In hip-hop culture, Lil Wayne has been a crucial part of the advancement of the genre. He came into the rap game over two decades ago and despite taking time off, has remained relevant since his debut.

His latest project, “Tha Carter V,” is his twelfth studio album. The album was announced in 2012, but could not be released due to legal issues. It debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 chart Oct. 1, making it Wayne’s fourth No. 1 in his career. This album opened with the second-largest streaming week for an album ever with 433 million streams.

Wayne, also commonly known as Weezy, set the standard in hip-hop marketing. Weezy has sold over 100 million records during his music career paving the way for many of the artists who are still at the top of their game, like Drake.

“Tha Carter V” was released Sept. 28 and consists of 23 songs with features from other top artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, Travis Scott and XXXTENTACION.

The much anticipated album has received mixed reviews on whether it could have been better, but overall it is a well put together album. One song that stands out is the last song on the album “Let it all work out” because of its intensity and honesty. This song was in the works for over four years and in it, Weezy talks about his suicide attempt at just 12 years old.

Students and staff have strong opinions on how this reflects Wayne’s past releases and what this means for him as a musician.

“Big fan of Carter I, II,” said English teacher Jesse Rutter, who has been a Wayne fan dating back to Wayne’s early group, Hot Boys. I think [Carter V] touches on Carter I and Carter II in a way that a lot of his more recent music hasn’t but that being said, I do think it is too long,” Rutter added. “‘Mona Lisa’ is by far the best song on the album along with ‘Famous’ because of the display of self-awareness about how he has been perceived coming back, reflecting on himself and I think that is really strong and powerful.”

With a tracklist of 23 songs the album is longer than the average hip hop compilation and takes a while to listen to. However, this is his first official studio album since 2013, so it’s not hard to believe that he has a lot to say.

Students who have been listening to the album since its release, have touched on the benefits of the long wait.

“It came out later because he wanted to make sure it lived up to his last album which came out such a long time ago. Also I am sure he wants to show he has grown as an artist,” junior Monica Blassou said.

Lil’ Wayne has come a long way since his debut albums when it was clear he wanted to be famous.  With the long wait, it is all too clear he has already achieved that goal–which is made even clearer on “Tha Carter V” track “Famous.”  He has said a lot and clearly has a lot more to say. This album deserves more spins as fans unpack everything Lil’ Wayne has to offer.