Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September 27, 1982) was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. He is an American rapper. He is professionally known as Lil Wayne. He began his career in music at the young age of 12, when he was signed by rapper Birdman to join Cash Money Records as the label's youngest member.
Wayne's early career was marked by collaborations with fellow Cash Money artists, including his 1995 album True Story, which he recorded as part of a duo with label-mate B.G. under the name Baby D. In 1997, Wayne and B.G. joined forces with Juvenile and Turk to form the southern hip hop group Hot Boys, which quickly gained popularity with the release of their album Guerrilla Warfare in 1999.
Wayne's solo debut album, Tha Block Is Hot, was released in 1999 and marked his breakthrough as a solo artist. He went on to release several successful albums, including Tha Carter (2004), Tha Carter II (2005), and Tha Carter III (2008), which sold over one million copies in the United States during its first week and won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album.
In 2010, Wayne released his seventh studio album, Rebirth, which received mixed reviews for its experimental fusion of rap and rock. That same year, he began serving an eight-month jail sentence for criminal possession of a weapon. While incarcerated, he released his eighth studio album, I Am Not a Human Being, and upon his release, he released Tha Carter IV (2011), which sold nearly one million copies in its first week in the United States.
Wayne has won numerous awards for his music, including five Grammy Awards, 11 BET Awards, four Billboard Music Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards, and eight NAACP Image Awards. He has sold over 200 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. In addition to his success in music, Wayne also serves as the CEO of his own label, Young Money Entertainment.
Wayne's twelfth studio album, Tha Carter V, was released in 2018 after multiple delays, and his thirteenth album, Funeral, was released in early 2020. He continues to be a prominent figure in hip hop and is widely recognized as one of the greatest rappers of all time. In 2012, he became the first male artist to surpass Elvis Presley with the most entries on the Billboard Hot 100, with 109 songs.
