Lil Wayne

**Dwayne Michael Carter Jr.** (born September 26, 1982), known under his professional name as **Lil Wayne**, is an American rapper. Carter joined the Cash Money Records label as a teenager. He worked with rapper B.G. (under the name B.G.'z) on the album *True Story* and they eventually recorded for the label. *Get It How U Live* (1997) was Lil Wayne's first album with Southern hip hop group Hot Boys. *Tha Block Is Hot*, his solo debut, came out in 1999. *Tha Block* debuted in the top ten on the U.S. *Billboard* 200. Lil Wayne was nominated for "Best New Artist" from the magazine *Billboard* the same year. Following this success, Wayne was soon featured on other rappers' singles, including "Bling Bling" by B.G. and "#1 Stunna" by the Big Tymers in 2000.

## Career
His first three albums *Tha Block Is Hot*, *Lights Out* and *500 Degreez* were released with little promotion. Lil Wayne reached higher popularity in 2004 with his fourth album *Tha Carter* and its two sequel albums *Tha Carter II* (2005) and *Tha Carter III* (2008). During this time, Lil Wayne appeared on several mixtapes and singles of other artists.

### 2008: *Tha Carter III*
Originally planned to be released in 2007, *Tha Carter III*s largest delay came after the majority of the tracks were leaked and distributed on mixtapes, such as "The Drought Is Over Pt. 2" and "The Drought Is Over Pt. 4". Lil Wayne at first decided to use the leaked tracks (plus four new tracks) to make a separate album, titled *Tha Carter III: The Leak*. *The Leak* was to be released December 17, 2007, with the actual album being delayed until March 17, 2008, The release of *The Leak* in this format never came to fruition. An official EP titled *The Leak* contained five tracks and was released digitally on December 25, 2007.

### 2010: *Rebirth* and *I Am Not a Human Being*
Following the success of *Tha Carter III*, Lil Wayne decided to record a rock album titled *Rebirth*. In the album, he is featured playing guitar and singing using Auto-Tune. The album was released in 2010. It was certified gold by the RIAA, despite a generally negative critical response. 

Wayne's eighth album *I Am Not a Human Being* was released during his prison sentence in New York.

## Personal life
### Legal issues
In March 2010, Lil Wayne served an 8-month sentence in a New York prison after being convicted of criminal possession of a weapon stemming from an incident in 2007. 

### Health issues
On March 12, 2013, Lil Wayne was hospitalized in Los Angeles after having many seizures. TMZ reported that Wayne is breathing through tubes and is moved to an Intensive Care Unite.

## Discography
### Studio albums
* 1999: *Tha Block Is Hot (1.9 million copies in the U.S.)*
* 2000: *Lights Out (900,000 copies in the U.S.)*
* 2002: *500 Degreez (555,000 copies in the U.S.)*
* 2004: *Tha Carter (1.8 million copies in the U.S.)*
* 2005: *Tha Carter II (1.7 million copies the U.S.)*
* 2008: *Tha Carter III (6.6 million copies the U.S.)*
* 2010: *Rebirth (1 million copies in the U.S.)*
* 2010: *I Am Not a Human Being (1 million copies in the U.S.)*
* 2011: *Tha Carter IV* (5.2 million copies in the U.S.)
* 2013: *I Am Not a Human Being II (2 million copies in the U.S.)*
* 2018: *Tha Carter V (1 million copies in the U.S.)*
* 2020: *Funeral (38,000 copies in the U.S.)*

### Extended plays
* 2007: *The Leak*

### Mixtapes
* 2003: *SQ1*-*SQ7* (with Sqad Up)
* 2003: *Da Drought*
* 2004: *Da Drought 2*
* 2004: *The Prefix*
* 2005: *The Suffix*
* 2005: *The Dedication*
* 2006: *Dedication 2*
* 2007: *Da Drought 3*
* 2008: *Dedication 3*
* 2009: *No Ceilings*
* 2011: *Sorry 4 the Wait*
* 2012: *Dedication 4*

## Filmography
### Movie
* *Baller Blockin*' (2000), Iceberg Shorty
* ''Who's Your Caddy* (2007), self
* *Hurricane Season* (2009), Lamont	
* *Freaknik: The Movie* (2010), Trap Jesus
### Television
* *The Boondocks'' (2007), Jericho's son (voice)
* *The Masked Singer* (2020), Robot/Himself

## References