Lil Wayne

After establishing himself with the Hot Boys and a handful of solo albums in the late Nineties and early 2000s, rapper Lil Wayne became best known for his series of critically acclaimed mixtapes and guest appearances on hit songs by other artists. With his prolific output in the mid-2000s, which included mixes he made available free online and his Tha Carter series in the mid-2000s increasingly brought legitimacy to his boasts of being the "best rapper alive."

Born Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr., on Sept. 27, 1982, in New Orleans, Lil Wayne was raised in the tough Hollygrove neighborhood of the city's 17th Ward. At twelve, he hooked up with New Orleans hip-hop label Cash Money and appeared on rapper B.G.'s 1995 debut True Story. Two years later Lil Wayne formed the Hot Boys along with B.G. and fellow budding rappers Juvenile and Young Turk. At sixteen he released his solo debut Tha Block Is Hot (Number One R&B/Hip-Hop, Number Three pop, 1999). Subsequent albums Lights Out (Number Two R&B/Hip-Hop, Number 16 pop, 2001) and 500 Degreez (Number One R&B/Hip-Hop, Number Six pop, 2002) raised his profile considerably. But his biggest success came with Tha Carter (Number Two R&B/Hip-Hop, Number Five pop, 2004), which spawned the single "Go D.J." (Number Four R&B/Hip-Hop, Number 14 pop, 2004). He also received critical attention for Tha Carter II (Number One R&B/Hip-Hop, Number Two pop, 2005), which produced the hit single "Fireman" (Number 15 R&B/Hip-Hop, Number 32 pop, 2005). In 2007, GQ magazine named him Man of the Year, partly due to the plethora of mixtape releases he had put out to great critical success. In spring 2008 Lil Wayne was arrested, following previous run-ins with the law for felony drug and weapons charges. Tha Carter III debuted at the top spot in June 2008, with first single "Lollipop" jumping to Number One on the pop charts.