After releasing a series of albums in collaboration with other artists, in 2004, Lil’ Wayne released ‘Tha Carter’ and established him as a rapper. The release of ‘Tha Carter II’ in December 2005, made him further recognizable as a contemporary rapper. ‘Tha Carter II’ debuted at No.2 on the Billboard Top 200 and sold more than 200,000 copies. It has now been certified platinum.
“Fireman”, the first single off ‘Tha Carter II’ became immensely popular all over the US after it peaked at No.32 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. However, Lil’ Wayne took his popularity for granted and did not release a video for his second single “Grown Man”. Instead he released it on urban radios in January of 2006, hoping it would reach the Top 40 Mainstream and then to the Hot 100, and this did not really happen due to the lack of a video and adequate promotion. But, with the third single Lil’ Wayne took no risks and released a music video for “Hustler Muzik”. Yet, this too did not receive the attention “Fireman” had, and reached No.87 on Hot 100. As of now his latest single “Shooter” is receiving decent television play. Lil Wayne's most successful video to date is a colaboration with Birdman titled "Stuntin Like My Daddy".
Lil’ Wayne also released a sequel to ‘Dedication’, called ‘Dedication pt.2’ in 2006, which includes a track called “Georgia….Bush”, where he blames President Bush for not handling Hurricane Katrina, which ravaged his native New Orleans, well enough. Ludacris’s single “Georgia” was the beat it was recorded to, which itself was sampled from Ray Charles’s “Georgia on my Mind”.
With his popularity on a constant rise, Lil’ Wayne is due to release two collaboration albums; one being a mix tape, meant to serve as a prequel to ‘I Can’t Feel my Face’ with Juelz Santana and ‘Like Father, Like Son’ with Baby. He’s also working tirelessly on ‘Tha Carter III’ and wants to release it by the end of the year.
From Discogs:Born : September 27, 1982 // New Orleans, LA, United States
From Lastfm:Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. (born September 27, 1982 in New Orleans, Louisiana), better known by his stage name Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. Formerly a member of the rap group the Hot Boys, he joined the Cash Money Records collective as a teenager. Get It How U Live, released in 1997, was Lil Wayne's first album with Hot Boys, and Tha Block is Hot, his solo debut, came out in 1999.
After gaining fame with two other albums in the early 2000s, Lil Wayne reached higher popularity with 2004's Tha Carter and its two subsequent albums Tha Carter II (2005) and Tha Carter III (2008). He earned various accolades following Tha Carter III, including being nominated for eight Grammy Awards. He will released a rock album titled Rebirth in 2010.
From Wikipedia:Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. (born September 27, 1982) in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States), better known by his stage name Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. At age of nine, Lil Wayne joined Cash Money Records as the youngest member of the label, and half of the duo, The B.G.'z, with B.G.. In 1997, Lil Wayne joined the group Hot Boys, which also included rappers Juvenile, B.G., and Turk. Hot Boys debuted with Get It How U Live! that year. Lil Wayne gained most of his success with the group's major selling album Guerrilla Warfare, released in 1999. Also in 1999, Lil Wayne released his Platinum debut album Tha Block Is Hot, selling over one million copies in the U.S..
Although his next two albums Lights Out (2000) and 500 Degreez (2002) were not as successful (only reaching Gold status), Lil Wayne reached higher popularity in 2004 with Tha Carter, which included the single "Go D.J." Wayne also appeared on the Destiny's Child top ten single "Soldier" that year. In 2005, the sequel to Tha Carter, Tha Carter II, was released. In 2006 and 2007, Lil Wayne released several mixtapes and appeared on several popular rap and R&B singles. His most successful album, Tha Carter III, was released in 2008 which went on to sell 1.5 million copies in the U.S. its first week of release. It included the number-one single "Lollipop" and won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album. Lil Wayne released his debut rock album, Rebirth, in 2010 to primarily negative reception from critics even though the album eventully would go gold. In March 2010, Lil Wayne began serving an 8 month prison sentence in New York after being convicted of criminal possession of a weapon stemming from an incident in July 2007.