People debate Carters II and III as fiercely as they do Kanye albums, with the end results usually coming in at about 50/50. Three years later, 2005's safe bet for the title would accept an invite to Tha Carter III.
He campaigned tirelessly for the title, appointing it to himself, reiterating it, and trying to convince voters that by ignoring him for Northern candidates (most likely Jay Z at the time), they were being 'rapper racists, region haters.' Wayne claimed to 'bear a name only one can live with' (word to 'Highlander'), and even if we didn't believe him at the time, it set off the world-conquering mixtape run that soon followed and cemented his dominance. Baby,' 'Birdman Jr.,' 'Quick Draw McGraw,' 'New Orleans' finest,' 'The heart of New Orleans,' 'Ammo Mammal,' 'W-E-E, crooked letter, Y,' 'The Quarterback,' 'Black Peter Pan,' 'Automatic Weezy,' 'Young Pimpin',' 'Stunna Jr.,' 'Black Rambo,' 'Chaperone of the South,' but most importantly, the 'Best Rapper Alive.' It's doubtful that anyone would have handed him that title when his two biggest claims to fame were 'Bling Bling' and 'Go DJ,' but after crafting an expansive album that captured the country's attention without the help of big singles ('Fireman,' which didn't crack the Top 30, was the most successful), he became a viable candidate. Carter,' 'Pac-Man' ('my ghosts is blue'), 'The Fireman,' 'Heatman,' 'Weezy F. He was self-mythologizing, giving himself an abundance of nicknames over 22 tracks: 'Young Tune, the big kahuna' 'a gorilla, but lighter,' 'Mr. Ten years, four months, and three days after the 1995 Source Awards, Lil Wayne released an album that contained a track with that title, and to borrow a phrase from one of his future protegés, nothing was the same for the South in the decade that followed. What it took was one brash veteran younger than most rookies proclaiming himself 'best rapper alive,' no asterisks, no regional qualifiers, nothing. The Dungeon Family, UGK, and Scarface all became household names to small sects of devotees, but for the most part, the recognition they all deserved from the rest of the country came after their respective heydays.
The South, as André 3000 famously announced, did 'have something to say,' but without one nationally-recognized lyrical genius, it struggled to achieve widespread respect. OutKast's 'Best New Rap Group' acceptance speech at the 1995 Source Awards has been cited again and again as the turning point for Southern Rap, the moment when it became viewed as more than a novelty and began its gradual game of catch-up to the East and West Coasts.
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