Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. opened his eyes for the first time. His parents didn’t know it at the time, but their son would later drop the “D” from his name and grow up to become one of the greatest rappers alive.
On September 27, 1982, Lil Wayne was born in the Hollygrove neighborhood of New Orleans, La. At the age of 10, Wayne met Bryan “Birdman” Williams who mentored him and helped develop him as an artist. By the time he dropped out of high school, he’d already survived a near-death shooting, and began focusing on his music career full-time.In 1997, Wayne joined Hot Boys with Juvenile, B.G. and Turk. Even though he the youngest rapper in the group, the 14-year-old rapper still contributed to the group’s debut album Get It How U Live! and their major label debut Guerilla Warfare. He was able to make a real name for himself after he appeared on Juvenile’s 1999 hit “Back That Azz Up.” The hype from Juvie’s record made fans pay attention to Wayne’s first solo album Tha Block Is Hot, which dropped later that year.
