Lil Wayne sold a million copies of Tha Carter III its debut week, making him the first artist to pull off the feat since 50 Cent went platinum with The Massacre in a mere seven days in 2005 (which was a much rosier time for the music industry). On the day the album came out, Weezy talked to Rolling Stone about his unique sales strategy, Barack Obama, tattoos and the drawbacks of being high all the time.

What's the thinking behind releasing so many mixtapes and collaborations?
I like to just flood it. You might not like everything. When I put out so many different mixtapes and songs, you can't help to at least know me. If I get that one moment of attention, then I know I'm going to make you like me.

"Lollipop" sounds so different from anything else you've ever done. How did it come together?
My homeboy Static, the guy who's on the song with me, it was all his idea. He brought the song to me with his vocals already on there, the beat was already done and I just laid my vocals to it. The decision to make it the single was evident right after I finished recording it. Everybody in the studio knew this was the one. We had some females in there and they were going crazy.

Your last album didn't really have any breakout singles — were you trying to change that with this album?
I think you want to do that with every album. You want every record to be bigger than the last. That Tha Carter II didn't do what I wanted it to do was a disappointment because I put my all into it, just like I did with this one, but I ain't gonna dwell on it. I'm very successful and very happy.

On "Mr. Carter," Jay-Z calls you "my heir, Young Carter" — that had to feel pretty cool.
That line right there was hard! Unbelievable. I didn't even realize it at first. My homie had to tell me "You know what he said, right?" I didn't even get it. I was like, "Why is he saying 'air'? Is he just talking about the air?" But I'm smart enough to know that he's smart enough not to just be talking about the air. I felt real dumb, but then I felt so good. It was an incredible compliment.

You never write down your rhymes. Do you ever forget good stuff?
I do that a lot and it sucks. That's why I keep the studio with me everywhere I go. I can just hook up the studio straight to my laptop and start recording. I don't memorize lyrics like a speech. I just go to the studio and think of it right there. I just let the beat play a trillion times and I go in there and record four bars or whatever I thought of so I can get it off my mind and start thinking about something else. That's why I do my songs so quick.