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40 years ago, Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. opened his eyes for the first time. His parents didn't know it at the time, but their son would later drop the "D" from his name and grow up to become one of the greatest rappers alive.
On September 27, 1982, Lil Wayne was born in the Hollygrove neighborhood of New Orleans, La. At the age of 10, Wayne met Bryan “Birdman” Williams who mentored him and helped develop him as an artist. By the time he dropped out of high school, he’d already survived a near-death shooting, and began focusing on his music career full-time.
In 1997, Wayne joined Hot Boys with Juvenile, B.G. and Turk. Even though he the youngest rapper in the group, the 14-year-old rapper still contributed to the group’s debut album Get It How U Live! and their major label debut Guerilla Warfare. He was able to make a real name for himself after he appeared on Juvenile’s 1999 hit “Back That Azz Up.” The hype from Juvie’s record made fans pay attention to Wayne’s first solo album Tha Block Is Hot, which dropped later that year.
Wayne continued to land on the charts with features on “Bling Bling” and “Number One Stunna.” Following the release of his other albums Lights Out (2000) and 500 Degreez (2002), Wayne dropped his fourth studio album Tha Carter in 2004 with successful singles like “Go DJ,” "Earthquake" and others. From there, Wayne went on to release nine other studio albums, five EP’s, and a slew of mixtapes from Da Drought in 2003 to No Ceilings 3 in 2020. He also dropped a few joint projects with Birdman, T-Pain and Rich Tha Kid.
It’s been two years since Lil Wayne dropped an album. In August 2022, the Grammy revealed his plans to release Tha Carter VI following Drake’s Young Money Reunion. He recently celebrated his 40th birthday with celebrity friends like Skip Bayless and a special performance from Keith Sweat.
Check out some of Lil Wayne's best music video below.
WARNING: EXPLICIT LANGUAGE