Lil Wayne

Fun Fact: When Wayne was 15, his mother Gloria Carter, asked him to find someone to have a baby with so she wouldn’t be bored around the house. He had a daughter with a 14-year-old girl.

Claim to Fame: at the age of 11, Wayne signed to Cash Money Records but was overshadowed by older Cash Money artists like the former member Juvenile. It wasn’t until 2004, when Wayne released his fourth album, and first crossover hit, “Tha Carter” that fans and doubters took notice of his talent, eventually landing him to be called one of the best lyricists in 2006 and 2007.

Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr., better known by his stage name Lil Wayne, is an American Grammy Award-winning rapper. Formerly a member of the rap group the Hot Boys, he joined the Cash Money Records collective as a teenager. 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 in 1999.

After gaining fame with two other albums in the early 2000s, Lil Wayne reached higher popularity with 2004's Tha Carter and its two subsequent albums Tha Carter II and Tha Carter III. He earned various accolades following Tha Carter III, including eight Grammy Awards nominations. He has had two number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100. He will release a rock album titled Rebirth in 2009.


Lil Wayne was born Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. and grew up in the Hollygrove neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana. Carter enrolled in the gifted program of Lafayette Elementary School and in the drama club of Eleanor McMain Secondary School. When he was 12, he played the part of the Tin Man in his middle school drama club's production of The Wiz. He claims that he accidentally shot himself with a .44 caliber gun at that age. Lil Wayne was also featured on Juvenile's single "Back That Azz Up", which reached #18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #5 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks. Let 'Em Burn, a compilation album of unreleased tracks recorded during 1999 and 2000, came out in 2003, several years after the group disbanded. It reached #3 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and #14 on the Billboard 200.


Lil Wayne's debut solo album Tha Block Is Hot at age 17 featured significant contributions from the Hot Boys and went double platinum, climbing to #3 on the Billboard album charts. and also became a Top Ten hit. Critics pointed to the lack of coherent narratives in his verses as evidence that he had yet to mature to the level of his fellow Hot Boys. The lead single was "Get Off The Corner" which was noticed for an improvement in lyrical content and style, it also received a music video. The second single which received less attention was "Shine" featuring The Hot Boys. Near the release of Lights Out, Lil Wayne was featured on the single, "1# Stunna" with Big Tymers and Juvenile, which rose to 24th place on the Hot Rap Tracks charts.

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