|
Wayne Michael Carter, Jr. (born September 27, 1982), better known by his stage name Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. Lil
Wayne was born Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. and grew up in the Hollygrove neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana. A precocious
child, Lil Wayne had to carefully resist the temptations of drugs and crimes that surrounded him at such a young age. Although
New Orleans may be a tough place to live in, it is also a cultural hotspot. His biological father left the family while Carter
was an infant and his step father, Reginald, Rabbit, Carter would leave the family by the time Lil Wayne was 16. Carter enrolled
in the gifted program of Lafayette Elementary School and in the drama club of Eleanor McMain Secondary School. He wrote his
first rap song at age eight. At age eleven, he met Bryan Williams, rapper and owner of Cash Money Records. Lil Wayne recorded
freestyle raps on Williams' answering machine; Williams would eventually mentor the young Carter and include him in Cash Money-distributed
songs. When he was 12, he played the part of the Tin Man in his middle school drama club's production of The Wiz. He dropped
out of school at age 14. Wayne briefly enrolled in an undergraduate degree program at the University of Houston, where he
majored in Psychology. He was 15-years old when he had his daughter, Regginae. He relocated to Houston, TX after being displaced
by Hurricane Katrina.
|
