Lil Wayne

Lil Wayne

Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. (born September 27, 1982 in New Orleans, Louisiana), better known by his stage name Lil Wayne, is an American rapper.

Biography

Personal life

Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. was born to Jacida "Cita" Carter who at the time of his birth was 19, graduating from high school and involved in an abusive relationship with his biological father Dwayne Michael Turner who soon after abandoned the family. Jacida later became involved with Reginald "Rabbit" McDonald who moved the family from Hollygrove neighborhood of New Orleans' 17th Ward to East New Orleans. It was around the time of the move that Carter began to get deeper involved in rap music, signing with Cash Money at the age of 11. A year after his move to East New Orleans, Carter accidentally shot himself in the chest with McDonald's .44 Taurus Magnum, he would subsequently be on life support for two weeks. A year later Jacinda would demand Carter stay away from Brian "Baby" Williams, having gone to school with his older brother Ronald "Slim" Williams, both founders of Cash Money Records. The separation would only last a year, as Carter returned to Cash Money after the death of Reginald McDonald on March 7, 1997.

At the age of 16 Wayne had a daughter with Antonia "Toya", his high school sweet heart, Reginae Carter.

Lil Wayne later enrolled and is currently attending the University of Houston in Houston, Texas since early 2005, where he is majoring in political science. According to the Cash Money Records website, Wayne later switched his major to psychology.

Rap foundation

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 later credit as his earliest influences. Wayne began rapping at block parties as a child. His performance at one of the parties caught the ear of Lil Slim, a Cash Money rapper from the neighborhood, who gave Lil Wayne his phone number. He went on an autograph-signing session with Lil Slim, and there met Cash Money Records owners, "Baby" and "Slim". His free styling abilities impressed the Williams brothers, but they were reluctant to sign him. Eleven-year-old Wayne started to record freestyles on Baby's answering machine and would frequently visit Cash Money offices. When Baby saw so much engagement in the young rapper, he signed him. Wayne later was hooked up with another newcomer, Lil' Doogie (who would later become as 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 fans throughout the South and Midwest. He further distinguished himself on the Hot Boys' multi platinum-selling Universal debut, Guerrilla Warfare, which was released in 1998 and was followed by their 2003 release, Let Em Burn.

Other Groups

Recently Wayne was recruited by the Boyz N Da Hood as their fourth member after Young Jeezy left the group to pursue his solo career. He would never be formally named an active member of Boyz N Da Hood due to scheduling conflicts involving the promotion of Tha Carter II.

Solo career

Wayne launched his solo career in 1999, with Tha Block Is Hot. Wayne later followed up his successful debut with the Gold selling albums Lights Out in 2000 and 500 Degreez in 2002, a reference to Juvenile's 400 Degreez. In the summer of 2004 Wayne released Tha Carter. Often cited as a highlight of his career, Tha Carter gained Wayne significant recognition, selling 878,000 copies in the United States. On December 6, 2005, Wayne released Tha Carter II. The album was notably lacking the prominent beats of Mannie Fresh. Tha Carter II sold more than 238,000 copies in its first week of release, debuting at No. 2 on the Billboard Top 200 albums chart. The lead single, "Fireman", became a hit in the US, peaking at 32 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The second single, "Grown Man", failed to receive any attention. The third single "Hustler Musik" received a video and gained moderate airplay.

Rumors

Lil Wayne has been linked to female rapper Trina. They recorded a single, Don't Trip, which appeared on her album Glamorest Life, and appeared on the remix for Remy Ma's "Conceited" with Papoose and Jae Millz.

As referenced in the December 2007 Vibe Magazine, Lil Wayne is also rumored to be involved with Karrine Steffans.

Feuds

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 nigga ain't satisfyin' you can suck my dick
You crossed that line hoe, you got problems with me

And if that nigga 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.

Soon after that, Birdman's sister 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 you're 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."

Recently, Lil Wayne and B.G. have appeared in a photo together. Their beef is believed to be over. They both have said there former group will be reunited and album will be released in 2008.

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 disproved, although both Wayne and Gillie remain firm in their views. Members of the Hot Boys & Squad 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 , 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.

Constantly being accused of having a ghostwriter for his most critically acclaimed albums, Tha Carter, and Tha Carter II, 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 motherfucker, 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. Young Buck would seemingly expand the feud by making threats of exposing Lil Wayne during a G-Unit appearance on Rap City.

President Bush

Wayne addresses President George W. Bush because of his delayed reaction on the Hurricane Katrina tragedy. He has a song entitled "Georgia Bush" and in "I Can't Feel My Face (Hard Body)" Wayne says, "Fuck you and fuck Georgia Bush, not Macon."

Filmography

• Who's Your Caddy? (2007)
• Baller Blockin (2000)

Discography

Main article: Lil Wayne discography

• Tha Block Is Hot (1999)
• Lights Out (2000)
• 500 Degreez (2002)
• Tha Carter (2004)
• Tha Carter II (2005)
• Tha Carter III: The Leak (2007)
• Tha Carter III (2008)
• Dedication III (2008)

Mixtapes

• Dedication
• Dedication II
• Da Drought
• Da Drought 2
• Da Drought 3
• The Drought Is Over
• The Drought Is Over 2
• The Drought Is Over 3
• The Drought Is Over Pt. 4

Collaboration albums

• Like Father, Like Son (2006) - with Birdman
• I Can't Feel My Face (2007/2008) - with Juelz Santana

External links

• Lil Wayne Official Myspace Website
• Cash Money Records Official Website
• Lil Wayne at IMDb