“Tha Carter V” is an excellent return to form for Lil Wayne, a legendary MC who has spent too long releasing mediocre music. The album features vsmart beat choices, mostly good to great features, and Wayne’s best lyrical work in years. It’s a must listen for any rap music fans.

What makes the success of this record so surprising is all the expectations it had to live up to. Originally slated for release in 2011, label issues kept the album shelved until Sept. 28. Since then, Lil Wayne fans have built up the record as a culmination of his 20-year career and expect it to be one of the best rap albums of all time.

Another potential problem for the album is Lil Wayne’s inconsistency as an artist. He’s one of the best rappers in the world when he’s on his game, but too often he finds himself rapping about the same topics on the same beats with the same mush-mouthed, half-asleep tone, making it obvious he’s just there for a paycheck.

Fortunately, the album reverses his 13-year musical slump. Lil Wayne put more effort into this record than any music he’s made since 2005’s “Tha Carter 2.” The beat choices are inspired, running the gauntlet from soul samples, to gritty ’90s New York-inspired beats, to a more modern cloud rap sound. The beats seem tailor-made to suit the mood and atmosphere each song is going for.

The features have incredible highs as well, like Lil Wayne keeping up with Kendrick Lamar on “Mona Lisa” or taking an entertaining victory lap with Snoop Dogg on “Dope N*****.”

Unfortunately, some of the features are real lows, like XXXTENTACION ruining “Don’t Cry,” a lovely song about loss and grief, by braying like a donkey on the chorus.

Regardless, this album was going to live or die based on whether Lil Wayne showed up to play. Fortunately, he did. There’s an introspective tone running through most of the album, and Lil Wayne clearly has his family on his mind, with frequent clips of his mother speaking and addressing “Open Letter.”

The solo tracks are the highlight of the record with “Uproar,” “Open Safe” and “Dope New Gospel” belonging in the canon of all-time greatest Wayne songs. He sounds focused and determined again, with lines no one else could come up with.

“Money in the air, who says white men can’t jump?” off of the track “Hittas” is in the running for best line of the year. “Perfect Strangers” features Wayne admirably taking himself to task for all the people he hurt.

On the chorus, Lil Wayne looks at himself in the mirror and finds he doesn’t recognize himself anymore. It’s a powerful perspective from someone who has been famous since he was 12 years old, and doesn’t really know who he is outside of his music career.

“Tha Carter V” has one flaw: the length. There are 27 tracks, and while a lot of them are good, the songs just add up to listener fatigue. “Problems” id among several songs that come to mind that seem only around to pad the album for more streams. This record isn’t nearly as egregious as something like “Culture II” by the Migos, but the algorithm gaming is a definite black mark on an otherwise great album.

“Tha Carter V” is Lil Wayne’s best work in a decade. The album isn’t just a collection of great songs; it’s got a throughline that makes listeners want to engage with the whole album every time, a remarkable feat considering how music is widely consumed today.

With this record, Lil Wayne proved he’s still one of the greats.