Lil Wayne Born: Southern Rap's Prolific Wordsmith

Lil Wayne signed to Cash Money Records at age eleven and evolved into one of hip-hop's most prolific and technically inventive artists. Born Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. in New Orleans in 1982, he grew up in the Hollygrove neighborhood and began rapping at eight years old. His childhood audition tape impressed Cash Money founder Bryan "Birdman" Williams enough to sign him before he entered middle school. He debuted as part of the Hot Boys alongside Juvenile, B.G., and Turk, and the group's 1999 album Guerrilla Warfare went platinum. His solo breakthrough came with Tha Carter in 2004, but it was Tha Carter II and especially Tha Carter III in 2008 that established him as the dominant figure in hip-hop. Tha Carter III sold over a million copies in its first week, driven by "Lollipop," his first number-one single. Between official albums, Wayne released a torrent of mixtapes that became legendary for their volume and quality. Da Drought 3 and Dedication 2 circulated through download sites and burned CDs, building a street-level following that complemented his mainstream success. His dense wordplay, layered punchlines, and genre-blending production on the Tha Carter series elevated Southern rap from a regional movement to the dominant force in mainstream music. His influence on subsequent artists, from Drake to Young Thug to Kendrick Lamar, is difficult to overstate. He served eight months at Rikers Island in 2010 on weapons charges and continued writing material throughout his incarceration. His career has spanned over two decades of continuous output.