Photo: Getty

Lil Wayne was the victim of an internet hoax this weekend as rumors quickly spread that the rapper was shot dead after a fake BBC News page was posted online. According to the fake news item, Wayne had been shot six times by the Crips gang following his performance in his hometown of New Orleans. The hoax was pretty well researched, even listing New Orleans’ real police chief in the report. Lil Wayne is still very much alive, however, and reportedly putting the finishing touches on the Dedication 3 mixtape. This isn’t the first time Tha Carter has been the target of a morbid internet prank: Back in August, false reports stating Lil Wayne’s 8-year-old daughter died in a car crash ran rampantly through the internet, even flooding Wayne’s MySpace page with condolences. The reports, thankfully, turned out to be fiction.

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