Lil Wayne

Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, (on September 27th, 1982), as Dwayne Michael Carter Jr, Lil Wayne is an American hip hop artist of widespread international fame. He was the youngest person to be signed onto Cash Money Records, when he joined the label in 1991.

Before making a solo career of his own, Lil Wayne was part of a group called the Hot Boys and went on to give hit albums such as Get It How U Live! and Guerrilla Warfare, the latter reaching the number 1 spot on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.

In November 1999, Wayne released his debut solo album, called Tha Block Is Hot, featuring multiple contributions by the co-members of the Hot Boys. By December 1999, the album would go onto be certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

He followed his debut album with the December, 2000’s “Lights Out” and the July 2002’s “500 Degreez”. While both albums were certified Gold by the RIAA, they were generally perceived to have been unable to live up to the success of “Tha Block Is Hot”.  

However, the release of his albums Tha Carter, Tha Carter II and Tha Carter III, saw Lil Wayne win numerous awards, including a Grammy for the Best Rap Album 2009. As of 2017, Lil Wayne has won a total of five Grammy Awards from his twenty-six nominations. His work also includes acclaimed albums such as Tha Carter IV and I Am Not a Human Being II.

He owns a record label called Young Money Entertainment, which he founded in 2005. The label has since, signed artists like Drake, Nicki Minaj and Reginae Carter, amongst others.