Biography
Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. grew up as an only child (he now has a younger brother) in the poverty-stricken and crime-ridden Hollygrove neighborhood of New Orleans' 17th Ward. At the age of sixteen, his stepfather Reginald "Rabbit" Carter died.
Wayne's first contact with hip-hop was listening to local Cash Money Records artists like Pimp Daddy and U.N.L.V., whom he would credit as his earliest influences. Wayne began rapping at block parties as a child, and his performance at one of them caught the ear of Lil Slim, a Cash Money rapper also from the neighborhood, who soon after the show gave him his phone number. He went on an autograph-signing session with Lil Slim, and there met Cash Money Records owners, Brian "Baby" Williams and Ronald "Slim" Williams. His freestyling abilities impressed the Williams brothers, but they didn't sign him at first. Eleven-year-old Wayne started to record freestyles on Baby's answering machine and haunted Cash Money offices nearly every day. When Baby saw so much engagement in the young rapper, he soon signed him and hooked up with another newcomer, Lil' Doogie (who would later become famous as B.G.), to form The B.G.'z. The group released their first and only album, True Story, in 1995.
In 1997, Wayne formed the Hot Boys along with Juvenile, Turk, and B.G., and they released their seminal debut CD Get It How You Live. The record's success earned the young teenagers fans throughout the South and Midwest. He further distinguished himself on the Hot Boys' multi platinum-selling Universal debut, Guerilla Warfare, which was released in 1998 and was followed by their 2003 release, Let Em Burn.
In 1999, Wayne launched his solo career with the Platinum selling The Block Is Hot. Lil Wayne followed up his successful debut with the Gold selling albums Lights Out in 2000 and 500 Degrees in 2002, an allusion to Juvenile's 400 Degreez.
In the summer of 2004, Dwayne Carter released Tha Carter. This album is marked as a personal milestone as he claimed to have finally perfected his trade. It was also Tha Carter that finally earned him mass notability outside the south as a talented lyricist, because at that time - and still today, southern rappers were stereotyped as having little to no lyrical ability. Tha Carter sold 878,000 copies in the United States and over 1 million copies worldwide.
On December 6, 2005 Wayne released Tha Carter II noticeably producing the album without the prominent beats of Mannie Fresh. Tha Carter II sold more than 238,000 copies the first week of release debuting at no. 2 on the Billboard Top 200 albums chart and has been certified platinum. The lead single off the album, "Fireman", became a hit in the US, peaking at 32 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The second single, "Grown Man", was solicited to urban radios in January of 2006 in hopes of spreading to Top 40 Mainstream and then to the Hot 100, but failed to do so and failed to receive any attention due to lack of promotion and no video.[citation needed] The third single "Hustler Musik" received a video and gained minor attention also. "Hustler Musik" reached #87 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Recently Wayne was recruited by the Boyz N Da Hood as their fourth member after Young Jeezy left the group to engage in his solo career. Due to scheduling conflicts involving the promotion of Tha Carter II, he would never be formally named an active member of Boyz N Da Hood but maintains a very good relationship with the group recording new tracks with them often. Florida rapper Rick Ross was rumored to then replace Wayne and in essence, Young Jeezy but he also has denied that he will be an official member of the group. LilWayne will also be featured on Roman Verone's up coming mix CD and LP due out soon.
In 2006 Lil Wayne released his critically acclaimed sequel to his Dedication mixtape with DJ Drama called Dedication 2. On it, he included an outro track entitled "Georgia....Bush" on which he addresses the problems surrounding the government's response to Hurricane Katrina in his native New Orleans, Lousiana and also places a large amount of blame on President George W. Bush. The title comes from the chorus lyric: "Hurrican Katrina, we shoulda called it Hurricane Georgia Bush." The track was recorded on the beat to Ludacris' single "Georgia" which sampled the Ray Charles track "Georgia On My Mind". This song is followed by a freestyle called "Weezy's Ambitions" over Tupac Shakur's "Ambitionz Az a Ridah". The freestyle was originally done on BET'sRap City following the release of Tha Carter II.
Lil Wayne is set to release two collaboration LPs. Originally, the mixtape I Can't Feel My Face with Juelz Santana was released over the summer, but with its extreme demand and popularity, there are now rumors of it becoming a major-label commercially released LP. On October 31 2006, Wayne released an album with his mentor Baby: Like Father, Like Son. Many confuse Baby as Wayne's birth father, but this is not true, as evidenced by Wayne's singles "Everything" (from Lights Out), and a song on Like Father, Like Son, where Wayne says "My dad died when I was 16." Later in the month of April of 2007 Lil Wayne released a new mixtape album called "Da Drought 3".
He is also in the process of creating the Murda Game Chronicles Part II:Blood Brothers the mixtape with The Game, which will not be released until sometime near August.
Personal life
Lil Wayne had been linked to female rapper Trina since around the time of the 2005 NBA All-Star Game at Pepsi Center in Denver. They later recorded a single, Don't Trip, which appeared on her album Glamorest Life, and appeared on the remix for Remy Ma's "Conceited (along with Papoose and Jae Millz). After that rumors started flying around about what was going on between the two. There were rumors that the two were dating or even engaged. On a radio interview, Trina said that the relationship was more of a "brother-sister" relationship. Later, on Victoria's RapBasement, Lil Wayne said he knew nothing of the rumors.
Both would later retract that statement. In an issue of Sister 2 Sister magazine, Trina would later say that she made a huge understatement at that radio interview, and that "He's one of the sweetest people I've ever met...I have so much love for him!" However, she just burst out in huge giggles when further questions were asked, and she said "We're both happy. That's all the world needs to know." In the March 2006 issue of VIBE magazine, Lil Wayne said that this relationship was better than his past ones because "She's (also) a rapper, so we understand each other." When asked about the ring, he smiled and said, "She just likes rings. I saw a nice one, so I got it for her." Lil Wayne and Trina have recently ended their relationship, which was stated by Lil Wayne, himself, on BET's 106 and Park.
He would draw some media and fan attention with the leak of a picture of himself and Bryan "Baby" Williams (a.k.a. Birdman) kissing. It was explained as a father-son kiss, and Williams later claimed it was a "black variation" of Mafia affection.
Lil Wayne has recently purchased a sky box at the Louisiana Superdome.
Lil Wayne has a daughter named Reginae Carter, he named her after his step father Reginald "Rabbit" Carter.
Lil Wayne has been attending the University of Houston in Houston, Texas since early 2005, where he began studying political science. According to the Cash Money Records website, Wanye has since switched his major to psychology.
In the single "Know What I'm Doin'" Lil Wayne claims to have been shot. During Wayne's childhood, he mistakenly shot himself with his stepfather's gun.
Arrest
On August 14, 2006, Lil Wayne was arrested on charges of possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana and possession of a controlled substance. Police claim the rapper was in possession of several unlabeled bottles — one containing 60 pills of Alprazolam, a generic form of Xanax that is used to treat anxiety disorders and panic attacks; another containing 59 hydrocodone pills — along with "two small burnt joints of marijuana," the report read. A second man, Derrick Lawrence, 37, was also charged with possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana. He was released from Georgia's Fulton County Jail on $11,000 bond following his arrest.
On July 22, 2007, Lil Wayne was arrested after his first New York City show at the Beacon Theater. Police officers smelled marijuana emanating from his tour bus, and preceded to search the vehicle. The officers found Wayne sitting with a handgun. 2
Bad Ass Grasshoppers
On June 3, 2007, Lil Wayne told the world about his new group, Bad Ass Grasshoppers (B.A.G. for short). It is featured with other Young Money artists. Their first album will be called "Put The Party In The Bag" and he said their first single will be called "Rap, Rock, R&B". They will soon release their first mixtape called "Rap, Rock, R&B" which Wayne said would introduce you to them.
Feuds
Jay-Z
After the retirement of Jay-Z, Lil Wayne claimed to be the best rapper alive, since the best rapper retired. Even though Jay-Z mildly responded to this claim, Lil Wayne continued to speak on the situation during interviews (such as the one in Complex Magazine). Lil Wayne has made a diss track on the instrumental of "Ether" by Nas titled "Fuck Jay-Z", and has taken numerous subliminal shots at him. He has spoken on Jay's retiring efforts in his Dedication 2 Mixtape, and also rapped lyrics to a countless amount of Jay's instrumentals using his ryhme style. But in a recent interview with XXL Lil' Wayne was asked about how he went from being the best rapper alive since Jay-Z retired to being flat out better than Jay. Surprisingly enough, Weezy offered an apology to Jay for the way that the magazine swayed his comments.
Juvenile
In 2002, Juvenile left Cash Money Records because of a monetary dispute. Lil Wayne released his album "500 Degreez" in hopes of doing better than Juvenile, who previously released "400 Degreez". "500 Degreez" went gold and couldn't match "400 Degreez".
However, on Tha Carter, Wayne recorded a song called "I Miss My Dawgs," where he talks about how much he missed the Hot Boys (Juvenile, BG, and Turk). However, the rest of them dismissed the song as a publicity stunt, and as a result he said "Fuck everybody who left Cash Money...I ain't got no respect for none of 'em." Juvenile replied with a diss track which featured UTP's Skip called "A Ho" which featured lyrics such as "What kind of n*gga kiss a grown man? (a ho)...What kind of n*gga got tears and ain't kill shit? (a ho)," which is a reference to the infamous mouth kiss between Wayne and Birdman, as well as the tears tattooed by Wayne's eyes (usually a sign of when a Blood has killed someone) despite never having killed anyone. Wayne responded on his Dedication mixtape with DJ Drama with a freestyle to the beat of Oh Boy by Cam'ron. Juve responded with the track "Say It To Me Now" (featuring Kango Slim of Partners-N-Crime and produced by Scott Storch) from his album Reality Check, which basically says that while he is still no longer on speaking terms with Cash Money, he will no longer make any diss tracks directed towards them because he feels it would be a waste of time.
There has recently been a track recorded "Do What U Wanna Do" by Skip And Wacko of UTP, the song features Lil Wayne, Also stated in the song by Wacko, "Ever since Katrina Juve quit so who gives a damn," verifying that Skip & Wacko are no longer on UTP Records.
B.G.
In 2001, B.G. left Cash Money Records because the label did not give him royalties over his deal.
B.G.'s beef was primarily with Baby, and his second Chopper City Records album Life After Cash Money is full of subliminal disses towards Baby. However, he was still on good terms with Lil' Wayne, until Wayne (over disgust from his Hot Boys tribute "I Miss My Dawgs" from Tha Carter being dismissed as a publicity stunt by Juvenile) made his controversial comment "Fuck everybody who left Cash Money...I ain't got no respect for none of 'em." In response, B.G. recorded the diss track "Triggaman" (set to the beat of Wayne's Fireman) where he makes several disparaging comments about Wayne including "First you were Rabbit's son, now you Birdman's J-R/How you gonna tell your daughter she got three grandfathers?" and "First it was Nivea, now you and Trina engaged/I got three homies that seen me nut it in her face" (Wayne was linked with Trina at the time).
That track would lead the beef to be extended, as Trina released the mixtape track "What's Beef?" where along with dissing her own rival Khia, she dissed B.G. and Gillie Da Kid. In that track, she dissed him with the line "You's a Cash Money Reject, a 9th Ward Soldier/Keep fuckin with that boy, you gon' end up in a coma." B.G. responded (along with Chopper City Boy VL Mike) on the mixtape track "Cannon Bust Back" where VL Mike dissed Trina saying "Keep Geezy's name out your mouth, we don't want beef with no bitch/If that n*gga ain't satisfyin' you can suck my dick/You crossed that line hoe, you got problems with me/And if that n*gga say my name he ain't allowed to speak," however B.G. reserved his disses for Wayne, merely saying "Got a big ol' dick peekin' at your bitch..." Wayne would break up with Trina soon after B.G.'s diss was recorded.
However, soon after that, Birdman's cousin Tamara Williams was killed in a car accident. B.G. called in at a radio station to send his condolences, as Tamara had history with B.G. Birdman would respond by saying he accepted, and was willing to set aside all the beef, to which B.G. responded that although he's no longer on Cash Money, he can still sympathize with Birdman's problems, thus ending the long beef between B.G. and Cash Money Records.
However, he still has problems with Lil' Wayne, as he described on BET's Rap City, where he says "Who? oh oh Jim Jones Jr.? ha ha nah, I know who your talkin about, Now as a rapper shawty holdin it down, I can't take nothin from shawty, He's one of the hottest lyricist out here. But as a man, Nah he isn' a man, Wayne can't speak for himself."
Gillie da Kid
A degree of controversy has arisen surrounding Lil Wayne's lyrics, mostly due to another rapper, Gillie da Kid, claiming that he has written some of Lil Wayne's material. This has neither been confirmed nor disproven, although both Wayne and Gillie remain firm in their views. Members of the Hot Boys & Sqad Up (Lil Wayne's old "crew") have previously stated that Lil Wayne has never needed a ghost writer. Lil Wayne can be seen wearing a diamond-studded pendant belonging to Gillie in one of his music videos [citation needed], although this does not necessarily have any correlation with the ghostwriting issue. Wayne also addresses his situation with Gillie on multiple tracks throughout Da Drought 3. During their dispute, Gillie also alleged that Lil Wayne may have been molested at a young age by his mentor Baby. This was in reference to the photo released in November of 2006, which showed the two rappers exchanging a kiss. He was quoted as saying the following:
If Baby met Wayne when he was 9—and Baby is about 50, so he had to be damn near 40—at what age did Baby tell Wayne 'We're gonna start kissing?' Was Wayne 12, and he 39? Was Wayne 15, and he 42? I'm just saying, you molested that boy...When you think about Wayne is the only n***a that ain't left [Cash Money Records]. Why?
– Gillie Da Kid, UNRWorld.com
Although Lil' Wayne has never formally responded to the molestation accusations, he has stated in numerous interviews that the kiss between he and Baby was not an intimate one.
Constantly being accused of having a ghostwriter for his most critically acclaimed albums, Tha Carter 1, and Tha Carter 2, Wayne attempts to dispel the rumors in this quote directed at Gillie:
I don’t get it. How you could write for me and I don’t write? I’m rich as a muthafucka, and you wrote for me? Then why aren’t you rich? If I wrote for a nigga and this nigga’s on top of the world right now, I’d be like, “Where’s my fuckin’ money? Where’s my benefits?” I heard this nigga do an interview and say he got like $30 thousand a song. Show me one of them $30 thousand checks you got from writing for me. Show me, ’cause I don’t know what you wrote for me. I don’t write nothing, dawg. The only time I touch the pad is for someone else.
Young Buck
Young Buck left Cash Money Records the same time Juvenile did and joined UTP Records. Young Buck was unable to record with Cash Money and Juvenile persuaded Buck to join him. Young Buck became involved with the beef between Juvenile/BG & Lil Wayne. Recently in a song called "Off Parole" featuring Tony Yayo, Young Buck talked about the infamous kiss between Lil Wayne & Baby. Lil Wayne refused to say anything back. Later, Young Buck would retract his comments about Lil' Wayne and invite him to his own concert to settle their differences.
Tony Yayo
During the feud between G-Unit and the Diplomats, the Diplomats were linked with Cash Money. Lil Wayne also collaborated with Fat Joe and Lloyd during the time. Both singles "Make It Rain" and "You" received heavy airplay. Tony Yayo stated in an interview, "I don't believe in Cam'ron. I don't believe in Jim Jones. I don't believe in Baby. I don't believe in Lil Wayne. I don't believe in Game. I don't believe in Fat Joe."
Acting career
Who's Your Caddy?
Lil Wayne is playing the role of himself while Big Boi is shooting a music video on the local golf course.
Cut Throat City
Cash Money Records founder and CEO Bryan "Baby" Williams and his star artist Lil' Wayne have signed on to star in a new independent movie titled Cut Throat City.
The heist story starts in New Orleans' rough 9th Ward, also known as Cut Throat City. One of several films in the works centered on Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. The story, set in the Big Easy, follows a heist that begins in the decimated Lower Ninth Ward and will touch on the government’s neglect of the area.
Cut Throat City is scheduled to be released in the first quarter of 2008
Ballers
Ballers is a comedy set in the world of pro basketball. Due to a slow production and lack of time, the films release date has been rumored to be the summer of 2008.[citation needed] It features rappers like T.I. , Lil' Wayne, Ludacris, and 50 Cent.
The Boondocks
In Fall 2007, when then the second season of The Boondocks airs, Lil Wayne's role as Huey and Riley's cousin from New Orleans will begin.
Baller Blockin
Made in 2000, set in New Orleans' 3rd ward.
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