LIL WAYNE

New Orleans-born rapper Lil' Wayne claims to have written his first songs at the age of 8, and by 12 he had made his national recording debut. As a member of the Hot Boys and as a solo artist, Lil' Wayne and his label Cash Money Records became one of the most significant collectives of rap artists from the south. Although he was only 16 when he released his first solo album, with producer Mannie Fresh in tow, Lil' Wayne's career as a rapper was taken seriously from the get-go. A serious free-style rapper, Lil' Wayne stands only five feet, five inches tall, is covered in tattoos, and became a father at 15. Dating popular rapper Trina, in 2005, Lil' Wayne became the president of Cash Money Records, the very same label that gave him his start.
On September 27, 1982, Cynthia Carter gave birth to her son Dwayne Michael Carter in New Orleans, Louisiana. Dwayne grew up with his mother and his stepfather in the New Orleans neighborhood of Holly-grove, where he adapted the culture of rap music as a way of life early on. Afan of Cash Money Records' artist Lil' Slim, Dwayne hung around the New Orleans rapper, who introduced him to Cash Money CEOs and brothers Ronald "Slim" and Bryan "Baby" Williams. Before he was even a teenager, Dwayne knew that he wanted to become a successful rapper and join the Cash Money family. In an interview with XXL magazine, he said he didn't listen to much rap music that wasn't being made in the south; "It was Cash Money or nothing," he said. At just eleven years old, Dwayne impressed the CEOs of Cash Money by showing off his talent. "I did a rap where I spelled out my hood, Holly-grove and they gave me a card. You know, you give a child a card, he ain't never stop callin' that number," he told XXL. The Cash Money crew took Dwayne under their wing and allowed him to hang out at the Cash Money offices and studio. "I wouldn't do nothing sittin' there all day," he continued in XXL, "but some days they'd be like, 'Let's take a ride.' All that escalated into me being part of the clique."After dubbing himself "Baby D," Dwayne made his first recording appearance on B.G.'s Cash Money album True Story. In 1997, now calling himself Lil' Wayne, the teenager joined fellow rappers Juvenile, Turk, and B.G. in Cash Money's new group the Hot Boys. The young troupe released their debut, Get It How You Live, which sold 400,000 copies. Unfortunately, in the same year Lil' Wayne suffered a personal tragedy when his stepfather was abducted and murdered.After the success of Tha Carter II in 2005, Lil' Wayne became the president of Cash Money Records. Now residing in Miami, Florida, in 2006 Lil' Wayne was studying online to get his undergraduate degree from the University of Houston, overseeing Cash Money as president and continually helping out his hometown victims of Hurricane Katrina.