Tha Carter II
Studio album by Lil Wayne
Released	December 6, 2005 (2005-12-6)
Genre	Hip hop gangsta rap R&B
Length	77:22
Label	Cash Money Young Money Universal
Producer	Birdman(alsoexec.) the Runners DJ Nasty & LVM Robin Thicke Young Yonny the Heatmakerz Cool & Dre Deezle Bigg D DVLP Filthy T-Mix Batman Matlock
Lil Wayne chronology
The Dedication (2005) Tha Carter II (2005) Dedication 2 (2006)
Singles from Tha Carter II
"Fireman" Released: October 25, 2005 "Hustler Musik" Released: January 10, 2006 "Shooter" Released: April 9, 2006

Tha Carter II is the fifthstudio album by American rapperLil Wayne. It was released on December 6, 2005, byCash Money Records,Young Money Entertainment andUniversal Records. The recording sessions took place from 2004 to 2005. The album was produced byBirdman,the Runners, andthe Heatmakerz, among others. It serves as a sequel to his fourth albumTha Carter (2004), and was supported by threesingles ("Fireman", "Hustler Musik" and "Shooter").

Tha Carter II received critical acclaim and ranks highly in retrospectives of Lil Wayne's best work.^[1][2] The album debuted at number two on the USBillboard 200 chart.^[3] The album was later certifieddouble platinum by theRecording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in September 2020.^[4]

The leadsingle from the album, called "Fireman" was released on October 25, 2005. The song wasproduced byDVLP and Filthy. While they were recording the song at the time, both DVLP and Filthy first burst into a music scene as the production duo, called Doe Boys.

The album's second single, "Hustler Musik" was released on January 10, 2006. The song was produced by T-Mix and the unknownproducer named Batman. A music video was released for this song that was directed byBenny Boom.

The album's third single, "Shooter" was released on April 9, 2006. The song features guest vocals from an AmericanR&B singer-songwriterRobin Thicke, who also produced this track. The song also was later included on Thicke's then-upcoming album, titledThe Evolution of Robin Thicke (2006).

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[5]
Blender	[6]
Entertainment Weekly	B[7]
The Guardian	A[8]
Houston Chronicle	[9]
Pitchfork	8.1/10[10]
PopMatters	8/10[11]
Rolling Stone	[12]
USA Today	[13]
The Village Voice	B+[14]

Upon its release,Tha Carter II received widespread acclaim from music critics, with several praising the lyricism and artistic growth demonstrated by Wayne on the album.AllMusic's David Jeffries praised the album's balance of "hookless, freestyle-ish tracks" and "slicker club singles", commenting that "the well-rounded, risk-taking, but true-to-its-roots album suggests he can weather the highs and lows like a champion."^[5]Entertainment Weekly's Ryan Dombal wrote thatTha Carter II "transcends [Wayne's] inflated ego" and complimented the album's "sturdy funk-blues tracks... that offer genuine value".^[7] David Drake ofStylus Magazine called the album "one of the year's best releases" and lauded his "entire persona, an aura, a rap creation that seems fully-developed and fascinating".^[15] Despite writing that "Wayne's verses need a good polish", Nick Sylvester ofPitchfork wrote that the album contains "jaw-droppers aplenty" and complimented Wayne's growth as a lyricist, stating:

People who met Wayne on "Go DJ" and thought him a lunchroom hack emcee – who knows what's happened since then, but damn has he learned how to write. His squeak is now a croak, his laugh a little more burly, his flow remarkably flexible. Sometimes he's deliberate like syrup cats ("But this is Southern, face it/ If we too simple then yall don't get the basics") but when he needs to be, he's nimble as thatOther Carter: "I ain't talking too fast you just listening too slow." Remy and weed, fast things and women, the corner – these are Wayne's wax since B.G.'ing with B.G., putting piff on the campus before he ever enrolled in college.^[10]

IGN writer Jim During gave the album an eight out of ten and commented that Wayne "[punishes] the mic with hard-hitting verbal tenacity", and wrote that the album shows him "at his most focused, and is a strong next step for a relatively young career."^[16] Matt Cibula ofPopMatters wrote ambivalently towards that album's production, writing that "the producers here are mostly no-namers who do their jobs well but not spectacularly", but praised Wayne's "amazing" words and remarked that "Straws really IS the best rapper alive, at least when he tries".^[11]

In 2020,Rolling Stone ranked it number 370 onthe 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.^[17]

LA Weekly included the track "Best Rapper Alive" in their list of "TenRap-Rock Songs That Are Actually Awesome".^[18]

Tha Carter II debuted at number two on the USBillboard 200 chart, selling 240,000 copies in its first week.^[3] This became Wayne's fourth US top-ten debut.^[3] The album also debuted at number one on the USTop R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, becoming Wayne's third number-one album on this chart.^[3] As of March 2008, the album has sold 1.3 million copies in the US.^[19] On September 25, 2020, the album was certifieddouble platinum by theRecording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for combined sales andalbum-equivalent units of over two million units in the United States.^[4]

Sample credits

• "Tha Mobb" samples "Moment from Truth", written and performed byWilson Turbinton.
• "Best Rapper Alive" samples "Fear of the Dark", written bySteve Harris, and performed byIron Maiden.
• "Grown Man" samples "Sparkle", written byPaul Harden, and performed byCameo.
• "Receipt" samples "Lay-Away", written byO'Kelly Isley, Jr. andRonald Isley, and performed bythe Isley Brothers.
• "Shooter" samples "Oh Shooter", written and performed byRobin Thicke, also written by Robert Daniels, James Gass and Robert Keyes; as well as Wayne's "Shooter" or Thicke's "Oh Shooter", also it contains the interpolation from "Mass Appeal" performed byGang Starr.
• "I'm a D-Boy" samples "Paid in Full", written and performed byEric Barrier andWilliam Griffin, Jr.
• "Get Over" samples "Love Is What We Came Here For", written by Phill Hurtt andWalter Sigler, and performed by Garland Green.

Credits forTha Carter II adapted fromAllmusic.^[20]

• 2005 albums
• Lil Wayne albums
• Universal Records albums
• Cash Money Records albums
• Albums produced by the Runners
• Albums produced by Cool & Dre
• Albums produced by Robin Thicke
• Sequel albums

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