Tha Carter is the fourth studio album by American rapper Lil Wayne. It was released on June 29, 2004 on Cash Money Records and Universal Records.
The album was the last featuring Cash Money's former in-house producer, Mannie Fresh before he split from the label. The album is based on Lil Wayne's last name, Carter. Tha Carter is generally considered as Lil Wayne's "break out" album, due to the maturity in both his subject matter, and delivery compared to his first three albums. Tha Carter was the start of a highly successful album saga for Wayne. The album has spawned three sequels, Tha Carter II which was released in 2005, Tha Carter III which was released in 2008, Tha Carter IV which was released in 2011.Tha Carter is the fourth studio album by American rapper Lil Wayne. It was released on June 29, 2004 on Cash Money Records and Universal Records.
The album was the last featuring Cash Money's former in-house producer, Mannie Fresh before he split from the label. The album is based on Lil Wayne's last name, Carter. Tha Carter is generally considered as Lil Wayne's "break out" album, due to the maturity in both his subject matter, and delivery compared to his first three albums. Tha Carter was the start of a highly successful album saga for Wayne. The album has spawned three sequels, Tha Carter II which was released in 2005, Tha Carter III which was released in 2008, Tha Carter IV which was released in 2011.false2025-11-08 02:30:45Tha Carter20042004-06-292004-06-2933Dirty SouthHip HopSouthern Hip Hop1121502116528a69ee04e-5487-48b2-bb6e-95a7f1a98039ac9a487a-d9d2-4f27-bb23-0f4686488345be8d2d6a-1542-3c02-a466-d23a1fbb97b8/media/data/media5/Music/Lil Wayne/Tha Carter/folder.jpgLil WayneLil WayneDwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September 27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. Regarded as one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generation by XXL, he has often been cited as one of the greatest rappers of all time. Wayne's career began in 1997, when he was signed by rapper Birdman, joining Cash Money Records as the youngest member of the label. From then on, he was the flagship artist of Cash Money Records before ending his association with the company in June 2018.In 1997, Wayne was put in a duo with label-mate B.G. (at the time known as Lil Doogie) and they recorded an album, True Story, released that year, although Wayne (at the time known as Baby D) only appeared on three tracks. Wayne and B.G. soon joined the southern hip hop group Hot Boys, with Cash Money label-mates Juvenile and Turk in 1997; they released their debut album Get It How U Live! in October that year. The Hot Boys became popular following the release of the album Guerrilla Warfare (1999) and the song "Bling Bling".Wayne's solo debut album, Tha Block Is Hot (1999), was his solo breakthrough. He reached higher popularity with his fourth album Tha Carter (2004) and fifth album Tha Carter II (2005), as well as several mixtapes and collaborations throughout 2006 and 2007. He gained more prominence within the music industry with his sixth album Tha Carter III (2008), with first-week sales of over one million copies in the US. The album won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album and included the successful singles "A Milli", "Got Money" (featuring T-Pain), and "Lollipop" (featuring Static Major)—the latter being his first single to top the Billboard Hot 100.
In February 2010, Wayne released his seventh studio album, Rebirth, which experimented with rap rock and was met with generally negative reviews. A month later in March 2010, he began serving an 8-month jail sentence in New York after being convicted of criminal possession of a weapon stemming from an incident in July 2007. His eighth studio album I Am Not a Human Being (2010) was released during his incarceration, while his 2011 album Tha Carter IV was released following his release. Tha Carter IV sold 964,000 copies in its first week in the United States. His twelfth studio album Tha Carter V was released in 2018 after multiple delays. Wayne's thirteenth album, Funeral, was released in early 2020.Wayne has sold over 200 million records worldwide, including more than 25 million albums and 92 million digital tracks in the United States, making him one of the world's best-selling music artists. He has won five Grammy Awards, 11 BET Awards, four Billboard Music Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards and eight NAACP Image Awards. On September 27, 2012, he became the first male artist to surpass Elvis Presley with the most entries on the Billboard Hot 100, with 109 songs. Wayne also currently serves as the chief executive officer (CEO) of his own label, Young Money Entertainment.