Best MC: Lil Wayne

Wayne is also the rare pop star who has been able to dramatically raise his profile in the last two years without releasing an official LP. There's a wealth of Wayne material — all those mixtapes and leaked songs — that has surfaced online. The hip-hop merch site mixunit.com sells twenty-three mixes featuring Wayne, most of which are easy to find online for free. This isn't some kind of viral marketing plan. It's just this: Wayne makes new songs like you make lunch, and songs have a way of getting out — especially when they're as irresistible as Wayne's.

How many tracks has Wayne cut in recent years? "Somewhere in the thousands," he says. (He's been smoking.) The real number is probably closer to 500, but what's clear is that Wayne is an irrepressible studio rat. "Recording is an addiction," he says. "I can't stop." Wayne works quickly — he writes nothing down, records rhymes as soon as they pop into his head, and completes up to five songs a day. He can also knock out a verse for someone else within a half-hour of hearing the beat. That has served him well financially: Wayne charges $100,000 for the average cameo — or $75,000 if he likes the beat or the song. "But nothing less!" Wayne says. "I wouldn't do a song for my sister for less than $75,000."

After more than six months of delays, Wayne's sixth official solo album is finally slated for June. This is partly because Wayne wants to keep tweaking songs; and partly because of difficulty in getting clearance from featured artists' record labels (he's recorded with Lil Mama and Busta Rhymes, among others). Another possible reason: All the prospective Carter III material that's leaked online has prompted Wayne to record new album tracks, which only extends the delay; Wayne has said that no leaked material will end up on Carter III. Though Carter III will probably be one of 2008's best-selling hip-hop albums, it's hard to imagine it being better than Wayne's best mixtapes. Wayne doesn't seem concerned — in fact, he won't even help select the track list. "I just come up with good songs," he says. "It's up to [Universal Records] to figure out what goes on. I don't want that headache."

After a late night on the bus, Wayne steps into a class at Eleanor McMain Secondary School in New Orleans, which he attended back in the Nineties. He's here for a Q-and-A session. Wayne cheerfully answers kids' questions about his nine-year-old daughter, his favorite cameo (Destiny's Child's "Soldier") and Lil Wayne haters out there ("If they ain't talking about you, you ain't doing nothin'," he says). After forty-five minutes with the kids, Wayne climbs back into the tour bus. He visits a Katrina-damaged athletic field, which he's helping to restore through his new One Family Foundation, then heads off to play a gig in Atlanta. Wayne's tour will end within weeks, but he's not taking any time off. Soon he'll put the finishing touches on Carter III and head off on his first-ever European tour.

Maybe Wayne will find time to improve his guitar skills; he's a self-taught axman who played on Enrique Iglesias' "Push." Or maybe he'll get his psychology degree, too; he's been taking online classes from the University of Phoenix. Maybe he'll also shrink from fame — sort of (but hopefully not exactly) like his favorite rock star, Kurt Cobain. "He was a rebel — he didn't give a fuck," Wayne says. "That's me."

(Go to the next page to start watching four of Wayne's best YouTube freestyles.)