Lil Wayne was introduced to the world as a member of the notorious rap group "The Hot Boys" and later moved on to pursue a career as a solo artist. Lil Wayne went from the hottest on the block for 10+ years to the artist that people barely bring up in conversation.
When Weezy initially hit the rap scene people saw him as a young boy with skills and the potential to dominate the game. As he continued to rise to fame, people started to take him more seriously. His first album Tha Block Is Hot was released in 1999 and was certified platinum.
In 2004, Tha Carter dropped and his talent was still developing but the industry knew that he would be a problem. One of his hottest singles on Tha Carter was “Go D.J.” In 2005, Tha Carter II released and the southern hip-hop artist popularity started to grow even more than what it was. “Hustler Musik” and “Fireman” were heavy on 106 & Park during that period.
In 2005, Weezy and DJ Drama started The Dedication series which took a life of its own. On The Dedication 2, Wayne had a track called “Im the Best Rapper Alive” and this is where things started heating up. Most of the top artists at that time weren’t releasing much music and it seemed like Wayne was releasing a new mixtape or having a feature every few days.
In June of 2008, Tha Carter III definitely put it in stone that Weezy was at the top. With songs like “Lollipop”, “A Milli”, “ Mrs. Officer” and “Comfortable”, Wayne was a household name. For three weeks, “Lollipop” was on the US Billboard Hot 100 and he even won a Grammy Award for the song. Later in 2008, Dedication 3 mixtape released with multiple appearances from Young Money artist like Nicki Minaj, Gudda Gudda, Jae Millz and Tyga.
Lil Wayne later tapped into his entrepreneurial gifts making major move by signing Drake and Nicki Minaj to his label, Young Money in 2009. Drake and Nicki Minaj are two of the top music artists in the game right now.
Since then Wayne’s sound has changed to more of a punk rock meets hip-hop flow. It's possible he heavy drug usage of codeine has slowed his momentum down. His album Rebirth was released in 2009 and the singles were “Prom Queen”, “On Fire” and “Drop the World”.
He then switched his sound back to strictly hip-hop with I Am Not A Human Being and his most popular single was ironically “ I’m Single” and other singles that hit the radio waves included “ With You” featuring Drake and “Right Above it” featuring Drake (because we’re going to be alright as long as we put Drake on every hook.) This album was released while Wayne was incarcerated for possession of a deadly weapon.
Tha Carter IV included “6 Foot 7 Foot”, “She Will” and “How To Love”. The Video for “6 Foot 7 Foot” had a theme based on the movie Inception and it was directed by Hype Williams. His later albums and mixtapes haven’t received much buzz like I Am Not Human Being II.
Over the few past years, the beef between Lil Wayne and Birdman (and Cash Money) has been boiling because Cash Money will not release his music, reasons why Tha Carter V has yet to drop.
Lil Wayne’s sound and audience has charged but he still makes music for the people. His loyal fans who have been with him from the beginning are still holding him down. Do you think Lil Wayne fell of?
