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Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. (born September 27, 1982), better known by his
stage name Lil' Wayne, is an American
Grammy Award-winning
rapper. Formerly a member of the rap group the
Hot Boys, he joined the
Cash Money Records collective as a teenager.
Get It How U Live!, released in 1997, was Lil Wayne's first album with Hot Boys, and
Tha Block Is Hot, his solo debut, came out in 1999.
After gaining fame with two other albums in the early 2000s, Lil Wayne reached higher popularity with 2004's
Tha Carter and its two subsequent albums
Tha Carter II (2005) and
Tha Carter III (2008). He earned various accolades following
Tha Carter III, including eight Grammy Awards nominations. He has had two number one singles on the
Billboard Hot 100 ("
Lollipop" with
Static Major and "
Down" with
Jay Sean). He will release a rock album titled
Rebirth in 2009.
Early life
Lil Wayne was born Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. 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. Lil Wayne recorded freestyle raps on Williams' answering machine; Williams would eventually mentor the young Carter and include him in Cash Money-distributed songs.
When he was 12, he played the part of the
Tin Man in his middle school drama club's production of
The Wiz.
He claims that he accidentally shot himself with a .44 caliber gun at that age.
He dropped out of school at age 14.
