When you cut away the stuff that’s already out there from the set, it makes you want to know more.” “ An American Treasure makes good on its promise of lighting Petty from a different angle,” writes Kory Grow. “Beyond the chart crushers, he was an even more thoughtful poet, precise in capturing life’s pleasures and acrimonies, and a perfectionist.

It’s thrilling to hear him test his skills against relatively newer talents like Kendrick Lamar on “Mona Lisa” and the late XXXTENTACION on “Don’t Cry.” Lil Wayne may already be rap history, and a permanent installation on the genre’s post-Golden Age Mount Rushmore.

“I am not number one, it’s true/I’m number 9-27-82,” he says in reference to his birthday on “Don’t Cry.” Ten years ago, when he truly was the Best Rapper Alive, he would have never admitted to such self-doubt, and that newfound maturity elevates this uneven yet still triumphant comeback. His fight to extricate himself from Cash Money’s red tape has clearly left him exhausted he has rarely sounded as vulnerable as he does here. For the past five years, Lil Wayne has floated in a netherworld of lawsuits and accusations against his former mentor Birdman, with projects like 2015’s Free Weezy Album and last year’s Dedication 6 suppressed after leaking to online outlets. The best thing about Tha Carter V is that it simply exists.

Read Our Review: Jlin’s Autobiography Shows the Electronic Composer Doing More Than Moving Feet “Allowed to stretch, she explores a dripping, hard-panning, evocative ambient music made of bamboo clanks, tubular bells, ticking clocks, birds, bugs and splashing water.” “America’s most acclaimed new electronic composer scores a piece by choreographer Wayne McGregor with her cutting-edge synthetic textures and brain-blendering pinball beats,” writes Christopher R.

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