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. Wayne dropped out of school at the age of 13 to pursue his rap career. Wayne later was 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 Tha Block Is Hot. Lil Wayne followed up his successful debut with the Gold selling albums Lights Out in 2000 and 500 Degreez 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. Lil Wayne 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 2007.
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.
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.
