Pitchfork

Expectations for Lil Wayne's still-forthcoming Tha Carter III have been building for so long I've almost managed to convince myself not to expect anything better than last year's Da Drought 3 mixtape, if only to keep from being disappointed if the follow-up to 2005's Tha Carter II turns out anything less than earth-shattering. A snippet of the latest song to be billed as Tha Carter III's first single, "Lollipop", has been circulating for days, and now that a full (possibly unfinished) version of the song is making the rounds, it's better on first listens than I was bracing myself for-- though definitely not as great as some other tracks that could possibly appear on the album, like the hazy drug lament "I Feel Like Dying" or The Leak EP's thrilling statement of self-definition, "I'm Me". Basically, this one picks up where the "lick the rapper" pun from Weezy's verse on Swizz Beatz' "It's Me Bitches" remix left off, adds an even more obvious pun ("Lollipop"), and puts all that to languid midtempo beats and pin-prick synths. The whole thing smacks of an effort to reach past rap nerds toward female fans, though it's less obvious about it than, say, Wayne's Babyface collab.

As he's done to mixed results on a couple of tracks from his recent mixtapes, Wayne sings through a T-Pain-esque vocoder effect here, but enough of his own distinctive growl shows through; I just wish this were a dirty version so I could figure out whether I liked the rhymes or not. The late r&b singer Static Major sings the deft hook so lightly and unobtrusively it took me at least one listen to notice his "My Humps" joke, so I've got hopes the final version may still be everything Lil Wayne fans have been wanting. With a title recalling 50 Cent's "Candy Shop" and Yung Joc's "Coffee Shop", the leaked "Lollipop" helps keep those hopes in check, for now.

[Tha Carter III is due 05/08/08 on Cash Money/Universal/Young Money]