Apr 9 2008 08:09 PM ET

Snap judgment: Lil Wayne's (apparently not fake) album cover

Lilwayne_lLil Wayne’s feverishly anticipated, infinitely delayed album Tha Carter III may not have a firm release date yet — latest word is it’ll be out on June 10 — but boy, does it have some cover art. Since last night, when Amazon.com posted the oddly enthralling image to the left, the hip-hop blogs have been ablaze. Wayne, it would seem, wants the world to see his magnum opus as the work of a thoughtful, tatted-up toddler. Is it real? Is it fake? In sum, HUH?

First things first: Wayne’s label confirms that yes, this is the actual cover art for Tha Carter III. Wow. Maybe all those times he dubbed himself "Weezy F. Baby, please say the baby," he wasn’t honoring his mentor Bryan "Baby" Williams after all. He was just shouting out his inner mafioso-esque child! What’s more, I think I finally understand why last summer, the one time I talked to Wayne — shortly before he abruptly began screaming profanities for no apparent reason and hung up on me — he told me he’d been recording Tha Carter III "my whole life… working on every album I ever dropped my whole life." I’d assumed it was just another semi-coherent boast, but I see now that he was being mad literal. Ladies and gents, we have now seen the face of the nursery-schooler who composed "Lollipop."

Okay, jokes aside (they’re just too easy!), I actually kinda dig this cover. It’s a clear play to place Carter III in the pantheon of all-time classic rap albums featuring baby pix: Illmatic, Ready to Die… Weezy’s power resides in his unparalleled chutzpah, his refusal to surrender an inch of creative freedom to his legions of detractors. Why shouldn’t he slap a patently ridiculous, self-important Photoshop job on the front of his new CD? Besides, if he’s finalized his album cover, maybe that means we’re a little closer to actually hearing this thing within our lifetimes. Hallelujah! But what do you think of all this?

Comments (1-16) of 16 Add your comment

  • Anna

    Man, he did not age well.

  • Daniel!

    The fact that this album is about to drop already makes me relax a little inside. The cover art doesn’t do it any favours, though. It’s, erm, ridiculous. Doesn’t match up with the pretty iconic images from the rest of Tha Carter series thus far.
    And Wayne started just yelling at you, Simon? Yeesh. He’s great but he reaaaaaalllly needs to take it easy slightly.

  • Phil

    Simon as usual, your hip-hop posts make me laugh since the smallest percentage of EW readers are probably anxiously awaiting this release, though I admit, I am a Weezy fan, but that cover art is really over the top. I’m not going to go into one of my usual rants at ya since I know that when this album actually does come out, it’ll open at #1, and maybe go on to finally launch Wayne’s commercial success he’s been chasing for years by dropping guest verses on just about everyone except Mariah’s releases. But the fact that they’re going with that photo shopped pimped out image of Weezy as a kid…thats just kinda out there. Maybe he made that choice right before he was arrested in Yuma, AZ…

  • erika

    i juss wanw say i love lilwyane and every thing he do…………….

  • GingerCat

    I think it’s disgusting to put PhotoShop gang tattoos onto a picture of a little kid. Until recently, I lived in an area where gang activity was on the rise. Suddenly the good people who’d lived safely in the town for years had to put up with drive-bys and drug busts. Thank god I got out of there. Gang members are scumbags, plain and simple, and it’s totally reprehensible to try to glamorize gang activity or make it seem cool, as this image tries to do. Because let’s face it, a lot of people are easily led, and they fall for it.

  • bryan

    cant nobody diss on weezy

  • EP Sato

    I wonder if that’s what his baby with Jamie Lynn Spears is going to look like.

  • EP Sato

    Ooops! I was thinking “lil Romeo” and not “lil Wayne”….

  • Andrew

    How unoriginal but I’d expect that from him.

  • Independent Media

    With a name like Verce, you sort of
    expect a bunch of lyrics over a unground beat. What you get is
    so much better. Brown Paper Bag Money is one of those
    Anthems that you can’t help but sing. After one chorus
    I found myself singing, Brown Paper Bag,
    Brown Brown, Paper Bag Money. This is a Hip Hop banger
    that makes you forget about snap music and runs with it as if the
    last two decades never happened.
    It’s a really smooth track from Verce hott Mixtape
    “Isufficient Funds”. Nice lyric and the cool rapping
    shows off Verce Swagg. It’s really simple but it has a
    nice mellow pace, catchy punch lines and the production
    is really good ensuring Verce’s single is a smash hit.
    Let’s be honest with each other, readers. It’s just a
    good upbeat athem that every can relate to. There’s no point
    in trying to intellectualise it or pontificate. Verce
    is making great Hip Hop music. Instant classic. Thumbs up.

  • tyiana

    pllaaa-eeezzeee!!!! stop hatin. i mean his album cover is hot, no lie, and his music is ridiculously awesome. lets see you do what he does, and when you do that’s when you can talk.

  • kimo

    ripoff or shoutout to biggie and nas?

  • AliSHA

    all ii can say is that weezy’s my boo and ya’ll neea stop hatin on him. cuz ya’ll can’t be him.
    - WEEZY f. lADY. <3

  • chris thurmam

    What it b like blood I’m a 5×9 piru from jefferson aka frogtown WaterBound. B easy Bloob.

  • TAMARA

    I LOVE UR SONGS & U WILL U BE MY BOYFRIEND I LOVE U SO MUCH I LOVE THAT SONG GOT MONEY CAUSE U GOT MONEY & LOVE U

  • Higurashi

    Niggers

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