Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III

I have a feeling this is going to be a controversial choice, but there is one record that I keep coming back to as the best of the 2000's and that's Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III. Every time one of the songs pops up on the iPod I have to turn it up and usually end up just playing through the entire record.

Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr., began his musical career as one of the Hot Boys, a short-lived all-star group on Cash Money Records in New Orleans. His first solo record, Tha Block Is Hot released in 1999, went double platinum, but things slowed down after that. Instead of releasing records he became a prolific producer of underground mixtapes. He found his footing again in 2004 with Tha Carter and in 2005 Tha Carter, Volume II debuted at number two on Billboard's album chart, it was a critical favorite as well as a strong seller. The mixtapes and the popularity grew. In 2008 Tha Carter III sold over a million records in it's first week and went on to be one of the best selling and critically praised records of the year. Lil Wayne's not for everyone, but give Tha Carter a few listens before you decide.