Scatterbrain

As he'll be happy to tell you, New Orleans's Lil Wayne is the best rapper alive. He has been for some time—probably since his 2006 mixtape Dedication 2, though there's some debate on the length of his reign. Few, however, dispute the self-evident truth of his dominance. Jay-Z and Kanye West both show up on his latest album, Tha Carter III, and their appearances read like kings paying tribute. When Jay appropriates Weezy's stumblebum free-association on the resolutely kick-ass "Mr. Carter," which features a beat by Just Blaze that would be right at home on The Blueprint, it sounds like a tardy passing of the torch.

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