Back in 2018, Lil Wayne finally accomplished something that had seemed impossible: He released Tha Carter V. After years of bitter words and legal battles with his longtime label Cash Money Records, Wayne became a free agent and put out the album that his label had shelved back in 2012. Artistically, Tha Carter V was bumpy and inconsistent but still a whole lot better than many of us feared. Commercially, it was a smash. And very soon, we’ll get the follow-up.

On Twitter and Instagram last night, Wayne announced the existence of a new LP called Funeral. It’s coming out 1/31 — a week from today — and there’s already a digital preorder page up with all sorts of merch bundles. You can buy Funeral on vinyl or CD or cassette! You can buy it with a shirt or a beanie or a pack of stickers! (Some of those shirts are pretty good, at least if you’re OK with wearing metalcore-ass Olde English fonts.) UPDATE: And as The Commenter Formerly Known As Amir points out, if you turn the cover upside-down it reads Lil Wayne.

Wayne hasn’t yet shared any of those songs from Funeral, so there’s at least a vague possibility that he’s made a full-album cover version of Arcade Fire’s debut album. Probably not, though. Wayne has shared a quick clip of an intro song, and it appears to be Wayne operating in portentous, dramatic epic-rap mode, which is not usually Wayne at his best. Check it out below.

1/31 https://t.co/7VtPC39vT6 pic.twitter.com/FQrLNA8ptn

— Lil Wayne WEEZY F (@LilTunechi) January 23, 2020

If you’re a longtime fan of Lil Wayne, then you’re used to the feeling of pre-release anxiety. Every time Wayne puts out something new, it’s natural to worry that he’ll completely fall off and tarnish his own towering legacy. Sometimes he does! But Wayne has surprised us plenty of times, too.