Lil wayne early life biography

American rapper (born 1982)

"Dwayne Carter" and "Weezy" redirect here. For the racecar driver, see Duane Carter. For the similarly named rapper, see Wheezy.

Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September 27, 1982),^[2] known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. He is regarded as one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generation, and widely considered one of the greatest rappers of all time.^[3] Born and raised in New Orleans, he was discovered by hometown rapper Birdman in 1993 and signed with his record label, Cash Money Records, at age eleven.^[4][5] He emerged as the flagship artist of the label in the following years until his departure in June 2018.^[6]

He was first placed in a duo with Cash Money labelmate B.G. in 1994—known collectively as the B.G.'z—and they released an album, True Story, in July of that year, although Carter (at the time known as Baby D) only appeared on three tracks.^[7] Carter and B.G. then formed the Southern hip-hop group Hot Boys with labelmates Juvenile and Turk in 1997; they released their debut album, Get It How U Live! in October of that year. The Hot Boys gained mainstream success following the release of their second album Guerrilla Warfare (1999), as well as their hit single, "Bling Bling".^[8] The group briefly disbanded after the album due to each member (besides Carter) parting ways with the label, although one further album—Let 'Em Burn (2003)—was released.^[9]

Carter's debut studio album, Tha Block Is Hot (1999), quickly achieved commercial success and served as his breakthrough as a solo act, followed by Lights Out (2000) and 500 Degreez (2003). He further reached mainstream audiences with his fourth and fifth albums in which were the first 2 installments of Tha Carter albums (Tha Carter (2004) and Tha Carter II (2005), as well as several mixtapes and collaborations throughout 2006 and 2007. He propelled to the forefront of hip hop with his sixth album Tha Carter III (2008), with first-week sales of over one million units domestically. It won Best Rap Album at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards and was supported by his first Billboard Hot 100-number one single, "Lollipop" (featuring Static Major), as well as the top ten singles "A Milli" and "Got Money" (featuring T-Pain), and the top 20 single, "Mrs. Officer" (featuring Bobby V and Kidd Kidd).

Carter's seventh studio album, Rebirth (2010), experimented with rap rock and was released in February of that year to generally negative critical response. A month later in March, he began serving an 8-month jail sentence for criminal possession of a weapon stemming from an incident in July 2007. His eighth album, I Am Not a Human Being (2010), was released during his incarceration, while his ninth album, Tha Carter IV (2011), followed months after his release from prison. Despite mixed reviews, Tha Carter IV sold 964,000 units in its first-week domestically.^[10] His twelfth studio album, Tha Carter V (2018)—preceded by I Am Not a Human Being II (2013) and Free Weezy Album (2015)—was released following long-term delays and label disputes, and was met with 480,000 in first-week sales. His thirteenth album, Funeral (2020), became his fifth non-consecutive number one album.^[11]

Carter has sold over 120 million records worldwide, including over 25 million albums and 92 million digital tracks in the United States, making him one of the world's best-selling music artists.^[12][13][14] He has won five Grammy Awards, eleven BET Awards, four Billboard Music Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards and eight NAACP Image Awards. On September 27, 2012, he became the first male artist to surpass Elvis Presley with the most entries on the Billboard Hot 100, with 109 songs.^[15][16] Carter founded the record label Young Money Entertainment in 2005, which has signed artists including Drake, Tyga and Nicki Minaj.

Early life

Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. was born on September 27, 1982, and spent his first few years in the impoverished Hollygrove neighborhood of Uptown New Orleans, Louisiana's 17th Ward.^[17] His mother, a cook, gave birth to him when she was 19 years old. His parents divorced when he was two and his father permanently abandoned the family. When CBS interviewer Katie Couric asked why he used the name Wayne instead of his given name, Carter explained that "I dropped the D because I'm a junior and my father is living and he's not in my life and he's never been in my life. So I don't want to be Dwayne, I'd rather be Wayne". Asked if his father knew of this, Carter replied, "He knows now".^[18] Carter has said that he considers his deceased stepfather Reginald "Rabbit" McDonald to be his real father. Carter has a tattoo dedicated to McDonald.^[19]

Carter was enrolled in the gifted program at Lafayette Elementary School. He later attended Eleanor McMain Secondary School for two years, where he was an honor student and a member of the drama club, playing the Tin Man in the school's production of The Wiz.^[20][21][22] After matriculating to Marion Abramson Senior High School, Carter dropped out at age 14 to focus on his musical career.^[23]

Carter wrote his first rap song at age eight.^[24] In the summer of 1991, he met rapper and Cash Money Records co-founder Bryan "Baby" Williams (known currently as Birdman), who mentored him and encouraged his love of hip-hop; Birdman included Carter on several Cash Money tracks, and he (in return) would often record freestyle raps on Williams' answering machine.^[25]

In 1994, at age 12, Carter suffered a near-fatal self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest.^[26] At the time, he said the injury was accidental. However, in September 2018, Carter claimed in interviews that it was an attempted suicide after he was told by his mother that he would have to end his rap-related associations.^[27] Carter credits off-duty police officer Robert Hoobler (1956–2022),^[28][29] who he calls "Uncle Bob", with saving his life by insisting the dying child be driven immediately to hospital in a police car rather than waiting for an ambulance to become available.^[30] Other accounts indicate that several officers played a part in deciding on and implementing that course of action.^[26]

Career

1994–1999: Career beginnings and Hot Boys

After recovering from his self-inflicted gunshot wound, Carter linked with Christopher Dorsey, a local New Orleans rapper known as B.G., his longtime friend, future Cash Money labelmate and Hot Boys bandmate. They would later form their duo, the B.G.'z, with B.G. being named "Lil Doogie" and Carter being "Baby D".^[31] They only released one album under the group name, True Story (1995).^[31]

In 1997, Carter and Dorsey then joined the hip-hop quartet, the Hot Boys, along with rappers and labelmates, Juvenile, and Turk. Having joined at age 14, Carter was the youngest member at the time. Hot Boys' debut album, Get It How U Live!, was released the same year, followed in 1999 by the group's major-label debut Guerrilla Warfare,^[17] which respectively reached number one on the BillboardTop R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and number five on the Billboard 200.^[32] During their career, the Hot Boys had two charting singles, "We on Fire" from Get It How U Live! and "I Need a Hot Girl" from Guerrilla Warfare.^[33] The group shared a track, "Bling Bling", alongside another Cash Money group, duo Big Tymers (consisting of Birdman and producer Mannie Fresh). Carter's verse appeared only on the radio version of the song, while on the album version he performed on the chorus. "Bling Bling" appeared on Hot Boys member B.G.'s solo album, Chopper City in the Ghetto, released in April 1999.^[34] Carter was also featured on Juvenile's single "Back That Azz Up", which reached number eighteen on the Billboard Hot 100 and number five on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks.^[35]

Let 'Em Burn, a compilation album of unreleased tracks recorded by the quartet during 1998 and 2000, was released in March 2003, several years after the group disbanded.^[36] It reached number three on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, but underperformed on the Billboard 200 at number fourteen.^[32]

1999–2004: Tha Block Is Hot, Lights Out, and 500 Degreez

Carter's debut solo album, Tha Block Is Hot, was released on November 2, 1999, when he was 17 and featured significant contributions from the Hot Boys. It debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 and was later certified platinum by the RIAA in December 1999, less than a month after its release.^[37][17] The album earned Carter a 1999 Source magazine nomination for "Best New Artist",^[38] and also became a Top Ten hit.^[17] The lead single was the album's title track, which its chorus was performed by Carter's former Hot Boys cohort, Juvenile and B.G.

His second album, Lights Out, was released on December 19, 2000. It failed to attain the level of success achieved by his debut,^[17] but was certified gold by RIAA in June 2001, nearly six months after its release.^[39] Critics noted the lack of coherent narratives in his verses as evidence that he had yet to mature to the level of his fellow Hot Boys.^[40] The lead single was "Get Off the Corner", which was noticed for an improvement in its lyrical content and style. The second single, which received less attention, was "Shine" featuring the Hot Boys. Near the release of Lights Out, Carter was featured on the single, "Number One Stunna" with Big Tymers and Juvenile, which peaked at number 24 on the Hot Rap Tracks chart. The track, originally featured on Big Tymers' I Got That Work, would be used for the Spike Lee-directed comedy film, The Original Kings of Comedy.

Carter's third album, 500 Degreez, was released in August 2002. It followed the format of his previous two, with significant contributions from the Hot Boys and Mannie Fresh. While being certified gold like its predecessor,^[39] it also failed to match the success of his debut.^[17] The title was a reference to the recently estranged Hot Boys member Juvenile's debut solo studio album, 400 Degreez (1998).^[41][42] Its lead single was "Way of Life", featuring Birdman and singer TQ with narration by its producer, Mannie Fresh; it reached number 71 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 23 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts.^[43] The single featured a sample of Tupac Shakur's diss track towards the Notorious B.I.G., "Hit 'Em Up" (1996), which itself sampled Dennis Edwards and Siedah Garrett's "Don't Look Any Further" (1984). Despite the album's commercial failure, John Bush of AllMusic praised 500 Degreez, while calling "Way of Life" an "infectious party hit".^[41] After the release of 500 Degreez, Carter was featured on the single "Neva Get Enuf" by 3LW, and later appeared on his future girlfriend, singer Nivea's single, "Ya Ya Ya".^[44]

2004–2006: Tha Carter, Tha Carter II, and Like Father, Like Son

On June 29, 2004, Carter's fourth studio album, Tha Carter, was released, marking what critics considered advancement in his rapping style and lyrical themes.^[45] In addition, the album's cover art featured the debut of Wayne's now-signature dreadlocks.^[17]Tha Carter gained Wayne significant recognition, selling 878,000 copies in the United States, while the single "Go DJ" became a top five hit on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.^[46] After the release of Tha Carter, Lil Wayne was featured on Destiny's Child's single "Soldier" alongside Atlanta rapper T.I., which peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts.^[47]

In 2005, Carter appeared on a remix of singer Bobby Valentino's "Tell Me", which rose to number thirteen on the U.S. Hot R&B Songs chart. That same year, Carter was named the president of Cash Money Records, but was later granted his own label; he founded Young Money Entertainment as an imprint of Cash Money and Universal Music Group.^[48] However, as of late 2007, Carter reported having stepped down from the management of both labels and handed management of Young Money over to his longtime manager, Cortez Bryant.^[49]

Tha Carter II, the sequel to 2004's Tha Carter, was released on December 6, 2005. Mannie Fresh was not involved in the production of the album, as he had left the label prior, due to financial issues.^[50][51]Tha Carter II sold more than 238,000 copies in its first week of release, debuting at number two on the Billboard 200; the album went on to sell two million copies worldwide. The lead single, "Fireman", became a hit in the U.S., peaking at 32 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Other singles included "Grown Man" with Currensy, "Hustler Musik", and "Shooter" with R&B singer Robin Thicke.

In 2006, Carter collaborated with his label boss, Birdman, for the album, Like Father, Like Son, which its first single "Stuntin' Like My Daddy", reached number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100.

2006–2007: Mixtapes and collaborations

Instead of a follow-up solo album, Carter began to reach his audience through a plethora of mixtapes and guest appearances on a variety of pop, R&B and hip hop singles.^[17] Of his many mixtapes, Dedication 2 and Da Drought 3 received the most media exposure and critical review. Dedication 2, released in 2006, paired Carter with DJ Drama and contained the acclaimed socially conscious track, "Georgia Bush", a remix of Field Mob and Ludacris' "Georgia", in which Carter critiqued former U.S. president George W. Bush's response to the effects of Hurricane Katrina on the city of New Orleans. Da Drought 3 was released the following year and was available for free legal download. It contained Carter rapping over a variety of beats from recent hits by other musicians. A number of prominent hip hop magazines such as XXL^[52] and Vibe^[23] covered the mixtape. Christian Hoard of Rolling Stone magazine considered the mixtapes Da Drought 3 and The Drought Is Over 2 (The Carter 3 Sessions) "among the best albums of 2007".^[53]

Despite no album release for two years, Carter appeared in numerous singles as a featured performer, including in 2006 with the remix to "Gimme That" by Chris Brown, "Make It Rain" by Fat Joe and "You" by Lloyd, and in 2007 with "We Takin' Over" by DJ Khaled (also featuring Akon, T.I., Rick Ross, Fat Joe, and Birdman), "Duffle Bag Boy" by Playaz Circle, "Sweetest Girl (Dollar Bill)" by Wyclef Jean (also featuring Akon), and the remix to "I'm So Hood" by DJ Khaled (also featuring T-Pain, Young Jeezy, Ludacris, Busta Rhymes, Big Boi, Fat Joe, Birdman, and Rick Ross). All these singles charted within the top 20 spots on the BillboardHot 100, Hot Rap Tracks, and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts. On Birdman's 2007 album, 5 * Stunna, Carter appeared on the singles "100 Million" and "I Run This" among several other tracks. Carter also appeared on tracks from albums, Getback by Little Brother, American Gangster by Jay-Z, and Graduation by Kanye West and Insomniac by Enrique Iglesias. "Make It Rain" (2006), a Scott Storch production that peaked at number thirteen on the Hot 100 and number two on the Hot Rap Tracks chart,^[54] was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for 2008.^[55]

Vibe magazine ranked a list of 77 of Lil Wayne's songs from 2007 and ranked his verse in DJ Khaled's "We Takin Over" as his best of 2007, with "Dough Is What I Got" (a freestyle over the beat of Jay-Z's "Show Me What You Got") from Da Drought 3.^[23] At the end of 2007, an MTV poll selected Lil Wayne as "Hottest MC in the Game",^[56]The New Yorker magazine ranked him "Rapper of the Year",^[25] and GQ magazine named him "Workaholic of the Year".^[57] In 2008, he was named "Best MC" by Rolling Stone.^[53] Another article, built around Lil Wayne's 2007 mixtape work, cites his creative practice as an example of post-performance creative practice.^[58]

2007–2010: Tha Carter III, We Are Young Money, and Rebirth

In 2007, Carter stated that he would reunite with Hot Boys, with plans to release an album after B.G.'s solo album Too Hood to Be Hollywood was completed.^[59]Tha Carter III was originally scheduled to be released in 2007, but it was delayed after several recordings were leaked and distributed through mixtapes, including The Drought Is Over Pt. 2 and The Drought Is Over Pt. 4. Lil Wayne initially planned to release The Leak, a separate album with leaked songs and four additional tracks, on December 18, 2007, with Tha Carter III delayed to March 18, 2008.^[60] Instead, The Leak became an EP with five songs and was released digitally on December 25, 2007.^[61]

Tha Carter III was released on June 10, 2008, with first-week sales of over 1 million copies, the first to do so since 50 Cent's The Massacre (2005).^[62] The album's first single, "Lollipop", featuring Static Major, became the Carter's most successful song at the time, topping the Billboard Hot 100 and becoming his first top ten single as a solo artist and his first number one on the chart. The third single "Got Money", featuring T-Pain, peaked at number thirteen on the Billboard 100. Tha Carter III went on to win four Grammy Awards, including Best Rap Album and Best Rap Song, which he won for "Lollipop".^[63] On July 14, 2008, the Recording Industry Association of America certified Tha Carter III two times platinum.^[64] In October 2008, Lil Wayne announced plans to MTV News to re-release the album with new tracks, including a duet with Ludacris and remixes of "A Milli".^[65]

Carter also appeared on R&B singles "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; rap singles "My Life" by The Game, "Shawty Say" by David Banner, "Swagga Like Us" by T.I., "Cutty Buddy" by Mike Jones, All My Life (In the Ghetto) by Jay Rock and the remix to "Certified" by Glasses Malone; and pop single "Let It Rock" by new Cash Money artist Kevin Rudolf.

Throughout 2008, Carter performed at the Voodoo Experience in October in New Orleans, which was described by Jonathan Cohen of Billboard as his biggest hometown headlining set of his career.^[66] He also performed at the Virgin Mobile Music Fest with Kanye West, where they performed the remix of "Lollipop" and lip-synced to Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You".^[67] Lil Wayne also performed at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards with Kid Rock ("All Summer Long"), Leona Lewis ("DontGetIt (Misunderstood)") and T-Pain ("Got Money") and performed "Lollipop" and "Got Money" on the season premiere of Saturday Night Live.^[68] He later performed at the homecoming rally at Vanderbilt University^[69] and the 2008 BET Hip Hop Awards, where he received 12 nominations.^[70] He won eight awards at the BET Hip Hop Awards, one of which included the "MVP" title.^[71][72] After M.I.A. dropped out of performing on Carter's I Am Music Tour due to her pregnancy, Jay-Z performed "Mr. Carter" with Lil Wayne at select shows.^[73]

After Tha Carter III sold over 3 million copies and became the best-selling record of 2008, Carter re-signed with Cash Money Records for a multi-album deal.^[74] On November 11, 2008, Carter became the first hip hop act to perform at the Country Music Association Awards, playing "All Summer Long" alongside Kid Rock, in which Carter inaudibly strummed guitar strings alongside the guitarist in Kid Rock's band.^[75] Shortly after, Wayne was nominated for eight Grammys – the most for any artist nominated that year.^[76] He was then named the first MTV Man of the Year at the end of 2008.^[77] He won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance for "A Milli", Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for his appearance on T.I.'s single "Swagga Like Us", and Best Rap Song for "Lollipop". Tha Carter III won the award for Best Rap Album.^[63] MTV News listed Carter number two on their 2009 list of the Hottest MCs in the Game.^[78]

Prior to the 2009 Grammy Awards, Wayne was featured in an interview with Katie Couric.^[79] On February 7, 2009, he presented the Top Ten List on CBS's Late Show with David Letterman.^[80] On April 24, 2009, he appeared on The View, discussing his GED and addictions.^[81] In September 2009, Carter was profiled in an episode of VH1's Behind the Music^[82] and was a presenter of the 2009 MTV Movie Awards.^[83] In film, Carter produced and composed music for and starred in the direct-to-video film Hurricane Season. A documentary of Carter, titled The Carter, was released at the Sundance Film Festival.^[84]

On December 23, 2009, Carter released his label, Young Money's first compilation album, We Are Young Money, with its lead single being "Every Girl".^[85] The second single was "BedRock", featuring Lloyd, with the third being "Roger That". On May 24, 2010, the album was certified gold by the RIAA with over 500,000 copies sold.^[86] Carter is featured on the song, "Revolver", with Madonna for her greatest hits album, Celebration (2009). He was also featured on a Weezer song, "Can't Stop Partying", on Raditude (2009).^[87] In late 2008, Carter announced plans to reissue Tha Carter III with leftover recordings, and was to be titled Rebirth, originally scheduled to be released on April 7, 2009, before being delayed several times.^[88]Rebirth instead became his sixth solo studio album, re-recorded with replaced material and later released on February 2, 2010. The album received negative reviews from fans and critics, considering it Carter's worst album released since 500 Degreez (2002).^[89]

To support its release and that of We Are Young Money, Carter was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone^[90] and headlined the 'Young Money Presents: America's Most Wanted Music Festival', a United States and Canada–only concert tour which began on July 29, 2009. "Prom Queen", the first official single, debuted on January 27, 2009, immediately after a live Internet broadcast of his concert in San Diego on Ustream (now IBM Cloud Video).^[91][92] It peaked at number fifteen on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. On December 3, 2009, the second single, "On Fire", produced by Cool & Dre, was released.^[93] Based on a sample of Amy Holland's "She's on Fire" from the soundtrack to the 1983 film, Scarface, "On Fire" peaked at number 33 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. "Drop the World", which features Eminem, was the album's third single; it was produced by a then-unknown Hit-Boy.^[93]

2010–2013: I Am Not a Human Being series and Tha Carter IV

In an interview on MTV's Mixtape Monday, Carter hinted at the release of Tha Carter IV.^[94] He later announced that it would be released in late 2009 before the holiday season.^[95]Birdman had previously stated that Tha Carter IV would be packaged with Rebirth as a double disc album.^[96] Carter denied this, saying that "Tha Carter IV deserves Tha Carter IV", adding that We Are Young Money may be packaged with Rebirth.^[97][98] These albums were eventually released separately.^{[citation needed]}

Carter released his eighth album, I Am Not a Human Being, on his 28th birthday, September 27, 2010. Unfortunately, the album was released during Carter's incarceration on a weapon possession charge.^[99] The album has sold over 953,000 copies in the U.S.^[100] and spawned the successful single "Right Above It", which peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 100. The album also debuted at number two, but later climbed to number one on the Billboard 200, making Carter the first rapper while incarcerated (since Tupac Shakur's Me Against the World, released in 1995) to have a number one album.^[101][102]

Tha Carter IV was delayed into 2011, after Lil Wayne began recording from scratch after his release from prison.^[103] He described his first song since his release as "a 2010 version of A Milli on steroids". The lead single from Tha Carter IV, "6 Foot 7 Foot" featuring Cory Gunz, was released on December 15, 2010.^[104] On March 8, Carter released another song, "We Back Soon", though it was not included on the official track listing of Tha Carter IV.^[105] The second single, "John", featuring Rick Ross, was released on March 24.^{[citation needed]} In an interview on March 29, Carter announced that he would retire at age 35; saying that "I would feel selfish still going to the studio when it's such a vital point" in the lives of his four children.^[106] Throughout a two-year period between 2010 and 2012, Carter has been featured in many hit singles such as "I Made It (Cash Money Heroes)" by Kevin Rudolf, "Miss Me", "The Motto", and "HYFR (Hell Ya Fucking Right)" by Drake, "No Love" by Eminem, "Hit the Lights" by Jay Sean, "Look at Me Now" by Chris Brown, "Welcome to My Hood", "I'm on One", "Take It to the Head", and "No New Friends" by DJ Khaled, "Motivation" by Kelly Rowland, "Ballin'" by Young Jeezy, "Strange Clouds" by B.o.B, "I Can Only Imagine" by David Guetta, "Faded" by Tyga, "Pop That" by French Montana, and "Bandz a Make Her Dance" by Juicy J.

The artwork for Tha Carter IV was unveiled on April 20. Originally scheduled to be released on May 16,^[107] it was delayed several times until being confirmed for release on August 29, 2011.^[108] On May 26, the album's third single, "How to Love", was released. He released another track, "Dear Anne (Stan Part 2)", in June.^{[citation needed]} In preparation for Tha Carter IV, Carter released a mixtape, Sorry 4 the Wait, in similarity to his mixtape No Ceilings (2009); the mixtape was re-released on streaming services in January 2022 with four additional tracks.^[109]

Finally released on August 29, 2011, Tha Carter IV debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 964,000 copies (overshadowing the first-week sales of Jay-Z and Kanye West's Watch the Throne),^[110] making it Carter's third chart-topping album of his career. On January 8, 2012, according to Nielsen SoundScan, Carter was the seventh all-time best-selling artist for digital track sales with 36,788,000 million to the end of 2011.^{[citation needed]}

In October 2011, it was reported that Carter was working on sequels to both I Am Not a Human Being and Rebirth.^[111] In January 2012, Birdman announced that he and Carter had finished recording Like Father, Like Son 2.^[112] On November 22, 2012, Carter announced that Tha Carter V would be his final album, as he wanted to pursue other interests.^[113][114]

After a one-year delay, I Am Not a Human Being II was released on March 26, 2013, debuting at number two on the Billboard 200 selling 217,000 copies in its first week;^[115] "My Homies Still", "Love Me", and "No Worries" were released as singles prior to its release. The album was met with generally mixed reviews, with most critics noticing the declining quality of his releases. Carter toured North America with 2 Chainz and T.I. on the second America's Most Wanted Festival.^[116] On May 3, 2013, Pepsi dropped Carter, who was a spokesperson for Mountain Dew, due to him performing offensive lyrics about civil rights icon Emmett Till on the remix to rapper Future's single, "Karate Chop".^[117] On September 1, 2013, Carter released Dedication 5, the fifth instalment of the Dedication mixtape series. The mixtape featured 29 tracks, with guest appearances from several members of Young Money.^[118]

2014–2019: Free Weezy Album and Tha Carter V

On October 18, 2013, former Cash Money Records vice president of promotion Mel Smith, tweeted: "Happy Friday!! New YMCMB music coming soon!! Carter 5."^[119] Nearly four months later, in an interview with The Griffin, released on February 14, 2014, Smith spoke on the upcoming album: "We're very close to dropping the album. It's going to be a huge surprise to everyone ... I can't release the date because he wants to surprise people."^[119] On February 15, during Drake's performance at the NBA All-Star Weekend festivities in New Orleans, Carter appeared as a guest performer before announcing that Tha Carter V would be released on May 5, 2014.^[120][121] In March 2014, Carter again said during an interview at SXSW that Tha Carter V would be his last album.^[122]

On March 27, 2014, Carter's manager Cortez Bryant announced that the album had been delayed.^[123][124] Carter then serviced released a single "Believe Me", which features vocals from Drake, to mainstream urban radio in the United States on May 6, 2014.^[125] Three more singles, "Krazy", "Grindin'" (featuring Drake) and "Start a Fire" (featuring Christina Milian), were also released, but ultimately scrapped from the album.^{[126][127][128]}

Carter and Drake embarked on their joint tour, Drake vs. Lil Wayne (running from August 8 to September 28, 2014), determining who is "the best rapper on tour and in the world".^[129] The concept of the tour was based off of the Street Fighter franchise.^[130][131] It was the third-largest grossing hip hop concert tour of 2014 behind Eminem and Rihanna's Monster Tour, and Jay-Z and Beyoncé's On the Run Tour.^{[132][133][134]}

In late 2014, Carter claimed that the album's release was postponed due to his financial disputes with Cash Money.^[135][50]

On January 20, 2015, Carter self-released Sorry 4 the Wait 2, a sequel to his 2011 mixtape, to compensate for the continued delay of Tha Carter V.^[136][137] In February 2015, due to Tha Carter V's delay, Carter announced that a free album would be released prior to the fifth installment in his popular series.^[138] In June 2015, Carter joined Jay-Z's TIDAL, as an artist owner, kicking off the partnership by exclusively releasing a single on the service titled "Glory".^[139] He also announced plans on his own TIDAL X concert series.^[140] On July 4, 2015, Carter released Free Weezy Album, exclusively through TIDAL, under Young Money and Republic Records.^[141] On January 27, 2016, when rapper 2 Chainz released his "Felt Like Cappin" EP, Carter is featured on the lead single titled "Back on That Bullshit".^{[citation needed]} On March 4, 2016, 2 Chainz released his third studio album, ColleGrove. The album was initially a collaborative effort between 2 Chainz and Carter, but due to his record label issues, only 2 Chainz was credited as the primary artist.^{[citation needed]} On June 28, 2016, Carter was one of several artists who appeared on the track "Sucker for Pain" for the film Suicide Squad.^[142] In September 2016, Carter tweeted "I AM NOW DEFENSELESS and mentally DEFEATED", followed by stating "I'm done", hinting at a possible retirement. Many rappers responded with respect and encouragement.^[143]

In 2017, Carter announced he had signed with Jay-Z's Roc Nation,^[144] although he later stated that there was no official paperwork that he signed to the label.^[145] On August 8, 2017, he released the song "Like a Man" with sound engineer Onhel.^[146] On June 7, 2018, it was announced that Carter had been released from Cash Money Records and would be releasing Tha Carter V via Young Money and Republic Records.^[147][148]

In September 2016, Carter's song, "No Mercy", debuted as the theme song for Skip and Shannon: Undisputed, a sports talk show on FS1.^[149][150] On Christmas Day 2017, Carter released the mixtape Dedication 6, the sixth installment of the "Gangsta Grillz" chronology. The second part was released on January 26, 2018.^[151][152]

Tha Carter V was finally released on September 27, 2018, the day of Carter's 36th birthday, debuting at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 with 480,000 album-equivalent units, including 140,000 pure album sales. It is the second-largest streaming week for an album behind former Young Money labelmate Drake's Scorpion with 433 million streams. It is also Carter's fourth number-one Billboard 200 album.^[153] Every song on the album charted on the Billboard 100, while simultaneously charting 4 songs in the top 10, also becoming the first artist to debut two songs in the top five.^[154][155] One of the album's singles, "Uproar", produced by Swizz Beatz, was its leading, reaching number seven on the Billboard Hot 100; it features a sample from rapper G. Dep's 2001 single, "Special Delivery".^[156]Tha Carter V has since been certified 2× platinum by the RIAA.^[157]

2020–present: Funeral and Tha Carter VI

While Carter was working on Tha Carter V, it was announced that his next album would be titled Funeral.^[158] On January 23, 2020, he revealed the album's release date and album artwork.^[159][160]Funeral was released on January 31, and debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200, with 139,000 album-equivalent units, becoming his fifth U.S. number-one album.^[161] The album received generally mixed-to-positive reviews from music critics.^[162] On February 2, 2020, Lil Wayne competed in season three of The Masked Singer after the Super Bowl LIV as "Robot". He was the first to be eliminated. Carter featured on Lil Baby's track "Forever", a track from Baby's second studio album, My Turn, which was released on February 28, 2020.^[163][164] The song's music video was released on March 3, 2020.^[165] This marked the second collaboration for the two artists in 2020, with the first being on Carter's single, "I Do It".^[163]

On April 24, 2020, Lil Wayne, along with Litt Live (formerly at the time, Dash Radio), launched his own radio show, Young Money Radio, on Apple Music through its subdivision Apple Music 1. Wayne described the show as having "heavyweights calling in discussing sports, music, comedy, everything!".^[166] On July 3, Lil Wayne released his eleventh studio album, Free Weezy Album (2015) on streaming services to commemorate its five-year anniversary. The album charted at number 77 on the Billboard 200 the following week.^[167] On May 29, Wayne released the deluxe edition of Funeral featuring artists such as Doja Cat, Tory Lanez, Lil Uzi Vert, Benny The Butcher, Conway the Machine and Jessie Reyez.^[168] On August 28, Wayne released another old project, his 2009 mixtape No Ceilings, for commercial release. He also celebrated the release by collaborating with ASAP Ferg on the song "No Ceilings".^[169] Wayne was featured on YoungBoy Never Broke Again's album Top on the track "My Window", released on September 11. His verse received praise from critics.^{[170][171][172][173]} On September 25, he released the deluxe edition of his twelfth album Tha Carter V, to celebrate the album's second anniversary; it consists of songs that did not make the cut on the original album.^[174]

On November 27, 2020, Lil Wayne released the mixtape, No Ceilings 3, while announcing the album, I Am Not a Human Being III, for 2021,^[175] although it would not be released that year due to delays. On October 1, 2021, Wayne and Rich the Kid released a collaborative mixtape titled Trust Fund Babies, along with a music video for the single "Feelin' Like Tunechi". The mixtape took roughly a month and a half to record. On their working relationship, Wayne said, "For me, it's the chemistry, it's the camaraderie because first of all, Rich like my little bro and me and Rich been rockin' for a minute".^[176]

On March 31, 2023, Wayne dropped his first ever greatest hits album titled I Am Music.^[177] It included the then-unreleased "Kant Nobody", featuring DMX, whose song, "Niggaz Done Started Something" (1998), was sampled through.^[178] Wayne and DMX previously collaborated on "Dogs Out", a track from the latter's posthumous album, Exodus, which was released a month after his death in 2021.^[179] Wayne released a single titled "Kat Food" on September 1, 2023.^[169] That October, Lil Wayne released a mixtape, Tha Fix Before Tha VI.^[180] On November 3, 2023, Wayne was featured on the remix to Ciara and Chris Brown's single "How We Roll".^[181] That same month, he and 2 Chainz released a collaborative album, Welcome 2 Collegrove.^[182][183] A sequel to 2 Chainz's 2016 album, ColleGrove, Wayne was credited as a co-leading artist as he was previously unable to receive credit for its predecessor, due to his prior legal issues involving his Cash Money dispute.^{[citation needed]}

Future and unreleased projects

Carter has announced several possible upcoming projects, including a collaborative album entitled I Can't Feel My Face with Harlem-based rapper Juelz Santana, that has been in production for several years.^[184][185] In late 2011, it was announced by Mack Maine that Carter and Juelz Santana had gone back to work on their collaborative album I Can't Feel My Face, which had been delayed for a few years due to "label politics".^[186]

On June 19, 2008, Carter and T-Pain formed a duo called T-Wayne^[187] with plans to release an album, titled He Raps, He Sings;^[188] however, those plans have died down due to much of the material recorded for the album being leaked.^[189] T-Pain ultimately released T-Wayne as a mixtape in 2017.^[190]

According to an interview with Drake, in the December 2011 issue of XXL, plans for an upcoming album with Carter had been scrapped for the time being because of the Jay-Z and Kanye West collaboration album Watch the Throne (2011).^[191][192]

In April 2012, on the premiere of MTV's Hip Hop POV, Carter sat down with Amanda Seales and spoke briefly about an album he put together titled Devol (loved, backwards), an album full of "love songs" that he wrote during his imprisonment at Rikers Island. In May 2013, he confirmed the album will still be released.^{[193][194][195]}

Carter's once ongoing litigation with Cash Money prevented numerous completed projects from being released. In January 2017, Young Money revealed the title of a planned Carter album called Velvet.^[196] The album ended up leaking online in November 2018.^[197]

Musical style and artistry

Known for his creative lyrical ability—which often uses punchlines, homonyms, word play—and braggadocio, Carter's music often deals with the subjects of wealth, drugs, and sex.^[198][199]

Carter has cited rapper Missy Elliott as his biggest musical inspiration, saying "she's a huge influence of everything I've ever done".^[200] Another one of his major influences is American hip hop group Goodie Mob.^[201] In an interview with Genius, Carter said "I've been listening to Goodie Mob since I was in the 7th grade".^[202] For his MTV Unplugged special, Carter paid tribute to Tupac by covering his music.^[203] He also pulled inspiration from Tupac's "Keep Ya Head Up" for his 2011 single "How to Love".^[10]

Additionally, he has mentioned T-Pain, Prince, Wyclef Jean, Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, Alicia Keys, and Lenny Kravitz as influences, stating "I viewed them seriously and was like, 'Wow, I could do that without being totally them."^[204][205] Carter and rapper Calboy paid homage to Hill on their 2021 single "Miseducation" titled after Hill's 1998 album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.^[206]

According to American Songwriter, Carter credits Jay-Z for inspiring him to freestyle rhymes while recording over an instrumental, as opposed to writing down his lyrics.^[207] Carter also credits The Notorious B.I.G. as an influence.^[208][209]

Legacy

Lil Wayne is claimed to be "one of the most influential artists in the 21st century" and is many times called as "the greatest rapper of his generation", as well as one of the greatest rappers of all time.^[210][211] His musical style and usage of autotune influenced modern sound of hip-hop music and its subgenres, especially the development of trap.^[212]

Many rappers and musicians have cited cited Lil Wayne as an influence on their careers and musical style, including Nicki Minaj,^[213]Drake,^[214]Fall Out Boy,^[215]Kendrick Lamar,^[216][217]2 Chainz,^[217]Tyga,^[217]Future,^[218]Lil B,^[217]Young Thug,^[219]Trippie Redd,^[220][217]Lil Skies,^[221][217]Playboi Carti,^[222]YoungBoy Never Broke Again,^[223][217]Lil Baby,^[224]DaBaby,^[225]Polo G,^[226]BlocBoy JB,^[217]NLE Choppa,^[227][228]Flo Milli,^[229] and The Kid Laroi.^[230] His lyrics have also been criticized for their controversial subject matter.^[231][232]

In November 2024, Lil Wayne, during the Lil WeezyAna Fest, received a Key to the City from New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell. In the same tribute, Master P announced the creation of the NOLA Walk of Fame and presented Wayne with a fleur-de-lis plaque to mark this honor. Additionally, February 6–7 will now be celebrated as "Lil Wayne Day" in New Orleans.^[233][234]

Personal life

Relationships and children

Carter has four children. His first child, daughter Reginae, was born November 29, 1998, when he was 16,^[235] to his high school sweetheart and later ex-wife Toya Johnson. Internet rumors circulated in August 2008 that Carter's daughter had died in an auto accident; he immediately dispelled them.^[236] His second child, son Dwayne III, was born on October 22, 2008, at The Christ Hospital