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After coming onstage a little later than scheduled (but still earlier than expected; make sense of that why don't you?), Lil Wayne started out dressed almost conservatively in a navy blue adidas track suit, with a Mr. Howell-like scarf (!) and his ever-present sunglasses.

He said he had three things to say to the screaming throng:

1. "I believe in God. Do you?"
2. "I ain't (expletive) without you, so make some noise for what you created."
3. See number 2.

Ah, gratitude. And that was a theme for the rest of the evening. He thanked the audience for buying his records, for supporting him from the beginning, for filling up their tanks (gas and otherwise, it seems) to come out to see him.

His laidback stage presence belied his furious output leading up to Tha Carter III. He performed bits of songs from his entire career, including "The Block is Hot" and "Fireman."

Then, with the audience's blessing, he moved to songs from Tha Carter III, which just came out in late June, mind you. All Weezy F. Baby had to do was perform the first verse or hook and the crowd finished the rest. He started with his collaboration with Babyface, "Comfortable," which segued into the rock-tinged "Shoot Me Down," in which he boasted, "I sweat money and the bank is my shower." (More on that later.)

He thanked Dallas' own Play-N-Skillz for blessing him with a "song so huge," "Got Money." And then he delivered some tasty mixtape goodness by ripping through about 13 songs.

Highlights? He welcomed everyone to Weezy's Corner, his poetry club with a dirty little spoken-word ditty about the usual rap suspects: money, cash, women.

He turned into a crooner for a moment, standing at the microphone and singing with his eyes closed.

And then he sat down on a stool as if he were an old blues man and strapped on his guitar. It wasn't quite as controversial as when Dylan plugged in, but it was probably just as unsettling.

Lil Wayne freestyled a lot throughout the show, but kept it friendly enough for an audience more than ready to rap along. At one point, I swear that he was channeling Prince as he went to his knees during a song about, well, a monster. And when he started "Stuntin' Like My Daddy," Birdman finally appeared with a bag of cash and even more cash hanging from his back pockets: a wad of $100 bills held together with thick rubber bands. The proclamation from the stage was that they had officially taken over. Any witness to the spectacle would have agreed that the Cash Money Millionaires had definitely taken over the venue, no apologies.

After performing his biggest hit to date, "Lollipop," Lil Wayne left us with 10 words. He repeated "Thank you" five times and then the DJ played Whitney Houston's cover of "I Will Always Love You," as he left us with a quiet, "I love you."

Early on during his set, Lil Wayne stopped everything and advised the crowd to get ready. And then he posed for pictures. You bet he's ready for his closeup.