Pitchfork

When we first laid eyes on the supposed cover for Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III, we thanked our lucky stars that we live in a world in which such an image could exist. But when doubts were raised that this might not be the actual artwork for the long-delayed LP, we were all "Weezy F. Baby, please save the baby!"

But blessed be, our buddy Wayne has once again come through for us. According to MTV.com, wee Wayne, tatted up and such, will indeed grace the front of Tha Carter III upon its (scheduled) June 10 release from Young Money/Cash Money/Universal Motown. It is almost certainly the single greatest cover image since Big Bear's Doin Thangs.

Wayne provided MTV with the following quote about the image: "That's me! All day. No computers. Only thing [digitally enhanced] was the tattoos. My momma gave me the picture for me to put on the album cover. I don't know where my momma found that picture. My momma, she gave me that and one more. If you would have saw the other picture, you'd be like, 'She got too many pictures.' "

While chatting with Wayne, MTV also managed to get a little more in the way of details about the album. Tha Carter III will apparently arrive entirely devoid of skits (never a bad thing), opting instead for a kind of recurring youth spotlight featuring up-and-comers Lil Mama, Hurricane Chris, Cory Gunz, Tyga, and Wayne's 13-year-old protégé Lil Chucky all offering their takes on Wayne's recent mixtape fire "A Millie".

MTV also confirmed that Wayne will shoot a video for "A Millie" and drop an official remix for the confoundingly popular "Lollipop" (it's number one on the Hot 100 this week!), and that Tha Carter III does indeed sport long-rumored guest appearances from Jay-Z and Ludacris.

Wayne's got a few more tour dates lined up since last we spoke on the matter, including that appearance way off in August at Baltimore's Virgin Festival. Perhaps this album will be out by then.

Wayne:

05-08 Owensboro, KY - Owensboro Center
05-10 Youngstown, OH - Chevrolet Center
05-30 Providence, RI - Dunkin Donuts Center
05-31 Boston, MA - Tweeter Center
06-01 East Rutherford, NJ - Giants Stadium
08-09-10 Baltimore, MD - Virgin Mobile Festival