Biography
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Lil' Wayne began rapping at a young age, with his
gangbanging friends Eirc Tittloson and Ricky Wlliams at
parties in his hometown of New Orleans. Later that year
Tittloson was shot in a car while driving to one of his
arrangements with Wayne. During one of these parties,
members of a group called U.N.L.V., signed by the label
Cash Money Records, overheard Lil' Wayne and later,
during an autograph signing session, they introduced him
to the CEOs of the label, Brian "Baby" Williams and
Ronald "Slim" Williams. Wayne made a good first
impression on the Williams brothers by showing them his
strong freestyle abilities. After their first meeting,
Wayne visited the label almost every day and left
freestyles on Cash Money Records's answering machine.
His persistence paid off and the Williams brothers
signed Wayne to the label at the young age of twelve.
Wayne was paired with another young rapper named Baby
Gangsta; and the pair released "True Story", under the
name The B.G.'z.
Lil' Wayne's mother became concerned with the people
influencing her son and tried to pull Wayne out of Cash
Money Records. Wayne ran away from home for a week;
convincing his mother that his behavior had nothing to
do with Cash Money Records or the Williams brothers, he
was allowed to stay with the label.
While handling a loaded gun, Lil' Wayne shot himself in
the chest and almost bled to death. When the police
arrived, he claimed the unregistered gun had belonged to
his stepfather, Reginald "Rabbit" Carter. This landed
Rabbit a six month prison bid. Then shortly after Rabbit
came home, he was abducted and murdered. As Brian came
to pick up Wayne for studio sessions one afternoon, he
was informed of the tragic news and decided to raise
Wayne as a surrogate father. Wayne now has a large
tattoo of the words "Bang Bang" on his chest to
commemorate his shooting and also has "In Memory of
Rabbit: It's up to me" tattooed on his arm, in honor of
his beloved slain stepfather.
As the youngest of the Hot Boys, Lil' Wayne was 16 at
the time of their debut, "Get It How You Live". Most
young rappers perform bubble gum rap until at least
their 20's. Lil Wayne, however, performed gangsta rap in
the strictest sense since an early age.
On his 2004 release, Tha Carter, Lil' Wayne returned
with a much improved flow and produced the hit single
"Go DJ", a cover of the U.N.L.V. underground classic. He
was also featured on 3LW"Neva Get Enuf" and
Destiny's
Child's "Soldier," and Paul Wall's "March" among other
hit songs.
It should also be noted that Wayne is the first known
person to use the now-popular slang terms "Bling Bling"
as well as "Drop It Like It's Hot." He first said it
("Drop It Like It's Hot") in the 1998 hit by Juvenile,
"Back That Azz Up." By 2004, the term was so popular
that legendary rapper Snoop Dogg used it as a comeback
hit.
Following acclamations for Tha Carter, newly minted Def
Jam president Jay-Z entered into a bidding war with Cash
Money for Lil' Wayne's services. Wayne eventually
resigned with Cash Money and earned himself a new label,
"Young Money," distributed through Cash Money/Universal
which first featured his crew Squad Up. But the group
soon broke, and now Lil' Wayne has a new group named
Young Money. The Group consists of Curren$y, a local
rapper previously on C-Murder's TRU Records, Boo of Boo
and Gotti, Raw Dizzy from his former group Sqad Up, and
a new up and coming rapper named Mack Maine also from
the Hollygrove area of New Orleans.
Lil' Wayne is currently studying Psychology at the
University of Houston.
At age 23, Lil' Wayne was named President of Cash Money
Records; however, Brian "Baby" Williams remains owner.
His newest album, Tha Carter, Vol. 2, was released on
December 6th, 2005.
Discography
Albums
- 1999: Tha Block is Hot [Certified: Platinum]
- 2000: Lights Out [Certified: Gold ]
- 2002: 500 Degreez [Certified: Gold]
- 2004: Tha Carter #5 US [Certified: Gold]
- 2005: Tha Carter, Vol. 2 #2 US [Certified: Gold]
Mix tapes
- 2002: Lil' Wayne & The Squad - SQ1
- 2002: Lil' Wayne & The Squad - SQ2
- 2002: Lil' Wayne & The Squad - SQ3
- 2002: Lil' Wayne & The Squad - SQ4
- 2002: Lil' Wayne & The Squad - SQ5 (2CD)
- 2003: Lil' Wayne & The Squad - SQ6
- 2003: Lil' Wayne & The Squad - SQ6 (The Remix)
- 2003: Da Drought
- 2004: Da Drought 2
- 2004: The Prefix
- 2005: Young Money Dedication
- 2005: The Suffix