Lil Wayne 'Tha Fix Before Tha VI' Should Have Never Left The Vault

Lil Wayne comebacks are as common as installments in Tha Carter series – the New Orleans native has found himself at crossroads many times, constantly being written off as washed only to bounce back with a lighter flick. For the past year and a half, Wayne has been on a feature tear, routinely usurping mics from whichever brave soul dishes him a verse (Nas’ “Never Die” or Metro Boomin’s “Annihilate.”)

Despite this impressive run, Wayne hasn’t proven he can still craft an engaging project since Funeral, his bloated 2020 album and last full-length solo drop. Enter Tha Fix Before Tha VI, Wayne’s holdover tape until his presumed next studio album, Tha Carter VI. “Mixtape Wayne” and “Feature Wayne” are both sorely missing on this aimless throwaway set.

Throughout the project, it feels like Wayne rummaging through the desktop trash bin to cobble together ten viable tracks for public consumption. There was a time when a Wayne mixtape released in the run-up to a marquee album would prompt furious debates: did the mixtape top the album? No Ceilings, Dedication 2, Da Drought 3, and The Drought Is Over 2: The Carter 3 Sessions are legitimate contenders for Wayne’s best project – studio album or otherwise. That time seems far in the past. 

His best mixtapes serve as an outlet for a rapper in peak form to keep his blade sharp (Da Drought 3) or a flood of album-quality songs with sample clearance hurdles (The Carter 3 Sessions). Tha Fix Before Tha VI is neither of these. Instead, it’s either a stretch for streams or a cynical exercise in lowering expectations.

The mixtape opens with a promising three-song run, though even these mid-level highlights are bogged down by phoned-in lyrics (“I sell whole birds, I don’t do wings, this ain’t Buffalo”) or painfully bad hooks (“Y’all n-ggas like extra skin on my dick”). But aside from this passable trifecta – and the vintage Cool & Dre produced “To the Bank” – this mixtape is packed with ill-considered hooks, forgettable beats, and verses unworthy of a man that once credibly claimed the mantle of the best rapper alive.

Wayne has never been a prude rapper, but his sharp pen skills were capable of turning any topic into a slick one-liner. This tape is weighed down by a neverending barrage of juvenile sex shtick, with so many corny lines about fellatio it’s hard to believe a horny 14-year-old didn’t write these songs. From the agonizingly straightforward (“I skeet in her face, she laid back, open wide”) to the unoriginal (“I can’t believe you just swallowed a family”), Wayne peppers every track with stale reminders of his sexual proclivities. 

The beats across this mixtape also don’t do the limp songwriting and half-baked lyrical performances any justice. “Kat Food”, produced by Charlie Handsome, FNZ, and Rogét Chahayed, features the iconic siren wail from Missy Elliott’s “Work It,” an obvious and lazy sample that only serves to accentuate Wayne’s insipid rhymes – “I got that cat food, ooh, Purina,” he raps on the song’s chorus.

Meanwhile, “Weezer Weezy” returns on the unfortunate Rebirth callback, “Tuxedo,” complete with meandering electric guitar swirls and monotonous, chugging drums courtesy of Julian Munro and Manny Galvez. “Birds” is a more successful musical experiment. The avian instrumental, supplied by Murda Beatz and ManOhManFoster, sounds like alien birds conversing in space. 

Tunechi’s recent string of scene-stealing features and the promotional single “Kant Nobody,” which is far superior to anything on this project, inject some hope that Tha Carter VI will be worth the wait. It’s impressive that Wayne’s storied recording schedule has evidently remained consistent three decades into his career. But Tha Fix Before Tha VI is a potent reminder that some music is best kept stashed in the vault.