The Carter

The Carter is a 2009 documentary film about the American hip hop recording artist Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr., better known as Lil Wayne. The film was directed by Adam Bhala Lough and produced by Joshua Krause and Quincy Jones III, and documents Lil Wayne in the period before and shortly after the release of his studio album, Tha Carter III, which achieved platinum status and critical acclaim, and sold one million copies in one week. After being shown at the Sundance Film Festival, it was subjected to a lawsuit by Carter to block distribution but eventually was released direct to DVD and iTunes, where it topped all movie charts. The film has since been banned from legal sale again but is widely bootlegged on the Internet and despite having no formal release is universally considered among the greatest music documentaries of all time.[1]

For the Lil Wayne album, see Tha Carter.
The Carter
Promotional poster for the movie
Directed byAdam Bhala Lough
Produced byQuincy Jones III
Joshua Krause
Jared Freedman
StarringDwayne Michael Carter, Jr.
Bryan Williams
Cortez Bryant
Reginae Carter
CinematographyAdam Bhala Lough
Edited byAndy Grieve
Music byLil Wayne
Distributed byQD3 Entertainment
Release date
  • November 17, 2009 (2009-11-17)
Running time
75 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Production

While filming The Carter (between 2007 and 2008), the filmmakers conducted no interviews with Carter. As Quincy Jones III told MTV,

"With Wayne, he was like, 'I don't want to do anything that's really missionary. I want to give this a whole, new, fresh approach, so I don't necessarily want to do a formal sit-down interview.'"[2]

The film was shot in a cinéma vérité style, with the production team following the artist during his tours, and conducting interviews with his manager and other associates.[2] Lough said the film is about fame and the "artist's life".

Carter was filmed using marijuana and purple drank (soda laced with a prescription cough syrup) as recreational drugs.[3] Lough also clearly showed the artist's strong work ethic which has enabled his high productivity, and said that Carter was always recording, whether on the road or not.[4] He is devoted to the process and working all the time.[5]

Distribution and lawsuit

Although Carter was under contract to participate in the film, and Jones said he was "ecstatic" about the final cut,[2] Carter later filed a lawsuit to prevent its distribution after the second screening at the 25th Sundance Film Festival in 2009.[6] His lawsuit said that Carter was promised the final cut and wanted certain scenes removed that were still in at the Sundance screening.[3][4] A judge threw out the $50 million lawsuit, and the film was released directly to DVD on November 17, 2009.[4]

The independently distributed film topped iTunes movie charts in its first week of release.[7]

The infamous Lil Wayne deposition video that went viral[8] in 2012 was from a deposition about The Carter documentary with Quincy Jones III in attendance at a law office in Beverly Hills.[9][10]

Critical reception

The film received favorable reviews. Jon Caramanica's review in The New York Times called it one of "the most revealing and provocative hip hop films" of all time, observing, "It’s a little like watching Nero fiddle just before Rome begins to burn."[11] Brandon Perkins in the Huffington Post ranked it as "one of the top five greatest hip-hop documentaries of all time"[5] and noted, "it's Lil Wayne's commitment to his art that truly resonates."[5] Ben Westhoff wrote in The Guardian, "it is one of the best music documentaries I’ve ever seen."[12] Complex,[13] IndieWire,[14] Rolling Stone,[15] The Hollywood Reporter,[16],XXL[17] and "Screen Rant" [18] have also included it on their lists of the greatest rock and hip hop films.

References
  1. Rolling Stone 40 Greatest Rock Docs
  2. Rodriguez, Jayson (November 13, 2009). "'The Carter' Documentary Gets 'Intimate' With Lil Wayne, Producer Says". MTV.
  3. Wolfe, Roman & Lil Wayne (2009-04-22). "Lil Wayne Loses In Court; 'Carter' Doc Greenlighted". AllHipHop.com. Retrieved 2013-04-11.
  4. "The battle over controversial Lil Wayne film". CNN. November 24, 2009. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
  5. Perkins, Brandon (November 17, 2009). "New Lil Wayne Documentary: One of Hip-Hop's Best". Huffington Post.
  6. "Lil Wayne documentary gets release date and film trailer - video". NME. November 10, 2009. Retrieved 2013-04-11.
  7. "Lil Wayne Documentary Shoots to Number on iTunes". theboombox.com.
  8. "Lil Wayne -- I Got GOD on Speed Dial".
  9. "Lil Wayne Accused of Ditching Legal Hearing with $20M on the Line". 2 October 2021.
  10. "Additional Footage from Lil Wayne Lawsuit Deposition Released". 26 September 2012.
  11. Caramanica, Jon (August 6, 2015). "An N.W.A. Biopic Heads Straight to Mainstream". The New York Times.
  12. Westhoff, Ben (August 26, 2015). "The Straight Outta Compton Effect". The Guardian.
  13. "The 25 Best Hip-Hop Documentaries". Complex Networks.
  14. "The 25 Best Music Documentaries of the 21st Century, from 'Amy' to 'The Devil and Daniel Johnston'". 5 March 2018.
  15. "40 Greatest Rock Documentaries". Rolling Stone. 25 November 2021.
  16. "Critic's Picks: Top 10 Hip-Hop Flix". The Hollywood Reporter. 11 August 2015.
  17. "29 of the Greatest Hip-Hop Documentaries of All-Time".
  18. "Jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy & 9 Other Insightful Documentaries About Popular Rappers". Screen Rant. 27 February 2022.
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