After 2 years of waiting, Lil Wayne will finally release the highly-anticipated third installment in his Carter series of albums. The Carter III represents the culmination of Wayne's work in hip-hop, and on June 10th his rise to superstardom will be pretty much cemented. More than marking the zenith of his career, Carter III is also a signpost of sorts: in the time between C2 and C3, Dwayne Carter lent his voice to hundreds of tracks, many of which were given completely free to fans, and most of which have already been lost to the hip-hop ether. Though Vibe Magazine put together The Best 77 Lil' Wayne Songs of 2007, they left out dozens of key tracks and their ordering was fatally flawed. We're going to correct that, and make sure that the most important pieces of Wayne's prolific catalog aren't forgotten.

"Whatever's Good, Weezy's Better: The C2C3 Countdown" is a list of the top 80 tracks that Lil Wayne released between The Carter II and The Carter III. Each week, we'll post between 10 and 15 tracks--with mp3s and reviews--and on the Monday before C3 drops, we'll drop the top 10. So, starting from 80, Whatever's Good presents the C2C3 Countdown.

80. "Nuthin" f. Juelz Santana
Heard on New Orleans Nightmare Vol. 10 | Download

That this song ranks as number 80 on the countdown is a testament to the caliber of material Weezy has put out since The Carter II--this song is finds Wayne ripping the anchor verse for a good minute (and then some). Though the verse is characterized by great word association, the most impressive part is all the forced mispronunciation going on. Starting at about 2:18, Wayne will use a word or phrase and then immediately re-pronounce it in the subsequent line; just count how many times he says, "Damn I mean" or "I say/You say." If this is a gimmick, it's a great one. Lil Wayne's flow on this is infinitely listenable, plus, he's wylin' like Capital One, what is in your wallet? -bw

79. "I'm Ridin'"
Off Dirty Work 14 | Download

I'm not sure what I love about this song. Maybe it's the way Wayne dresses his vowels in tutu's and twists 'em around like ballerinas, or maybe it's becuase he just goes on and on without pause. Yeah I have ADD and need that constant interaction. Thanks Baby.


The lyrics in "I'm Ridin'" are nothing out of the ordinary for Wayne; nothing ground breaking here. Most of the lines are mediocre, so I won't quote, but that doesn't matter to me because Wayne's havin' a blast with this one and you can hear it. You can hear what separates him from most rappers: Wayne puts in work at the studio. Nothing is routine for him, and he's constantly doing everything he can to make himself better. Scratch that. He's doing everything he can to make himself the greatest. Dude has lofty aspirations. Count on it. -logic

78. "Dough is What I Got"
Heard on Da Drought 3 | Download

Somehow this made Vibe's number two. On this list, however, "Dough is What I Got" comes in firmly at 78, and mostly because even Lil Wayne's flow couldn't erase the awful imprint that Jay-Z's voice left on the track. -bw

77. "Mic Check"
Heard on Bad Ass Grasshopper (The Introduction) | Download

One of Lil Wayne’s most notorious moments in 2007 came during an interview where he promised fans a new, genre-bending project to be known as “Bad Ass Grasshopper,” or B.A.G. After getting over the initial bit of wonderment—and letting out some laughter at the hilarious nature of the group—most fans were left scratching their heads: would Weezy actually go through with it?


Months later—to the astonishment of most rap pundits—the B.A.G. mixtape dropped. The first track (after a short intro) is “Mic Check,” a rolling, heavily distorted blend of hip-hop and space rock. Wayne doesn’t start the track off, however. In a brilliant musical move, he hangs back for the second verse, letting fans absorb more than a minute of music without any hint of his voice (not even a laugh, cackle or croak). The effect is stunning, especially seen in the full context of Bad Ass Grasshopper.

Wayne’s verse is on point: giraffes, rafts and paragraphs; hot water, the New World Order and Pearl Harbor—there’s something for everyone. Even though his verse is short, Weezy leaves an indelible mark on the track. -bw

76. "Upgrade"
Heard on Da Drought 3 | Download

What hasn't been said about this song? Bitch holla, it is Lil Weezy--and he's bearing a ton, like Levy. Wayne's rendition of "Upgrade" is made wonderful by all the unforgettable (and asinine) lines: "Even deaf bitches say hi to me, she tell a blind bitch and she say 'I gotta see!'" After four minutes of ridiculous rhymes about everyone from Apollo Creed to Stevie Wonder and Michael Jordan, it's fair to say that if nothing else, Wayne upgraded the song. -bw

75. "One Day Up In M.I.A."
Heard on New Orleans Nightmare Vol. 2 | Download

With an equal distribution of Miami bass and N.O. bounce blips throughout, this is another all-Weezy several-track vocal demonstration. Verse verse verse chorus chorus verse…it's hard to tell and before you've sussed it out he switches into Little Haiti Wayne, raggae accent and all. It's a first-person narrative, a tour through the terrain, the context of the song itself. If rapping is based on image, Lil Wayne's got landscape like Renoir (that is to say, well populated, colorful, with the accuracy of impressionism). -JESS!CA

74. "Dipset 2
Heard on Da Drought 3 | Download

There's so many tracks that Wayne dropped in the last year and a half that we forgot about this berry. A four minute song, no chorus, just two ridiculously superb, and long, verses of words associating. Plus you can't beat the beat. But most important, he addresses the haters:




And I got the haters like, "When will he stop?"
Maybe a minute after never, set ya clocks

Set 'em Eskay. Set 'em.

Weezy is the best. Believe it. Back when people were using 'no homo' as often as Colgate, Weezy always used it proper:

No homo, my flow is hard as an erection
So that's why its fuck the world wit protection

I can't tell you how many times I've listened to Da Drought 3, but I can tell you we couldn't include every track from the free, double-disc album in the countdown. We wanted to. Get it if you haven't, bump it if you don't.

No shades just, my eyeballs watchin em
Tattoos on top of them, igloos for watches
And champagne for breakfast, and
Sports cars for lunch, and pussy for dinner
I eat rappers and call it pussy for dinner

Like I said, the Dude's always hungry. Rappers or beats, the tapeworm in his tummy eats 'em all. Anybody puttin' this much work in at the studio deserves a little more respect from the haters. I'm lookin at you, dissprey.-logic

73. "Hey Lil Mama" f. Vic Damone
Heard on Lil Wayne and Friends 3 | Download

Yeah, I've never heard of Vic Damone either, so feel free to skip his verse--we're here for Weezy. This song is pretty straightforward: one tremendous line after another. The best two bars? "Then we fuck like retards, that pussy hot, she gotta stick a hockey puck in her drawers / And I be Wayne Gretsky, take a bitch to South Beach and fuck her on a Jet Ski!" At first it looks irreverent, but the connection between hockey puck and Wayne Gretsky is unforgettable. Always irreverent and yet so practical: "It's Carter, the boss, and I don't like my dick sticky so take off that lip gloss!"-bw

72. "Get It On Wit Ya'll"
Heard on Lil Wayne and Friends 2 | Download

Whoa Weezy, I can spell it. You an O.G. Damn. And the master of the seamless transition from verse to chorus and back to verse, no doubt. But why do you gotta off Bill Nye?


And don't hate me for givin' Juliany some props here, but his flow fits and the verse is short enough for his Maddenism to work: "I'm the size of a mountain so bitch you can't move me." I've never seen a picture of this dude, but he's gotta be chubbier than Chris Rios.

Back to Weezy. His lines on this song seem more disconnected than usual, but at least he's got an explanation: it's just "organized confusion, amusin."

I'm glad to see that Wayne's staying versatile when it comes to gettin' fucked up. Going from "three blunts and a mai tai" to "no liquor, just painkillers and prometha, Young Eckerds" can get expensive, so it's a good thing the Dude's got more drugs than Walgreen's.

You seriously need access to Wikipedia to get all of Wayne's references.

Speaking of drugs, I'm hungry. And Weezy F is too, always:

I walk with a fork in my pocket, salt and pepper
feed me rappers or feed me beats,
and if you don't believe me then leave me be.

Til C3,-logic

71. "Ghetto Rich" f. Nas & Richboy
Heard on Ghetto Rich Remix 12" | Download

I really like tracks featuring Weezy, especially when he sets it off because then I can skip the shmucks. Nas ain't a shmuck though, so I like "Ghetto Rich." The beat's great. It's similar to the sentimental music that comes on during an emotional climax of some shitty action movie like Transformers and creates a false sense of empathy that massages gently at your heart--the finger kneading minus the happy ending. But we do get a happy ending with "Ghetto Rich," and a glorified ghetto life. I wanna make millions too Dwayne. And I never listen to cops. Nas brings us back to dirt with his indignant, don't-fuck-wit-me flow:



Then lames put the rap game in a casket slowly
Man I don't give a fuck, this is rap to me

I love you Nasir. And you too Dwayne.

It's a given, anytime my two favorite rappers (sorry Mase Gumble) come together, it's gonna be a hit. And neither disappoints on "Ghetto Rich." You gotta smoke a blunt to this, cuz from start to finish, this track burns hotter.-logic

If you'd like to download all ten tracks, they are available in a zip file. Enjoy!

Check back throughout the month for the rest of the countdown. We'll be updating once or twice every week until June 10th, when Carter III hits stores. If you've never left a comment on Whatever's Good, now might be a good time: if you hate Weezy or if you love him, let's hear it. We're always up to talk music.