Lil Wayne
Lil Wayne is one of the hottest, most versatile and gifted rapper on the planet. He Has wowed both fans and critics alike with is intoxicating flow and sick lyrics.
He worked with B.G. on the album “True Story” and eventually recorded for the label.”Get It How U Live,” released in 1997, was Lil Wayne’s first album with Hot Boys, and”Tha Block is Hot,” his solo debut, came out 1999. That album debuted in the top ten on the American Billboard 200 chart and Lil Wayne was nominated for “Best New Artist” from The Source Magazine the same year.Following this success, Wayne was soon featured on other rappers’ singles, including “Bling Bling” by B.G. and “#1 Stunna” by the Big Tymers in 2000.
While his debut album “Tha Block Is Hot” did garner some acclaim, and his two subsequent albums were decent, it wasn’t until 2004’s “Tha Carter” and the subsequent “Tha Carter II” and “Tha Carter III” that Lil Wayne became the superstar we know today and started selling Lil Wayne tickets like they were going out of style.
Lil Wayne has referred to himself as “best rapper alive.”While it could be tough to find an artists that Wayne hasn’t worked with, some of the artists he is most associative with include Birdman, Juelz Santana, Juvenile, T-Pain, Hot Boys, Young Jeezy, Kanye West, Trina, Mannie Fresh, B.G., T.I., Rick Ross, Kevin Rudolf and DJ Khaled.
Lil Wayne early life
Lil Wayne was born Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. on September 27, 1982. He was born in New Orleans, and grew up in the Hollygrove neighborhood. Lil Wayne attended Lafayette Elementary School where he enrolled in the school’s gifted program. He was always interested in music and performing, and in fact he joined the drama club at Eleanor McMain Secondary School. When Lil Wayne was 12 he starred as the Tin Man in the schools production of “The Wiz.” When he was 14, Carter dropped out of school. He has since earned his GED.
Carter’s first child is named Reginae Carter. Her mother is Wayne’s high-school sweetheart Toya Johnson. They married on Valentines Day, 2004, but divorced two years later. During the 2008 BET Awards Wayne dropped the news that he was expecting his first son, Dwayne Carter III, who was born on Oct. 22 in Cincinnati.
Lil Wayne also accidentally shot himself in the chest with a .44-caliber pistol.
Lil Wayne’s music career
During an Blender Magazine interview, Wayne dropped the news that the grunge band Nirvana was one of his favorite acts growing up and had a major influence on his development as an artist.
Bryan Williams is perhaps the man most responsible for Lil Wayne reaching stardom the way he did. Wayne met Williams, who is the owner of Cash Money Records, when he was eleven and he immediately impressed the music mogul. The young Carter would rap freestyle verses on Williams’ answering machine. Williams mentored Lil Wayne and featured him on some Cash Money Records.
Lil Wayne and the Hot Boys
As a young man, Lil Wayne was in the rap group the Hot Boys along with several well-known rappers, including Juvenile, Turk, and B.G. They released their first album together “Get It How U Live!” in 1997.
In 1999 the Hot Boys released their major-label debut “Guerrilla Warfare.” “Guerrilla Warfare” would go on to receive widespread acclaim and reached #1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart of Billboard magazine and was #5 on the Billboard 200. You will remember the Hot Boys major singles as “We On Fire” [Get It How U Live!] and “I Need a Hot Girl” [Guerrilla Warfare].
Wayne is well-know for his guest appearances on the albums of other rappers. The first major guest-appearance was on Juvenile’s “Back That Azz Up.” Wayne appearance has to be a part of the reason why the song reached #5 on Billboards Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks and #18 on the Hot 100.
The Hot Boys released the “Let ‘Em Burn” compilation, which featured previously unreleased songs, in 2003. While the Hot Boys weren’t a group any longer by that point, the album still reached #3 on Billboards R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts and #14 on the Top 200.
Lil Wayne’s Solo career
Lil Wayne released his first solo album “Tha Block Is Hot” in 1999 when he was just 16. The album featured many of the Hot Boys. The explosive debut was quickly accepted by the mainstream, and it would eventually reach double platinum, peaking at #3 on Billboard. The Source was quick to acknowledge Wayne’s talents, and the magazine nominated him the “Best New Artist” in 1999.
“Tha Block Is Hot”’s first featured single was Tha Block Is Hot. The song quickly became on of the biggest hits of the year.
In 2000 Lil Wayne dropped his follow up album “Lights Out.” Some critics said that Lil Wayne had not yet reached his potential and that he was resting on his laurels. Say what you want, but you can’t tell me that “Get Off The Corner” isn’t one of the best songs to come out of that era in rap. “Lights Out” also featured “Shine,” a personal favorite that featured some of the Hot Boys. “Lights Out” reached Gold certification.
Lil Wayne released his third album in 2002. “500 Degreez” would also reach Gold, but failed to live up to Wayne’s expectations. It featured many of the Hot Boys, but one that did not appear was Juvenile. In fact, perhaps the album dealt too much with Wayne and Juvenile’s beef instead of Wayne doing what he does best.
In fact, the album name was a reference to Juvenile’s “400 Degreez.” The album’s single “Way Of Life” is no-doubt a solid track, but nothing like what we would see from Wayne down the road.
Lil Wayne debuted “Tha Carter” (and his dreadlocks) in 2004, and the rest is history. It would sell more than 1 million records in the US alone. Go DJ was one of the hottest track of the year and became a #5 hit.
Around the same time Wayne was featured on Destiny’s Child’s “Soldier,” a solid hit that promoted him even more in the mainstream media.
Tha Carter II dropped in December of 2005. It was the first time Wayne didn’t work with Mannie Fresh, a long-time Cash Money Records producer. The album met instant success, selling over 238,000 records in just seven days and was #2 on the Billboard Top 200 charts. “Tha Carter II has since sold more that 2 million copies around the globe.
In 2005 Wayne became president of Cash Money Records. At the same time he also founded Young Money Entertainment as a subsidiary of Cash Money, but it looks like Wayne didn’t mange to get much done as Prez. He has said that he has relinquished control of both companies.
Lil Wayne Mixtapes and Cameos
After The Carter II, Lil Wayne went on a rampage of recording, appearing in almost hundreds of tracks of all shapes and sizes, including mixtapes and cameos. In fact, he was so prodigious that Vibe magazine ranked 77 Lil Wayne’s songs he dropped in 2007. They named his verse in “We Takin’ Over” as his best work of the year and “Dough Is What I Got” his second best song.
By this point, the mainstream media had taken notice, as The New Yorker ranked him “Rapper of the Year”, GQ named him “Workaholic of the Year” and in 2008 Rolling Stone named him “Best MC” and Blender named him “Best Rock Star Alive.”
In 2006 he worked with Birdman for “Like Father, Like Son.” The albums first single was “Stuntin’ Like My Daddy” and it would go on to reach #21 on the Billboard charts.
Two of the most known mixtapes are “Dedication 2″ and “Da Drought 3.” Both received tons of attention and contained some of Wayne’s most inspired musical styling’s.
Dedication 2 featured DJ Drama and is perhaps best known for the socially conscious “Georgia Bush.” The song contained special meaning to Wayne, as he criticized President Bush’s handling of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. Wayne of course is from New Orleans, so he knows better than most the severe impact Katrina had on his city.
Lil Wayne showed his dedication to his fans when he released “Da Drought 3″ as a free digital download.
Rolling Stone’s Christian Hoard named Da Drought 3 and The Drought Is Over 2 as two f the best albums of
2007 and the Mixtape Explosion
While Lil Wayne didn’t drop any new complete albums himself, he did appear in a number of tracks that kept him in the public view. Some of the best-known appearances are “Gimme That” by Chris Brown, “Make It Rain” by Fat Joe, “You” by Lloyd, and “We Takin Over” by DJ Khaled. He also appeared in “Duffle Bag Boy” by Playaz Circle, “Sweetest Girl” by Wyclef Jean, and the “I’m So Hood” remix by DJ Khaled. Lil Wayne had to have an impact on the fact that every single one of the singles was in the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 Rap Tracks and R&B/Hip-Hop charts. Wayne was also on Jay-Z’s “Hello Brooklyn 2.0″ of the American Gangster soundtrack.
Lil Wayne and the law
In his life Carter has had a number of run-ins with the boys in blue.
After a show in New York City in 2007, the police approached Wayne for smoking marijuana near his tour bus. The police searched him and found a concealed weapon when they brought him into custody. He was charged with criminal possession of a weapon and marijuana.
Wayne was again arrested after performing in Boise, Idaho as a fugitive because Georgian authorities accused Wayne of possessing a controlled substance. The charges didn’t stick, as they were dropped, and the whole episode was described a “mix-up.” Exactly what kind of “mix-up” gets you arrested for fugitive charges has not really been addressed.
Early in 2008, Lil Wayne was stopped by the Arizona Border Patrol while in his tour bus. They called in a K-9 unit and the bus allegedly contained 3.7 ounces of marijuana, more than an ounce of cocaine, 1.4 ounces of Ecstasy as well as $22,000 in cash. He was charged with four felonies, including possession of narcotic drug for sale, possession of dangerous drugs, misconduct involving weapons and possession of drug paraphernalia and posted a $10,185 bond. Wayne pleaded not guilty to the charges on May 6, 2008.
Tha Carter III
It took Carter a long time to get out Tha Carter III, in part because track kept getting leaked. His arrest in Arizona also played a part.
At first Wayne wanted to take the leaked tracks and drop them as one album, which would be titled “The Leak.” That never happened officially, but a digital copy came out on Christmas Day of 2007, a nice gift for all the Lil Wayne fans out there.
“Tha Carter III” finally hit the shelves on June 10, 2008 and the long wait was well worth it. Tha Carter III sold more than a million in just one week. “Lollipop” reached #1 on the Billboard
Hot 100, his first top-ten song as a solo artists.
“Got Money” nearly cracked the top 10, peaking at #13.
In July of 2008, the RIAA certified Tha Carter III as double platinum.
Other appearances by Wayne include “Girls Around the World” by Lloyd, “Love In This Club, Part II” by Usher, “Official Girl” by Cassie, “I’m So Paid” by Akon, “Turnin’ Me On” by Keri Hilson, and “Can’t Believe It” by T-Pain, “My Life” by The Game, “100 Million” and “I Run This” by Birdman, “Shawty Say” by David Banner, “Swagga Like Us” by T.I., “Cutty Buddy” by Mike Jones, and “Haterz” by Glasses Malone and “Let It Rock” Kevin Rudolf.
Lil Wayne future work:
While its tough to know exactly what Wayne is up to, he has hinted or announced several upcoming projects that may or may not happen. First on the list is a collaboration with Juelz Santana title “I Can’t Feel My Face.” That album has been in the works for several years. Wayne has also said he plans to do an R&B record which would feature a lot of vocoder. That album might be called Luv Sawngz. He has also said he wants to work with Lloud on a collaboration, and DJ Drama has said he would do a third installation of Dedication Mixtapes, while Wayne has said he hopes it would be a full album. He has also said he will release a Tha Carter IV. There also a lot of fans hoping that the collaboration with T-Pain, T-Wayne, will produce an album at some point.
Lil Wayne in sports.
Lil Wayne has named several teams as his favorites. In an article for ESPN the Magazine, he wrote that he is a tennis fan, like the Green Bay Packers, the Boston Bruins, The LA Lakers and the Boston Red Sox.
Wayne is also the first hip-hop artist to perform at the Country Music Awards. He performed “All Summer long” with on-again-off-again rapper/songwriter/country act/actor Kid Rock. Wayne did not rap, but instead let his guitar skills do the talking.
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