements of hip-hop, bluegrass and Chicano rock, with pop, rock, Jersey club music and operatic runs. "YA YA" conjures the charisma of Tina Turner and Chuck Berry, while winking in the direction of Nancy Sinatra and The Beach Boys. "BODYGUARD" is a breezy surf-rock romp with Latin percussion and a little whiskey on its breath. "AMEN" rings to the rafters in true gospel splendor. "SWEET HONEY BUCKIIN' " stacks genre upon genre and yet never overwhelms, instead connecting the dots between them with dusty horse gallops. The production credits stretch far beyond the scope of country stalwarts, making the album a treasure hunt for fans and issuing a challenge to the ways country music has come to be defined.

There are covers of country classics here that stand out for how stealthily they're reimagined. Parton's 1973 hit "Jolene" shows up early in the album, but Beyonc adds her own sauce to flip its storied narrative. A vigilant Bey (flip-flopping between being upset and unbothered) clocks the "bird" chirping round her man; unlike Dolly, who responds to a similar threat with a plea for mercy, she puts her rival on notice: "I'm warnin' you, woman, find you your own man / Jolene, I know I'm a queen, Jolene / I'm still a Creole banjee bitch from Louisianne." This twist renegotiates the common push and pull of rolling-stone / damsel-in-distress infidelity that's historically been a hallmark in country standards, and has only recently started to shift (see also: Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats").

When Linda Martell shows up in the opening moments of "SPAGHETTII" to pose her question about genres, the slick rhetorical framing cuts to the main conceit of Cowboy Carter and centers Martell herself as a case in point. As a pioneer in the country space, Martell made history with her 1970 album, Color Me Country, and was the first Black woman to perform on the storied Grand Ole Opry. But because of the racist aggression she endured when moving from pop to country, Martell soon left the business. Now, at 82 years old, Martell's getting her due. Her voice is immortalized on both "SPAGHETTII" and "THE LINDA MARTELL SHOW," both tracks that play hopscotch with a range of genres. "I am proud that Beyonc is exploring her country music roots," the veteran posted on Instagram. "What she is doing is beautiful, and I'm honored to be a part of it. It's Beyonc, after all!"

A recent study tracking country music programming from 2000 through 2020 revealed that only 29% of country songs played on format radio were by women artists, and of that 29%, 0.01% were Black women. And so along with honoring pioneers, Cowboy Carter platforms new stars in the field who are still working their way through its entrenched gatekeeping and redlining.

On Cowboy Carter, Beyonc is a pop star actively in conversation with the idea of country music, and traversing the distance between those genres seems to have made her consider the existing relationship between them. In two moments on the album, she enlists singers who have been blurring that binary for quite some time: Miley Cyrus and Post Malone. Miley, of course, is the daughter of "Achy Breaky Heart" sensation Billy Ray Cyrus, and in her own pursuit of a pop identity, fiddled with Mike WiLL trap, Flaming Lips psychedelia, glam rock and country pop before settling on the centering sounds of last year's Endless Summer Vacation, which earned her a record of the year Grammy for "Flowers." For his part, Post broke out as a watercolor trap rockstar and has since shifted toward a sound more in line with his Texas roots. Both seem to resonate with the ambiguity Bey sees running through the music.

Beyond the many featured guests, other behind-the-scenes contributors help tell the story. The-Dream, Pharrell, No I.D., Raphael Saadiq, Ryan Tedder, Ryan Beatty and Swizz Beatz all helped produce the record. It also boasts an incredibly accomplished cast of supporting players: Pulitzer-winning folk revivalist Giddens, Grammy-winning soul man Jon Batiste, session luminary Nile Rodgers, gospel pedal steelist Robert Randolph, blues rocker Gary Clark Jr., hip-hop banjoist Willie Jones and the incomparable Stevie Wonder. The incredible variety of names and skills is the secret sauce behind Cowboy Carter's sprawling vision.

In total, this album has 27 tracks and a runtime of one hour and 18 minutes. As for any artist, this number of tracks is a lot for just one album. I think that the amount of tracks is pretty interesting, however, considering that country is an entirely new genre that Beyonc is trying. The album also features a variety of different artists on 12 of the 27 tracks, most notably Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Miley Cyrus and Post Malone.

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