For most of the 21st century, you could argue that Lil Wayne was the best rapper on the planet without sounding as insane as he usually did. A Cash Money Records foot soldier in his teens, the New Orleans native slowly morphed from an underground sensation into an unlikely pop superstar best known for 2008’s Tha Carter III, which moved an astounding one million copies in its first week alone on the strength of the left-field hits “A Milli” and “Lollipop.” But by then, he’d already won an army of hardcore fans as a mixtape workhorse, and he kept at it even after he topped the charts.
In fact, most of Wayne’s best rapping happened during his especially prolific mixtape run of the mid-to-late ’aughts, building his rep as an emcee who’d reclaim any popular beat as his own with relentless, pummeling lyricism and a tongue-in-cheek wit, driven by a desire to keep his rabid fans fed and definitively prove himself the Best Rapper Alive. His most vicious punch lines, his most tenacious flows, his most colorful storytelling … often, he’d just dump them on the internet and let you download it all for free. The last time he did it was this January, in fact, with Sorry for the Wait II, a title that unfortunately speaks to his difficulties getting an official album released these days. In fact, on July 4th, Wayne released the Free Weezy Album, his first “official” product since 2013, exclusively on Tidal after an ugly public breakup with his longtime label; in keeping with his mixtape modus operandi, it’s a free music dump for fans. The best of Wayne has always come from his insatiable desire to sate us.
The Lil Wayne mixtape discography spans the vast majority of his career: its highs and lows, the multiple iterations of his Young Money brand, his gradual development into an elite rap power, and the somewhat disappointing comedown of the last five years or so. There are multiple franchises, most notably the Dedication series; regardless, each tape acts as a time capsule, inferring context on an often random-feeling set of tracks. A full 13 years separate his first mixtape from his most recent, and while each one plays a pivotal role in his ever-changing narrative, they aren’t created equal. Here, then, is a ranking of every tape in the Wayne canon.
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