Lil Wayne “Re-Releasing” Carter III, Confusing Dan Gibson

Dan Gibson | October 24, 2008 1:30 am

I’ve already mentioned my incredible dislike for the rapid reissue of recently released albums, so the announcement that rapper/sports blogger Lil Wayne is re-releasing the year’s top selling album Tha Carter III was distressing.

However, it turns out my fears were unfounded: Lil Wayne is re-releasing Tha Carter III, but with entirely new tracks. How this is going to work, I don’t know, but in the World O’ Weezy, the line of thinking makes perfect sense:

We don’t wanna call the [next album] we got coming out Tha Carter IV. That was the dilemma we were in. We want Carter IV to be what everybody wants it to be. This is something brand-new, so we don’t want it to be some experimental thing, ’cause some people are not gonna like this. I don’t want them to not like Tha Carter IV. But I do have an album coming soon, very soon, and it’s gonna be called … Tha Carter III: The Rebirth.

That sounds all well and good, but what on earth does “an album coming soon” even mean to Lil Wayne at this point? The article from which the above quote comes from on MTV.com mentions a discarded Ludacris track that Wayne wants on the disc and the possible inclusion of approximately 4,300 “A Milli” remixes, but would this album actually appear in stores? Would Universal put out what’s essentially a b-sides record with nearly the same title as their still hotly selling album? My money’s on The Rebirth appearing as an especially anticipated mixtape or possibly a well-trafficked torrent–but then again, Lil Wayne seems to have some affection for the Carter brand, usually leaving his freestyles, remix appearances, and particularly snappy voicemail messages for the Drought mixtapes. It’s possible I’m just mystified that someone who seems to release material Bob Pollard-style by the gigabyte would pull off the biggest commercial release of the year without any sort of editorial filter, but The Rebirth might be the test of the public’s patience.

Lil Wayne Calls His Carter III Do-Over ‘The Birth Of A New Beginning’ [MTV]

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