Introduction

Hip Hop started in Bronx. Rap is a form of music that came from the hip hop culture. Hip Hop is truly a lifestyle with its own lingo, dress code, etc. KRS-One says that “hip-hop is something you live, rap is something you do.” Born as Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., but known as Lil Wayne, Weezy, Mr. Carter, Tunechi, Weezy F. Baby, and ect. Lil Wayne is a 29 year old American rapper, who started his career at the early age of 11. The well known rapper has enter the rap game with ambition and as one of the youngest rappers of the Cash Money label. As a child, there wasn’t much of a childhood. He dropped school to start a full career in the 10th grade. He is the father of 5 children. He is the son of Jacita Carter and Dwayne Michael. He goes by the name Wayne because his father wasn’t in his life. In a CBS interview with Katie Couric, Wayne described why he goes by the name of "Wayne" instead of his given name, Dwayne. Carter explained, "I dropped the D because I'm a junior and my father is living and he's not in my life and he's never been in my life. So I don't want to be Dwayne, I'd rather be Wayne". Couric asked Wayne if his father knew of this and Wayne replied with a smile, "He knows now". Wayne has recently came with the new album Carter IV, which consist of performances from Andre 3000, Busta Rhymes, and John Legend. He is literally one of the GREATEST rappers alive.

Young Child; Young Money Part 1

In the fall of September 17, 1982, a baby boy was born to Dwayne Michael Turner and Jacita Carter by the name of Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., who would eventually grow up to be one of the most famous men in America. His mother gave birth to him after graduating high school at the age of 19. He was in an abusive relationship with the biological father of Wayne. He left them soon after Dwayne Carter was born. He grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana's 17th ward. His mother got married to a man, who would move them out of Hollygrove. His stepfather, Reginald McDonald, moved them to East New Orleans, where Wayne began his interest in music. Little Carter was enrolled in the gifted program of Lafayette Elementary School and in the drama club of Eleanor McMain Secondary School. At the age of 8, Dwayne wrote his first rhyme. He performed at local block parties and finally caught the attention of one of the Cash Money's rappers, Lil Slim. After calling Brian Williams, Cash Money CEO, leaving freestyles on the answer machine, he got a chance to be on some of the Cash Money songs. Soon after, he got the contract. He was the youngest rapper of the Cash Money label. At the age of 12, he was in the house playing with his stepdad's gun and accidently shot himself in the chest with his stepfather’s 38, which had him on life support for two weeks. It almost took his life.

Young Child; Young Money Part 2

By the age of 11, Lil Wayne was hanging with the big boys. As a youngster, he started drugs. In his episode of VH1’s Behind The Music, Wayne speaks on his cocaine use as a child. "We didn't know what it was," Weezy said. "We were that young. We didn't know if it was dope, coke, crack." His thoughts after doing the drug was, "Man my momma is going to kill me!" Growing up in New Orleans to a single mother, 11-year-old Lil Wayne, born Dwayne Carter Jr., also started having sex, and smoking and selling marijuana. "I ended up getting high off my own supply," he said of his early drug dealing days. At the ripe age of 12 years old, Wayne almost took his own life after finding a gun in his mother's room and accidentally shooting himself in the chest. "I was in [her room] on my rap sh--," he said. "Got a gun ... music blasting, thinking I'm safe ... playing around. I heard [police knocking], of course, I couldn't scream or nothing. I [had] a big a-- bullet hole in my chest. I [couldn't] make no noise. I just slid to the door on my own blood." Wayne was rushed to a New Orleans hospital and the bullet, which was less than an inch from his heart, was extracted from his chest. Soon after the recovery from the chest wound, young Dwayne Michael Carter started his career as the youngest rapper in the game.

Young Child; Young Money Part 3

Lil Wayne recovered from the shooting incident and went right into a bigger music career. He got with Lil Doggie, which was one of the new coming rappers in Cash Money. They were called the B.G.’z and recorded the album “True Story” in 1995. It didn’t make as much progress as they really expected. He dropped out of 10^th grade. He fathered his first child, Reginae Carter, with his high school sweetheart, Antonia. She was named after his stepfather, Reginald. His stepfather died in 1997 after telling him he wasn’t allowed to see Baby anymore. His stepfather’s death was a stressful time, but he got the opportunity to work with Brian Williams again. He joined a new group with Juvenile, Turk, and B.G., which was known as Lil Doggie earlier, and was called “The Hot Boyz”. They recorded their first album, titled “Get It How U Live”. It sold over 400,000 copies. It reached #37 on the Billboard’s Charts. They released their second album “Guerrilla Warfare”, which went platinum in less than a few months. It was #1 on the Billboard’s R&B/HipHop Charts and #5 on the Billboard’s 200. One of the album’s songs was “I Need a Hot Girl”. That song reached #65 on the charts in 1999. Also in 1999, Dwayne went and recorded “The Block is Hot” after going solo. His solo debut was at #3 on the Billboard’s album charts and #1 on the Billboard’s R&B/HipHop charts. Before he was known over  several states, after he was known over all the states.

Young Child Reflection

My thoughts on Wayne childhood is that it left early. He didn’t have much of a childhood. His rap career started at the age of 11. He dropped out of school in the 10^th grade and already had a child. I think he managed it well though. He had Cash Money’s CEO, Brian “Birdman” Williams to look up to. He didn’t have enough time in his childhood to actually be a child. He was handling grown man business at an early age. The reason Wayne’s life excites me is because of the way he was determined and kept leaving his freestyles on Birdman’s answer machine until he got to sign that contract. This showed early on that he was determined and would go after exactly what he wanted in life. I think what if he had given up? Where would Wayne be? I’m pretty sure his life wouldn’t be like it is now.

Early Career; Earning Cash Part 1

The career of a young rapper started very young. He was signed to Young Money’s label at age 11. He was joined with the group, “The B.G.’z”. Later, he joined “The Hot Boyz”. Wayne was growing up. The Hot Boyz made much success, but the group decided to break up. Wayne went solo and dropped the album, “The Block is Hot”, which made a lot of success in the rap world. The Carter's solo album "The Block is Hot" went gold. He was 17 years old when that album dropped. During 2000 through 2003, Lil Wayne made two more albums. The two albums are Lights Out and 500 Degreez. The second album “Lights Out” wasn’t very successful at all. People and various critics compared him to the members of Hot Boyz. They said his music lacked maturity. The lead singles on the album were "Get off the Corner" and "Shine", which featured the Hot Boyz. Near the release of the "Lights Out" album, Wayne recorded "#1 Stunna" with Juvenile. It went up to #24 on the Hot Rap Track charts. For his third album in the rap game, he created 500 degreez. It was a reference to Juvenile's recording 400 degreez. This album did not meet much success either. Its release was in 2002. The lead single was "Way of Life", which also failed to meet the success of previous singles. He went on to feature in “Neva Get Enuf” by 3LW. Although his albums didn’t reach much success, Wayne was still on his way.

Early Career; Earning Cash Part 2

Wayne’s career was boosting. He gave birth to new music and a new style. He created new albums and new mixtapes during 2004 and 2008. Wayne was slowly, but surely becoming one of the best rappers in the world. Had Wayne’s music finally reached maturity? The summer of 2004, Dwayne Michael Carter dropped "Tha Carter", which showed his advancement in his rap styles. This album is what gained Wayne significant recognition. It sold 878,000 copies in the United States, while the leading single "Go DJ" hit the top 5 spot on the R&B/HipHop Charts. In December of 2005, Wayne dropped Tha Carter II, which was the follow up to the album Tha Carter. Tha Carter II sold more than 238,000 copies during its first week on the market. It reached #2 on the Billboard 200 chart. It went on to sell 2,000,000 copies worldwide. In 2005, Wayne was named president of the Cash Money label. In the same year, he founded what is known as Young Money. In 2006, Wayne and Brian “Birdman” Williams collaborated to make the album “Like Father; Like Son”. This album reached #21 on the Billboards charts. The leading single was “Stuntin’ Like My Daddy”. During this time, Wayne made mixtapes, no albums. He brought the rap game two mixtapes, Dedication 2 and Da Drought 3. Dedication 2 was released in 2007 and Da Drought was released in 2008. Rolling Stones magazine claims that Da Drought 3 and Da Drought is Over 2 was among the best albums of 2007.

Early Career; Earning Cash Part 3

Wayne didn’t release a single album for two years. That didn’t stop any of Wayne’s success. He was featured in many different songs at this time. He performed in Make It Rain by Fat Joe, We Takin’ Over by DJ Khaled, Gimme That by Chris Brown, Sweetest Girl by Wyclef, Duffle Bag Boy by Playaz Circle, and the remix to I’m So Hood by various rap artist. These were some some of the songs that reached in the top 20 spots or above on the Billboard Hot 100, Hot Rap Tracks, and Hot R&B/HipHop Songs. He appeared on Birdman’s album “5 Star Stunna”. He featured of songs such as “100 Million”, “I Run This” and several other tracks. He appeared on other albums. He featured on the Getback album, the American Gangster album by Jay Z, and Insomniac album. His feature in the song “Make It Rain” was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group in 2008, which he won. Also in 2008, more than a million copies of the album Tha Carter III were song in the first week. This album included the well known singles “Lollipop” and “A Milli”. It was the best selling album of the year with 2.8 million sells. He was in the peak of his success. Lil Wayne was seen on most of the award shows during that year. In 2009, Wayne took home Grammies for the best rap album, best rap song, best rap solo performance, and best rap performance by a duo or group.

Early Career Reflection

My thought about his early career is that it wasn’t that successful. It showed me that everything you do won’t be liked, but that doesn’t mean you should stop. Wayne was making albums that the critics and people didn’t like. Did that stop him? NO! Wayne is a true go getter. When the critics put him down and his music didn’t sell as much as he expected, he seemed determined to come back harder. During his early career, Wayne had started “Tha Carter”, which has a II, III, and IV now. That shows that he doesn’t stop. His early career after he went solo with “The Block Is Hot” seemed to go downhill to me, but somehow he brought it back up.  Wayne has changed his style and how he raps since then. It shows me that change can occur and can come with great results in the future. Wayne is the man.

Later Career; Larger Pockets Part 1

Lil Wayne was in the peak of his career. He was the President of a label, a Grammy award winning rapper, and the greatest rapper alive. Lil Wayne was caught smoking marijuana. He was taken into custody and then a loaded gun was found on him. In the later part of 2009, Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. plead guilty to attempted criminal possession of a weapon. This charge came from a 2007 incident where marijuana and a loaded gun was found on the rapper’s tour bus. His court dates were postponed two times. The first time was because Wayne was having dental surgery. The second time was because the court house basement was on fire. Lil Wayne received a one-year sentence in March 2010. He served his time at Rikers Island. While he was in jail, he released the eighth album of his rap career, “I am not a human being”. He released this album on September 27, 2010, which is Weezy’s birthday. It was not the extended or full version of the album. It was the LP version. Despite that, the album sold over 953,000 copies in the United States and had a huge hit single “Right Above It” featuring Drake. That single reached #6 on the charts. Lil Wayne was released on good behavior on November 4, 2010, after serving 8 months in prison. After being released from jail, Wayne was back on his grind. By that time, Wayne had fathered four children. He was the father of Reginae, Dwayne III, Cameron, and Neal Carter.

Later Career; Larger Pockets Part 2

Wayne was now out of Rikers Island jail, had served his eight months behind bars,  and was more than ready to give the world a new album, Tha Carter IV. The album was being delayed and had many changes though. The album Tha Carter IV was pushed back time after time for preparation. It was pushed back until August 29. President Cortez Bryant was worried that the fans would be impatient for the release of the debut album, so a mixtape was secretly worked omn. Lil Wayne released a mixtape called “Sorry 4 the Wait”. The album was named “Sorry 4 the Wait” as an apology to his fans for the delay of Tha Carter IV album. It was released July 31, 2011. The mixtape consist of songs with various beats of hit songs. The songs on the mixtape were “Tunechi’s Back”, “Rollin’”, “Throwed Off”, “Gucci Gucci”, “Marvin’s Room”, “Sure Thing”, “Grove St. Party”, “Racks”, “Hands Up”, “Sorry 4 The Wait”, “Inkredible”, and “Run The World”.  The single “Tunechi’s Back” was released first, on July 8^th to the world. The deluxe version of Wayne’s mixtape was released later, on July 13^th. Tha Carter IV was released on  August 29, 2011. This is the ninth album from the rapper. The album went double platinum by The Recording Industry Association of American. As of February 2012, the album has sold 3.5 million copies worldwide. The albums singles are “6 Foot 7 Foot”, “John”, “How To Love”, “She Will”, “It’s Good”, and “Mirror”. The album was a success.

Later Career; Larger Pockets Part 3

The Carter IV is released  and Wayne is now featuring in many songs, like usual, and he is now engaged to Dhea. He has featured in Robin Thicke’s “Pretty Little Heart” and Young Money’s Drake’s “HYFR”. Wayne is many things, but now he is the owner of a new clothing line for adult, teens, and children. Wayne has currently made his own clothing line, Trukfit.  He shares his ideas for fashion. His line focuses on contemporary street wear that is influenced by skateboarding, snowboarding, music, and street art. Dwayne Michael Carter had a private showing of his new line at El Privadoin the hotel Americano where T-Streets, Mack Maine, Gudda Gudda, Lil Twist, and the manager Cortez Bryant celebrated the new clothing line. The clothing line, TRUKFIT, stands for “The Reason You Kill For It”. It will be launched at Zumiez stores all across the nation.  You should check out www.zumies.com and www.karmaloop.com, if interested. Now Trukfit is made for young children and teens. The company’s mission statement is:  As a brand, TRUKFIT is a state of mind – it is about being yourself, having fun, being free, being driven and being able to express all these elements and more. We have many sides to our being and TRUKFIT describes them all. We have no boundaries, rules, no gender distinction, no ethnic distinction, no demographic distinction. We are young, fun loving, connected to each other and yet we are all individuals. We are free to dream, to create, to fantasize and to explore.

Later Career Reflection

My thoughts for Wayne later career is that he is still on his grind after all these years. He hasn’t stopped yet. At 29 years old, he is still at the top. In his hit single, he says, “I know we’re at the top, when only heaven’s right above it..” In his later career, Wayne blew up. The Carter III was his best selling album. Wayne also went to jail. After jail, he hit the world with “Tha Carter IV”. While incarcerated, Wayne threw the nation with the mixtape “I am not a human being”. That shows that truly he is going after his dreams. In “Nightmares of the Bottom”, Wayne says “Nothing standing in my way, like nothing’s my security.” Wayne lets NOTHING, and I mean he lets NOTHING stand in the way of what he wants to do with his career. He owns his own clothing line also. It shows that he holds more than one job. He can do more than rap.

Conclusion

Dwayne Michael Carter is many things. His life was full of surprises, excitement, disappointments, and achievements. Wayne is known as Mr. Carter, Weezy, Dwayne Michael Carter, Tunechi, Weezy F. Baby, but most importantly…he’s one of the greatest rappers alive at this time. Born on September 29, 1982, Jacita and Dwayne gave birth to a star. Wayne has fathered four children – three boys and a girl- named Reginae, Dwayne III, Cameron, and Neal. He has been married twice to Toya, and is now engaged to Dhea. He started his rap career at the early age of 11, in 1992. He is still an active rapper today. With his nine albums and his numerous mixtapes, Mr. Carter has took the rap game for a spin. From his first album, The Block Is Hot to his last album Tha Carter IV, Wayne’s rap styles have changed drastically. He went from being a little boy from the rough, poverty strickened side of New Orleans, to moving to the East side of New Orleans with his step father, to signing the Cash Money contract and working with Brian “Birdman” Williams, to being in the group “The B.G.’z”, to joining the “Hot Boyz” and becoming very successful, to going solo with “The Block is Hot”, to making more albums that weren’t very successful, to reaching the peak of his success, to going to jail, to making what is now “Tha Carter IV”, to making his very own clothing line for adults, teens, and children, Trukfit,  to being the greatest rapper alive. 

Work Cited

Works Cited

Biographies, Britannica. "Lil Wayne." Brittanica Biographies (2011): 1-2.

Creamer, Matthew. "Advertising Age." Lil Wayne 18 May 2009.

Norris, Chris. "Lil Wayne Goes to Jail." Rolling Stones 18 February 2010: 42-47.

Vibe. "Milli Man March." Vibe (2009): 60-61.

http://allhiphop.com/2012/01/13/lil-wayne-officially-debuts-trukfit-clothing-line/

http://hot937.radio.com/2011/08/16/the-carter-4-tracklist/

rap.about.com/od/artists/p/LilWayne.htm

lilwayneonline.blogspot.com/