Lil Wayne was born an only child in the poverty-stricken and crime-ridden Hollygrove section of New Orleans, Louisiana, which is part of the 17th Ward. His biological father left Lil' Wayne when he was an infant, and until the age of sixteen, Reginald "Rabbit" Carter was his stepfather. Despite his unpleasant surroundings, Lil Wayne struggled to keep off the streets and to stay in school. Lil' Wayne's first contact with hip-hop was listening to local Cash Money artists such as Pimp Daddy and U.N.L.V., whom Lil Wayne also credited as his earliest influences. 11-year old Lil' Wayne started to record freestyles on Baby's answering machine and haunted Cash Money offices nearly every day. When Baby saw so much engagement in the young rapper, he soon signed Lil Wayne and hooked up with another newcomer Lil' Doogie to form group The B.G.'z. Group released their first and only album, True Story, in 1995. At the young age of 13, Lil' Wayne would drop out of school to fully pursue a rap career.

Lil Wayne did not rap about adolescent issues, unlike many child rappers, such as Lil' Romeo and Bow Wow, who performed bubblegum rap until their late teens. Lil' Wayne did, however, refrain from swearing in his rhymes at the behest of his mother.

In 1997, Lil Wayne formed the Hot Boys along with Juvenile, Turk, and B.G., and they released their seminal debut CD Get It How You Live. The record's success earned the young teenagers fans throughout the south and midwest. Lil Wayne further distinguished himself on the Hot Boys' platinum selling Universal debut Guerilla Warfare released in 1998, followed by their 2003 release Let Em Burn.

On November 11, 2005 Lil Wayne released Tha Carter II which further solidified his spot as a contemporary rapper, noticeably producing the album without the prominent beats of Mannie Fresh. The lead single off the album, "Fireman", became a hit in the US, peaking at 32 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The second single, "Grown Man", was solicited to urban radios in January of 2006 in hopes of spreading to Top 40 Mainstream and then to the Hot 100, but failed to do so and failed to receive any attention due to lack of promotion and no video. The third single "Hustler Muzik" received a video and gained minor attention also. "Hustler Musik" reached #87 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Recently Lil Wayne was recruited by the Boyz N Da Hood as their fourth member after Young Jeezy left the group to engage in his solo career. Due to scheduling conflicts involving the promotion of Tha Carter II, Lil' Wayne would never be formally named an active member of Boyz N Da Hood but maintains a very good relationship with the group recording new tracks with them often. Lil Wayne will also be featured on Roman Verone's up coming mix cd and LP due out soon.

In 2006 Lil Wayne released his critically acclaimed sequel to his Dedication mixtape with DJ Drama called Dedication 2. On it, Lil' Wayne included an outro track entitled "Georgia....Bush" on which he addresses the problems surrounding the government's response to Hurricane Katrina in his native New Orleans, Lousiana and also places a large amount of blame on President George W. Bush. Throughout the track, Lil' Wayne claims that theories of the government sabotaging the levees of New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward were indeed true. The track was recorded on the beat to Ludacris' single "Georgia" which sampled the Ray Charles track "Georgia On My Mind".

Lil Wayne is set to release two collaboration LP's this year.

Lil Wayne has been linked to female rapper Trina ever since around the time of the 2005 NBA All-Star Game at the Pepsi Center in Denver. They later recorded a single, Don't Trip, which appeared on her album Glamorest Life, and appeared on the remix for Remy Ma's Conceited (along with Papoose and Jae Millz). After that rumors started flying around about what was going on between the two. There were rumors that the two were dating or even engaged. On a radio interview, Trina said that the relationship was more of a "brother-sister" relationship. Later, on Victoria's RapBasement, Lil Wayne said he knew nothing of the rumors.

Both would later retract that statement. In an issue of Sister 2 Sister magazine, Trina would later say that she made a huge understatement at that radio interview, and that "He's one of the sweetest people I've ever met...I have so much love for him!" However, she just burst out in huge giggles when further questions were asked, and she said "We're both happy. That's all the world needs to know." In the March 2006 issue of VIBE magazine, Lil Wayne said that this relationship was better than his past ones because "She's (also) a rapper, so we understand each other." When asked about the ring, Lil' Wayne smiled and said, "She just likes rings. I saw a nice one, so I got it for her."

On August 14, 2006, Lil Wayne was arrested on charges of possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana and possession of a controlled substance. Police claim the rapper was in possession of several unlabeled bottles - one containing 60 pills of Alprazolam, a generic form of Xanax that is used to treat anxiety disorders and panic attacks; another containing 59 hydrocodone pills - along with "two small burnt joints of marijuana," the report read. A second man, Derrick Lawrence, 37, was also charged with possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana. Lil Wayne was released from Georgia's Fulton County Jail on $11,000 bond following his arrest.

Tha Block Is Hot (1999)
Tha Block Is Hot
Loud Pipes
Watcha Wanna Do
Kisha
High Beamin'
Lights Off
Fuck The World
Remember Me
Respect Us
Drop It Like It's Hot
Young Playa
Enemy Turf
Not Like Me
Come On
Up to Me
You Want War

Lights Out (2000)
Watch Them People (Intro)
Get Off The Corner
On The Grind
Hit U Up
Everything
Fuck Wit Me Now
Lil One
Break Me Off
Skit
Wish You Would
Grown Man
Shine
Jump Jiggy
Realized
Tha Blues
Let's Go
Biznite
Act A Ass
Beef

500 Degreez (2002)
Look at Me
Way of Life
Big Tigger Live on the Radio
Gangstas and Pimps
Lovely
Gangsta Shit
Big Tigger Live on the Radio
Bloodline
Where You At
Worry Me
500 Degreez
Go Hard
Young N Blues
Believe That
Fuck You
What Does Life Mean to Me
Get That Dough
Fo Sheezy

Tha Carter (2004)
Walk In
Go DJ
This Is The Carter
BM J.R.
I Miss My Dawgs
We Don't
On My Own
Tha Heat
Cash Money Millionaires
Inside
Bring It Back
Who Wanna
Get Down
Snitch
Hoes
Only Way
Earthquake
Ain't That a Bitch
Walk Out

Tha Carter II (2005)
Tha Mobb
Fly In
Money On My Mind
Fireman
Mo Fire
On Tha Block #1
Best Rapper Alive
Lock And Load
Oh No
Grown Man
On Tha Block #2
Hit Em Up
Carter II
Hustler Musik
Receipt
Shooter
Weezy Baby
On Tha Block #3
I'm A Dboy
Feel Me
Get Over
Fly Out