Lil Wayne has been active throughout this year. He toured North America, performed at the ESPY Awards, and featured on Nas’s latest album. Now Wayne is officially beginning the rollout for Tha Carter VI. Just in time for the fifth anniversary of Tha Carter V, he released Tha Fix Before Tha VI. His first official project since 2020, Lil Wayne’s ten-track commercial mixtape, is a precursor to his upcoming 14th studio album. The Young Money label boss is known for dropping preludes to his albums, including his Sorry 4 The Wait series, I Am Not A Human Being, and the Free Weezy Album. Lil Wayne’s latest release feeds his loyal fanbase with an appetizer, allowing their hunger to grow for the main course. Now that the project is finally out, it can be said that Tha Fix Before Tha VI builds more worry than anticipation.
Lil Wayne Plays To Both His Strengths & Weaknesses
On his latest mixtape, Lil Wayne highlights both his acclaimed skill set and the least palatable qualities of his music. He opens Tha Fix Before Tha VI with the Jon Batiste-assisted “Act Up.” Wayne’s signature lighter flick leads to an exciting mix of flows accentuated by the continuously building instrumental. His use of autotune brings out the emotion in his delivery, making for an attention-grabbing introduction. Wayne rides the song’s momentum with “Birds,” which is uniquely catchy. It features a bizarre, bird-sampling instrumental over which he sounds good, although the beat does get tiresome. His verses contain exciting flows, providing a catchy melody on the song’s chorus.
The song “Slip” is a prime example of how an abysmal hook can diminish Lil Wayne’s creative bars. He starts the track with some of his best rhyming on the entire project over a luscious instrumental. His second verse is also phenomenal as he spits punchlines like, “He’s a p*ssy, he can’t do a thing, now that’s just menopause.” Unfortunately, the chorus takes away from the verses as Lil Wayne nasally repeats, “Y’all n****s like extra skin on my d*ck.” The previously-released single, “Kat Food,” nods to Missy Elliott in its odd instrumental that Wayne effortlessly floats over.
Tha Fix Before Tha VI takes an interesting turn with “Tuxedo,” a rap-rock fusion that recalls his 2010 album, Rebirth. Wayne is joined by Young Money signee Euro and boasts about getting a pardon from President Trump. He raps, “I just called my n**** Donald Trump and that was that.” While the beat and overall style of the song are not fitting for Euro nor Wayne, both rappers sound comfortable over the instrumental.
Much Is To Be Desired
While there are promising moments on Tha Fix Before Tha VI, many are undermined by an off-putting chorus, instrumental, or lyric. The song “No New B*tches” may include effective rhyme schemes, but the track is filled with repetitive raps about sex over a cluttered beat. It is reminiscent of the overwhelmingly sexual lyricism that plagued 2013’s I Am Not A Human Being II. The song “Tity Boi” is pretty self-explanatory, featuring the same tiresome sex raps, although Lil Wayne rhymes well over the layered production. Again, the rapping is hindered by a poorly constructed chorus that becomes an obnoxiously repetitive Jersey Club track. With a title like “Tity Boi,” the content is to be expected, but Wayne has rapped about sex in significantly more creative ways before.
Tha Fix Before Tha VI has its bland moments, but it finishes strong with “Good Morning.” On this track, Lil Wayne comes to life over a triumphant instrumental. Unfortunately, it is too short, but it was made simply as a theme song for FS1’s Undisputed. The track would have made for a more exciting intro, but it closes the project on a positive note.
Ultimately, Lil Wayne’s latest commercial mixtape does leave much to be desired. However, it has been prefaced that the next installment of Tha Carter series is on the way. Nothing on this mixtape is as nearly as impressive as his Swizz Beatz-produced “Kant Nobody” single that arrived earlier this year. Wayne is clearly a gifted rapper, but his songwriting is still inconsistent and the project is tainted by lazy choruses and poor production selection. Let’s hope that Lil Wayne is saving his best material for Tha Carter VI.
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