The millionaire. The Young Money millionaire. Tougher than Nigerian hair – I tried to use the lyrics from his hit single “A Milli” off the album “Tha Carter III” sorry – and yes this is who he has become from his journey beginning officially as a rapper in the year 1995, aged 12.
Dwayne Michael Carter Jr, professionally known as Lil’ Wayne is an American rapper, producer and the chief executive officer of the label Young Money Entertainment, home to some notable artists such as Nicki Minaj, Reginae Carter (his daughter), Cory Gunz, Euro, Christina Milian and more. He is regarded by many in the hip-hop community to be one of the greatest rappers alive, with his rapping styles and clothing being huge influences to this new generation of rappers. He began his musical career by signing on to label owner and rapper Birdman’s Cash Money Records in 1995 as a duo, with recording B.G known as the Hot Boys, to which they released a couple of mixtapes together (“Get It How U Live!” and “Guerrilla Warfare”) before he went on to release his solo project “The Block Is Hot” in 1999, making it his breakthrough as a solo artist.
Fast forward into the year 2004 we received what was the first installment of what will be an album series “Tha Carter”, giving him more popularity in the music scene, and followed it up with “Tha Carter II” in 2005. The third installment of the ‘Tha Carter’ series “Tha Carter III” had him at his peak, which led to him winning his first Grammy at the 2009 Grammy Awards for Best Rap Album. 2/5 of the album series had him encounter critical periods in his life, with “Tha Carter IV” released in 2011 after his release from the Rikers Island prison, serving an eight month sentence for the criminal possession of a weapon. “Tha Carter V” was released in 2018 after delays due to creative disagreements with the label Cash Money Records. After winning a lawsuit of $51 million, he went ahead to release the album and leave the Cash Money Records label, furthering his journey in new grounds with music streaming service TIDAL, owned by billionaire rapper and mogul, JAY-Z.
Selling over 120 million albums worldwide, with 70 million digital tracks, Lil’ Wayne is ranked to be one of the world’s best selling artists of all time; breaking records of Elvis Presley in the year 2012 for being the artist with the highest number of songs to make entry into the Billboard Hot 100 charts, a total of about 109 songs. He makes about an amount of $20 million annually while doing his podcast “Young Money Radio” , a show featuring DJ mixes and interviews with some of the finest in the fields of music, movies and comedy. The rapper as of 2022 is worth $150 million, with his label Young Money Entertainment still active and his own brand of cannabis GKUA Ultra Premium.
