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‘Umbrella’ Watch 2008: Is This Year’s Song of the Summer by Lil Wayne?


From now until something displaces last year’s “Umbrella” from the top of our iTunes most-played list, Vulture will be judging the contenders for this year’s Song of the Summer.

To allay any possible fears that his upcoming Tha Carter III might not be the world-changing, mind-imploding hip-hop event we’re all hoping for, someone in Lil Wayne’s camp leaked this three-minute collection of ten-second clips from the album, all of which sound better than disappointing lead single “Lollipop,” currently the No. 5 song in the country. We don’t really hear any “Umbrella”-size choruses here, but in a summer with few major rap releases, CIII is unquestionably the biggest — surely a blogosphere full of Weezy’s admirers can will one of these tracks into a massive hit, right? We like “Let the Beat Build” (allegedly produced by Kanye) and hope the rest of the song is as good as this snippet.

Related: And the Song of the Summer Will Be…

‘Umbrella’ Watch 2008: Is This Year’s Song of the Summer by Lil Wayne?