The 50 Best Albums of 2008

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Lil Wayne THA CARTER III Cash Money/Universal Motown

"Next time you mention Pac, Biggie or Jay-Z/Don't forget Weezy Baby," croaks Lil Wayne, and he earns that audacious boast. The most eagerly anticipated hip-hop album of the decade is also the best, from the joyously silly Auto-Tune-on-steroids chart-topper, "Lollipop," to the uproarious "Dr. Carter," in which Wayne dons scrubs to revive moribund hip-hop. The dadaist punch lines hit their marks, but Lil Wayne's greatness lies not just in what he says, but in the way he says it — the virtuoso variations in mood and meter, tone and timbre that mark the MC, as much as any singer, as one of 21st-century pop's great vocal stylists.

• View List: The 50 Best Albums of 2008
• View List: Readers' Top 30 Albums of 2008