Dedication 4

Four deep, one pen, zero brakes—Wayne's Young Money kitchen-table session for the ages.

Dedication 4 is the fourth installment in Lil Wayne's beloved Dedication mixtape series, dropped in 2009 on Young Money Entertainment and Cash Money Records. Coming on the heels of the blockbuster success of Tha Carter 3, it served as a pressure valve for Wayne's relentless creative output, letting him flex his pen and showcase the growing Young Money roster without the weight of a full studio-album cycle.

For fans, the Dedication series has always felt like a backdoor into Wayne's most unfiltered, freestyle-heavy, off-the-cuff artistry. Dedication 4 continues that tradition: a dense, energetic collection where Wayne trades bars with Drake, Nicki Minaj, and other label mates, blending New Orleans bounce energy with the polished trap and R&B textures that were defining the late-2000s hip-hop landscape.

Last updated 2026-09-29 from the source article.

Quick Facts

Artist: Lil Wayne
Released: September 3, 2012
Genre: Hip hop
Length: 52:00
Label: Young Money, Aphilliates Music Group
Compiler: DJ Drama

Facts from the source article.

Lore & Background

The Dedication series began as a practical solution to a creative problem: Lil Wayne was writing and recording at a pace his major-label studio-album schedule simply couldn't absorb. Rather than let material sit in a vault, Wayne and the Young Money camp started dropping these numbered mixtapes, each one a snapshot of the label's energy at a particular moment. By the time Dedication 4 rolled around, the series had become its own mini-franchise, something fans anticipated the way they anticipated a new Carter album.

The late-2000s Young Money roster was in a golden window. Drake was transitioning from OVO's early days into mainstream stardom, Nicki Minaj was carving out her own identity, and Wayne himself was riding the cultural momentum of Tha Carter 3's chart dominance. Dedication 4 sits squarely in that sweet spot: a record where the label feels like a family workshop, where ad-libs bleed into each other's verses, and where the New Orleans bounce meets the emerging Atlanta trap sound. It's less a polished product and more a living, breathing session.

In the broader mythology of Wayne's catalog, the Dedication tapes function as connective tissue. They explain how an artist could go from the anthemic scale of Tha Carter 3 to the introspective, harder-edged world of Tha Carter 4 without losing the audience in between. Dedication 4 is that bridge—raw, generous, and unmistakably Wayne.

Reader's Guide

Chapter: Dedication 4 (2009) Label: Young Money Entertainment / Cash Money Records

The creative context is everything here. Tha Carter 3 had just cemented Wayne as the defining rapper of his generation, and the Young Money roster was in a period of explosive growth. Wayne was recording constantly, often in the same building where Drake, Nicki Minaj, and other label artists were developing their own material. Dedication 4 is the product of that osmosis—verses written in the same room, beats passed around the label, ad-libs that cross into each other's tracks.

The mixtape mattered because it proved the Dedication series was more than a stopgap. It gave fans a window into the label's daily creative life, a space where Wayne could be playful, aggressive, generous, and vulnerable in a single side. It also kept the Young Money brand visible and growing in the two-year gap before Tha Carter 4, ensuring that the label's identity remained as strong as its frontman's.

In the catalog narrative, Dedication 4 is the exhale after the inhale of Carter 3's ambition. It reminds the listener that before the grand statements, there was always the kitchen-table session, the quick trade, the late-night freestyle that became a record because someone hit record and didn't stop him.

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1	So Dedicated (featuring Birdman)	2:44
2	Same Damn Tune	3:06
3	Cashed Out	3:57
4	No Worries (featuring Detail)	3:30
5	Mercy (featuring Nicki Minaj)	4:48
6	Burn	3:38
7	Amen (featuring Boo)	3:18
8	Get Smoked (Remix) (Lil Mouse featuring Lil Wayne)	3:49
9	My Homies Still (performed by Young Jeezy, Jae Millz, and Gudda Gudda)	2:57
10	Green Ranger (featuring J. Cole)	3:21
11	Don't Like	2:35
12	No Lie	2:31
13	Magic (featuring Flow)	2:34
14	Wish You Would	3:02
15	A Dedication	6:10
Total length		52:00

Track listing from the source article.

Did You Know?

Dedication 4 arrived in the direct wake of Tha Carter 3's massive commercial success, meaning Wayne was at the absolute peak of his mainstream visibility when he recorded it.
The Young Money roster featured on the mixtapes included artists who would go on to become some of the most prominent names in 2010s hip-hop, making these tapes a kind of early snapshot of a future supergroup.