Lil Wayne

Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September 27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generation, and is often mentioned among the greatest rappers of all time. Carter's career began in 1995, when he was signed by rapper Birdman to his record label Cash Money Records, becoming the youngest member of the label at age eleven. From then on, he was the flagship artist of Cash Money Records before ending his association with the imprint in June 2018.

In 1995, Carter was placed in a duo with labelmate B.G. and they released an album, True Story in July of that year, although Carter (at the time known as Baby D) only appeared on three tracks. Carter and B.G. soon formed the Southern hip hop group Hot Boys with Cash Money label-mates Juvenile and Turk in 1997; they released their debut album, Get It How U Live! in October of that year. The Hot Boys gained mainstream success following the release of their second album Guerrilla Warfare (1999), as well as their single "Bling Bling". The group briefly disbanded after the album due to each member (besides Carter) parting ways with the label, although one further album—Let 'Em Burn (2003)—was released.

Carter's debut studio album, Tha Block Is Hot (1999) quickly achieved commercial success and served as his breakthrough as a solo act, followed by Lights Out (2000) and 500 Degreez (2003). He reached wider popularity and critical acclaim with his fourth and fifth albums Tha Carter (2004) and Tha Carter II (2005), as well as several mixtapes and collaborations throughout 2006 and 2007. He propelled to the forefront of hip hop with his sixth album Tha Carter III (2008), with first-week sales of over one million units in the US. The album won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album and was supported by his first Billboard Hot 100-number one single "Lollipop" (featuring Static Major), the top-ten singles "A Milli" and "Got Money" (featuring T-Pain), and the top-20 single "Mrs. Officer" (featuring Bobby V and Kidd Kidd).

Carter's seventh studio album, Rebirth (2010) experimented with rap rock and was released in February of that year to generally negative critical response. A month later in March, he began serving an 8-month jail sentence for criminal possession of a weapon stemming from an incident in July 2007. His eighth album, I Am Not a Human Being (2010) was released during his incarceration, while the release of his ninth album, Tha Carter IV (2011) coincided months after his release from prison. Tha Carter IV sold 964,000 units in its first-week in the United States and received mixed reviews. His twelfth studio album, Tha Carter V (2018)—preceded by I Am Not a Human Being II (2013) and Free Weezy Album (2015)—was released following long-term delays and label disputes, and was met with 480,000 in first-week sales. His thirteenth album, Funeral (2020) became his fifth non-consecutive number one album.

Carter has sold over 120 million records worldwide, including more than 25 million albums and 92 million digital tracks in the United States, making him one of the world's best-selling music artists. He has won five Grammy Awards, eleven BET Awards, four Billboard Music Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards and eight NAACP Image Awards. On September 27, 2012, he became the first male artist to surpass Elvis Presley with the most entries on the Billboard Hot 100, with 109 songs. Carter founded the record label Young Money Entertainment in 2005, which has signed artists including Drake, Tyga and Nicki Minaj.