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Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. (born September 27, 1982), better known by his
stage name Lil Wayne, is an American
rapper and
CEO. As a teenager, Lil Wayne joined
Cash Money Records as the youngest member of the label. In 1997, Lil Wayne joined the group
Hot Boys, which also included rappers
Juvenile,
B.G., and
Turk. Hot Boys debuted with
Get It How U Live! that year. Lil Wayne gained most of his success with the group's 1999 multi-platinum album
Guerrilla Warfare. Also in 1999, Lil Wayne released his debut album
Tha Block Is Hot.
Although his next two albums
Lights Out (2000) and
500 Degreez (2002) were not very successful, Lil Wayne reached higher popularity in 2004 with
Tha Carter, which included the hit single "" Wayne also appeared on the
Destiny's Child top ten single "
Soldier" that year. In 2005, the sequel to
Tha Carter,
Tha Carter II, was released. In 2006 and 2007, Lil Wayne released several mixtapes and appeared on several popular rap and R&B singles. His most successful album,
Tha Carter III, was released in 2008. It included the number-one single "
Lollipop" and won the
Grammy Award for Best Rap Album. Lil Wayne released his first rock album,
Rebirth, in 2010. Critical reception of that album was heavily negative, and the album was released a month before Lil Wayne began serving a yearlong jail sentence for weapon possession in March 2010.
Early life
Lil Wayne was born Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. to Jacida "Cita" Carter and Dwayne Michael Turner on September 27, 1982
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.
He wrote his first rap song at age eight.
At age eleven, he met
Bryan Williams, rapper and owner of
Cash Money Records. Carter recorded freestyle raps on William's answering machine leading him to mentor the young Carter and include him in Cash Money-distributed songs. He also recorded his first ever
collaboration album
True Story with rapper
B.G.. At the time, Carter was 11, and B.G. was 14, and was billed as "The BG'z".
When he was 12, he played the part of the
Tin Man in his middle school drama club's production of
The Wiz.
He also accidentally shot himself with a .44 caliber gun at the age of 13.
The following year of his accident, he dropped out of school.
