Juan Carlos Ferrer | Staff Reporter

Four years have passed since “Tha Carter V” was announced. Finally, the long-awaited album was released at the end of September.

Lil Wayne was finally able to deliver “Tha Carter V” since he announced it back in 2014. Unfortunately, it was put on hold for four years. The long wait was due to a dispute with the artist Birdman, Lil Wayne’s former mentor.

Fans were eager to get a hold of the fifth installment from “Tha Carter” series. The album serves as a reminder to why Lil Wayne was once considered by hip-hop fans, and himself, “the best rapper alive.”

The Lil Wayne that is heard on “Tha Carter V” is not the Lil Wayne from the first three installments of “The Carter.” What people hear in the fifth installment of this series is an older Lil Wayne that is no longer hungry for the fame. He is happy where he is, and questions and accepts where he sits in the rap and hip-hop world.

“I am not number one, it’s true” Lil Wayne states in the opening track “Don’t Cry.”

Lil Wayne also discusses the positive and negative effects that fame brought to his lifestyle in “Famous,” a track that features his daughter Reginae Carter. The track is one of the best from “Tha Carter V.” It’s about Wayne’s rise to fame. It’s him reflecting on how far he’s come since he set his goals.

“The fan mail and subpoenas, jail cells to arenas; Car wash to the cleaners, Wal-Mart to Neiman’s,” Lil Wayne raps in Famous.

Fans were also reminded of how great Wayne was when it came to rhyming, storytelling, and spitting bars. “Mona Lisa,” another fantastic track from “Tha Carter V,” demonstrates how great Lil Wayne is at storytelling. The song features Kendrick Lamar, who is arguably one of the best rappers today, and the song lived up to the hype when fans saw a Kendrick feature on the tracklist for “Tha Carter V.”

“Tha Carter V” cannot be compared to the first three projects from “Tha Carter” series. Lil Wayne is no longer hungry for the fame like he was when the series began in 2004. He achieved everything that he wanted to achieve when he set his goal of becoming a rapper.

Lil Wayne is humble now. He reflects on his decisions and looks at them from the perspective of a 36-year-old man. All he wanted to do was deliver an album with nothing but passion to the people that still listen to him today.