"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.

Previously:
C2C3 Countdown, tracks 80 - 71
C2C3 Countdown, tracks 70 - 61
C2C3 Countdown, tracks 60 - 51
C2C3 Countdown, tracks 50 - 41
C2C3 Countdown, tracks 40 - 31

30. "Live from the 504"
Heard on Da Drought 3 | Download

Apparently, according to a competing source, Wayne spit this as a freestyle in the booth of BET's Rap City. If that's true, then amazing, and if not, well the song still kicks ass. So keep leanin' Young Dro, cuz you can't stand straight with Wayne.


Weezy goes for two minutes, no break, no pause, on "Live from the 504," acknowledges his own crazy flow--"jumpin' like a bungee no rope"--his hunger for money, and shuts down the beef with Gillie da Kid while scaring off any of those small fish in hip-hop that blow:

I'm a shark in the water
Yep I swim with the bigs
so I dont have time to deal with Willie tha Squid
Li-li-lilipad niggaz l-l-look at the monsta
You u u dont wanna crash like La-la-la Bamba

Combine all that with Wayne contorting his voice like every other line, eating up hip-hop, poppin' a skittle and fuckin' "for a hour wit dat," acknowliding drugs kill but when he's "on da drugs he dont have a prolem wit dat" and you have a loaded track that shows off Wayne's skills and brains on pills.-logic

29. "Rider"
Heard on Bad Ass Grasshopper | Download

Easily one of this feminist's favorite Lil Wayne tracks, this song is on nearly every mixtape I have made for my female friends. That said, what's unique about the way Lil Wayne populates the landscape of his music is that he consistently presents characters—narrators or subjects, speakers or audiences—in infinitely varying degrees of roundness. Unlike the satirical awareness Weezy demonstrates in Ask Them Hoes (and consequently the flatly stereotypical narrator and his droves of dimes), in Rider Wayne playes an uncontrollably confessional champion of someone else: like all the best songs about girls, our attention here is divided equally by the singer's equal descriptions of the rare depth of one particular lady and the rare depth of his love is for her because of same.

With more filled out instrumentation than Wayne's more percussive tracks, Rider is constructed of New Orleans synths (high and low pianos, violins,), good ol fashioned snares and chord progressions you can find all over Wayne's stuff circa the Lil Weezyana and Dedication 2 mixtapes. Except for Wayne's half-belted half-rapped bluesy verses and not overly AutoTuned choruses, Rider is musically quite familiar for fans.

Similarly familiar is Wayne's compulsively uninhibited delivery. Perhaps my favorite part of the song is the bridge where Wayne's rhyming becomes increasingly shorter and closer, affectively speeding up his narration:

Shorty say she want a rider
I can be that and much more like a provider
I can provide her
And if you lookin for me I'm prob'ly inside her
You only like her
I'm tryna wife her
See I'm polite to her
And she's my buyer
See we are tighter
Than gripped pliers.
She gets me higher,
Higher than my purp.
Shorty so bright
When you look at her make your eyes hurt
You need a visor

His urge to list this girl's virtues actually intensifies the song, drives it. His building and ultimately climactic restraint in singing her praises, like flawless pop songs thoughout history, paints the picture of an ideally suited pair. Rider is straight up a special song because while it fits all of these tropes it also fits all of these tropes together as one track, wrapping up hip hop's brand of bad bitch feminism, American pop music's definition of romantic love, and the passionately genuine lyrics of lasting songwriting. A perfect example of Dwayne Carter further establishing himself as an artist with a complex understanding not just of rapping or even hip hop at large, but of the nature of music. From the technical and structural aspects of individual songs to the cinematic imagery of lyricism, and on into the way music—as an art form—can create new conversations. -JESS!CA


I'm a little beyond upset right now because Tha Carter III dropped, good news right? Nah, my Ipod-killer won't charge or handle any file transfers right now so I'll have to listen to Tha Carter II, or Dedication 2, or Da Drought 3, or the first Carter III, or maybe some of that Bad Ass Grasshopper vocoder heat while I workout. Yeah, I won't deny it. It's time to hit up the jumpoff.




Okay I'm lookin for a redbone
And when I get her I'm goin tap it like a Fed phone

That pretty much sums up "Rider" right there. Besides Wayne bringing up marriage. I'm not sure where that comes from, but I can't be mad at Gizmo for getting emotional and providing for the ladies.



Let me take one knee
And I said baby will you marry me
Live ever after happily
Just the way it's supposed to be
Just you and me, just you and me

When I listen to the B.A.G. Introduction I have to remind myself of where this shit came from. Wayne came out of nowhere with this concept, mentioning a new group he created focusiong on Rap, Rock and R&B during an interview, and then during the same interview (he had to leanin' like a three-legged lion at the time, right?) he says they'll go ahead and put out a mixtape to show off what they're about. I was already calling bullshit before I put down the headphones, but I'll be damned if Wayne didn't deliver, again.

Praise the lord Thor for this one. -logic

28. "Walk it Out"
Heard on Da Drought 3 | Download

What is it about Kanye's ego that's irritating as hell, while I feel Wayne's might be large, but largely deserved. This here, this is a whole song about how Wayne is awesome. And really, what track of his isn't about that? And yet...Wayne is awesome. He has the talent to back his claims. Because this shit right here? This is probably something he busted out over a lunch break, for fun. Wayne doesn't so much make music as have it pour from his body and that was especially clear on the Drought 3, possibly one of my favorite albums of all time. So yea, Wayne can Walk It Out. He can find that married bitch. And, evem if you hate him, he's what we're talking about. -zolmes

27. "Pop Bottles"
Heard on 5 Star Stunna | Download

This is one of the few songs I associate with the music video, which makes me say this: Lil' Wayne should make a lot more music video. Everyone I can think of, he looks like he's having a hell of a good time--even if everyone else is involved, Lil' Wayne is just enjoying the hell out of life, making music fun, not a chore to work on. This enjoyment is a lot of what has gotten him to the point where people like us are willing to write so much about him--as BW noted the other day, he actually works. And more than that, he enjoys works.


So what is popping bottles? It's certainly a strong motif in Wayne's work, along with shitting/pissing on his competition. Popping bottles is, well, ejaculation. Celebration. Literally popping bottles. it's not a particularly elegant metaphor, but Wayne manages to make it fun. And when he apologizes to you (the You of any female), because he thought you were his other women? Even that's fun, an honest mistake, just another reason to sleep with him. And all this works best paired with the visuals. No one can smirk so coyly as Lil' Wayne, no one can make blowjobs so charismatic. No one else can outdo the other rappers looks bad just by standing next to them. -zolmes

"Pop Bottles" and the accompanying video may rank as one of the best party songs to drop in 2007. The off-beat chorus, delivered by Birdman is one that everybody in the club can sing, while Weezy's irreverent lines come one after the next:

If you can't swallow, shut up bitch, gargle
Straight up out that water with my Marc Jacob goggles


Hilarious imagery in the song combines with an equally ridiculous video to great effect. Picturing Wayne actually playing a fast-paced game of basketball is quite comedic, but when he lets his dreads hang after sinking the winning shot, it's clear that "Pop Bottles" is headed to classic status. -bw

26. "Ask Them Hoes"
Heard on The Drought is Over Pt. 4 | Download

Sometimes Wayne plays the cad like Bob Dylan, giving us a narrative in which he is a character about past romantic entanglements, giving us lyrical portraits of his subjects. This is not one of those times. And with some rappers this turns into trite chauvinistic self-aggrandizement with recycled imagery and rhymes my parents could come up with. For Wayne though objectification becomes a matter of wordplay and satire rather than actual sexism. He's still self-agrandizing, but it's more a matter of Weezy's construction of himself as an overwhelmingly confident narrator within his songs. Playing off the crisp production of Ask Them Hoes' claps, snares and half-speed drum fills, Wayne goes into annunciation mode and peppers his verses with the friction and rhythem of consonants:



I'm crack rock fresh baby I'm that boy

Now put me in the pot and watch I come back hard

Yeah put me on the block and watch I come back rich

She done put me in that pussy she ain't come back since.




And with his talent for infallibly hypnotic hooks this track gets signed sealed and delivered as another hilarious portrayal of a narrator so "married to the money, committed to the cash" that when he looks at the opposite sex all he sees is "pussy, titties and the ass" and when he looks in the mirror he sees a dollar sign. Lil Wayne is a master of the cult of personality and his lyrical commodification of identity parodies so many hip hop archetypes it's impossible not to laugh. Couple this kind of wit with a tightly constructed beat and sparse instrumentation and you've got an indestructibly entertaining rap standard. -name

25. "Bandana on the Right"
Heard on Purple Coedine Part 14 | Download

This is one of Weezy's best ever, the beat is utterly flawless and leaves Wayne in a situation to take absolutely no prisoners. Though he can be freehweeling and comedic at times, "Bandana on the Right" is Wayne with guns blazing for 2 minutes of straight-heat--in other words, it's reppin' time.

They talk a lotta shit but come and meet me boy,
Them niggaz scared, actin' like I'm a ouija board
Like "Lil' Weezy are you with me?"
One to your kidney,
comin' to your block, and neener will be with me

The grimy soundscape really sets everything up just right for Wayne to rip it proper: there's a piano loop, deep bass and a screwed-up chorus. This music could properly be described as a pre-driveby adrenaline rush. It's violent, brash and angry. Wayne gets gutter and it feels great.

Or at least put they ass up in the E.R.
Put that pump to they chest like CPR
We already got ours but we need ya'lls
I'm a beast and I hand with the Beastie Boys

Somehow I don't think he's talking about the Jewish trio from New York City--it's a safe bet that he's referencing a massive goon squad you don't want to see in a dark alley. -bw

24. "You Ain't Know"
Heard on Like Father Like Son | Download

What, you don't know Weezy's game yet? He's out for the paper, and on "You Ain't Know," he clears up any confusion about his intentions with a pair of verses that are straight fire. The airy, piano-backed beat doesn't hurt, either:

Put it on the hood, I'm Hollygrove to death
I'm already good, I'm open on my left
A jungle on my wrist, a circus on my neck
Don't forget the Baby, no don't forget the F


Wayne's flow is sweet here, and the video--while hardly high concept--has a nostalgic feel to it that suits the music perfectly. This is one of those songs I play in the car when on some solo shit--it just sounds like success. -bw

23. "Walk It Off"
Heard on Grand Closing | Download

As a gangster rap fan, I'm often called on by friends to defend my choice in music, and I often find myself at a loss to truly explain why I like something. But tracks like this give me no trouble whatsoever and Lil Wayne is a master of them. Tracks like these are, to me, gangster rap (or any rap) at it's finest--taking a somewhat absurd analogy and working the hell out of it. It's the way that hustling becomes something other than actually selling drugs, the way that is instead stands in for just rocking the hell out of life.


So right here Wayne's taking sports and applying it to everything else. And there's nothing particularly unique about that--hell, he already has a whole song about it--but, as I find myself saying a lot on this countdown, Wayne makes it work. And maybe I can't justify that with anything other than talent. Wayne is just a talented guy and he sells things that others can't. And that's usually the dividing line between genius and mediocrity and Wayne walks that line himself, but here it works completely. Wayne has always been a competitor and here he summarizes the effect of that on his whole life. It's biographical, in a way, but as in a lot of rap songs I like, it's also about you. It's universal.

Plus, how awesome is that David Koresh shout-out? Seriously, who the fuck else would do that?-zolmes

22. "We Takin Ova" (Original)
Heard on Greatest Rapper Alive II | Download

I considered just putting Wayne's entire verse here, because it's just so damn good. This song feels like it's from so long ago, from a time when Khaled wasn't a complete joke, a more humbler time of March of last year. And it's a good track, far less ridiculous than much of what Khaled is throwing out these days. But there's no doubt that Weezy owns this thing, taking just thirty seconds to show how completely he dominates the game. And the video emphasizes this, making Wayne larger than life, larger even than Rick Ross. Me? I just like that he throws some of his psychology degree in there. Just for kicks. Because this shit? This is nothing for him. -zolmes

21. "La La La"
Heard on The Carter III Sessions | Download

The first single off of the original Carter III, last year's Carter III, the feel-good joint of the year. Yet, this song didn't even make it onto the official Leak EP, which is apparently going to be a bonus disc for this year's Carter III, instead it was replaced by a couple of better but later-recorded tracks, "Gossip" and "Talkin about it." That's really unfortunate for those casual Lil Wayne fans out there who will miss out, and for Weezy too; where the cash at?


Wayne takes us back to his roots with "La La La" as he drops rhymes of childhood memories over the piano. He's told us before "And my hood love me, they tell me bring it home, that's why I holla Hollygrove on each and every song," and he doesn't disappoint:

I thank you New Orleans
Thank you Hollygrove
Thats been my hood since a snotty nose
I come through the hood suicidal doors
I used to come through the hood on the handle bars
Gat in my drawers
Money in my pocket
Crack in my jaws

And now I have to give some thanks to Dr. Carter. The man's lyrics stir up so many memories that I can truly listen to him spit it all day. Take this for example:

I used to have the Starter jacket with the logo
And the hat, me myself I had the N.O.

The Starter jacket with the logo! With the logo! Damn Weezy. For those who don't remember, or who are too young, there were two versions of the Starter jacket that kids wore. They were both the same; same colors, same logo on the back, same hood, same v-neck zipper. But the only difference, as far as I could tell, was seen when one kid with a 'cool' coat unzipped the v-neck and revealed a Starter logo while the other kids, with their lame jackets, were just sportin' plain black fabric (colors may vary by team).

Again, I'm disappointed this song doesn't make it onto any CD so download it now and make your own CD. Or, perhaps, we'll release the original Carter III CD at the end of this countdown. Then you can bump multiple Carter part 3's.-logic

I wish there could have been two Carter III's released--the original leaked version and the new leaked version. Because I would have bought the whole original album just for this track. It's sort of gangster, sort of adorable, sort of childish and all amazing. It reminds me of another track I love to bang--"Young Boy" by Clipse--because to me there's usually something wonderful about good rappers talking about their childhood, like finding out a friends favorite books from when they were a kid and suddenly understanding them on a whole different level.

Plus, this track, almost none of it having to do with the normal hood tropes, rep's New Orleans as well as more explicit songs in Wayne's catalog. It endears you to "the Zoo", makes it a place where a kid can grow up, have a skateboard, and be a lovebird. It expresses the great love that Wayne better than other tracks, not just proclaiming it, but showing you as well. It's hood as hell, despite the child's chorus. -zolmes

You can download all the files from this portion of the countdown in a zipped pack.

As some of you probably are aware, The Carter III leaked to the net this week. Whether or not it is a legit rip remains to be seen, but either way we will press on with the countdown which ends early next week, just before C3 hits stores on Tuesday! Expect a debut like you've never seen--Weezy's breathing new life into this thing.