Lil'+Wayne+&+Hollygrove

Lil Wayne was born Michael Dewayne Carter, Jr. in a little section of New Orleans, Louisiana called Hollygrove. He started rapping at a young age at battles, clubs and on the streets. Lil Wayne started his “stellar career at age 12 when a friend introduced him to Cash Money Co-CEOs and brothers Ronald “Slim” Williams and Bryan “Birdman” Williams” (Lil Wayne). The producers heard Lil Wayne rap after he called them and left a rhyme on their answering machine, they loved his style right away. Shortly after signing Lil Wayne, in 1993, “Slim” and “Birdman” put Lil Wayne in the rapping group called “Hot Boys”. They made many albums including “The Block is Hot” and “Guerilla Warfare”. The group was famous for a short time after producing the different CD’s and tracks; “Wayne went solo and undertook a transformation almost unprecedented in hip-hop” (Tyrangiel). Soon after going solo, Lil Wayne started recording his own tracks and albums. He has produced albums called “None Higher”, “Tha Carter III” series, and “Rebirth”. His CD series “Tha Carter III”, since June 10th of ’09, has “sold 1,005,545 copies in its first week” (Tyrangiel). The next CD that hit the stores was “Rebirth”. On this CD are some songs that you’d never expect from Wayne, rock, rap, R&B. Wayne states “On this album I want to show my growth as an artist,” “I want my fans to see how far I have come musically” (Lil Wayne). Some critics say that Wayne’s lyrics are too much, or too heavy for kids to hear, but when he goes into the recording booth he listens to the beat, then raps what the beat reveals to him. Lil Wayne stopped writing his rhymes in notebooks and now all his rhymes happen on the spot. One unusual and frightening thing about Lil Wayne is that at age 12 he accidently shot “himself in the chest with a .44-cal. while imitating Travis Bickle in his bedroom” (Tyrangiel). After crawling to the phone with blood everywhere, the cops came and had to kick in the door to save his life. At the hospital the doctors did emergency surgery and saw that the bullet was very, very close to his heart. Another thing that is surprising is that Wayne starred as the “Tin Man in his gifted middle school's production of The Wiz” (Tyrangiel). Some other things that are interesting are: he would give his “Grammy to his mom” (Herndon), “favorite candy Skittles, Starburst” (Herndon), “first tattoo was for his dad” (Herndon), and he “majored in physiology at University of Houston” (Herndon).
 * How did Lil Wayne get his start?**
 * What made Wayne the “undefeated champ”?**
 * What are some fun facts about Lil Wayne?**

Herndon, Jessica. "Lil Wayne's World." People Weekly 9 Feb. 2009: 92. Expanded Academic ASAP. Web. 15 Apr. 2010. Lilwayne-online. 2010 Universal Motown. Web. . Tyrangiel, Josh. “The Best Rapper Alive.” Time 14 July 2009; 69. Expanded Academic ASAP. Web. 7 Apr. 2010
 * Works Cited**