Tha Carter III is released

Why it matters

Tha Carter III came out June 10, 2008, on Cash Money/Universal. It is Lil Wayne's sixth solo album. He had been calling himself the best rapper alive in interviews since 2004 and on basically every mixtape he had released since (he had released over a dozen mixtapes between Tha Carter II in 2005 and Tha Carter III). The album sold 1.005 million copies in its first week, the first rap album to do that in over four years, and the first by any artist to do it since 50 Cent's The Massacre in March 2005. The album won four Grammys, including the 2009 Album of the Year nomination (Wayne lost to Robert Plant and Alison Krauss's Raising Sand). "Lollipop" was the lead single and Wayne's first #1. "A Milli" was the deep cut that became the most-quoted Wayne single of his career. "Mrs. Officer." "Got Money" with T-Pain. The production roster is wide (Bangladesh, Kanye West, Cool & Dre, Streetrunner, T-Pain). By the end of 2008, Wayne was the most-mentioned rapper in popular music, the closest thing the genre had to an undisputed center. Tha Carter III is the document of that moment. You should hear it. It is the album that consolidated the position he had been arguing for since 2004.