Tha Carter III is Lil Wayne's sixth official solo album. At 25, he's been rapping professionally since he was 11. I own about half a dozen Lil Wayne mixtapes, and there are many more out there. Theoretically, this is OK because the Carter 3 mixtape where it appears isn't for sale, although artists and bootleggers do sell mixtapes under the counter, at brick-and-mortar holes in the wall and online. The Beatles sample with the submerged bass drum could never have been cleared for commercial release. 'Help,' off the Carter 3 mixtape isn't Lil Wayne at his very best, although I love it - just Lil Wayne at his most blatant.

A bunch of them are wilder than anything on the hit release, and at least as good. Many of these songs were supposedly slated for the official album very few ended up there. Twice he put out double-CDs of his own new songs, some over famous beats, some over original music. He seemed to record all the time, free-associating verbally and vocally.

But Lil Wayne was so prolific on the mixtape scene that he redefined it. Most hip-hop artists nowadays prime the pump with gray-market mixtape CDs that add guest tracks, skits, freestyles, and other second-drawer material to scattered previews of their next album. In the two-and-a-half years between major-label releases, Lil Wayne whetted his fans' appetites by giving away more songs than anyone can count. Tha Carter III's first-week sales, which were easily pop's strongest since Kanye West's Graduation last September, were spurred by a daring marketing strategy that doubled as a cocky musical challenge. In the week after its June 10 release, New Orleans rapper Lil Wayne moved a million copies of Tha Carter III, his first official album in two-and-a-half years.

The carter 3 mixtape