Lil Wayne has stayed true to his street-savvy boy from the 'hood background. He was a child prodigy who grew up on the mean streets of one of New Orleans' poorest neighborhoods, receiving his first musical paycheck when he was only 14-years-old. Raised by a strong Southern mother, he has been in and out of jail, courtrooms, and recording studios in equal measure.

His tendency to scrap, feud with fellow rappers and record labels is legendary. His run-ins with the IRS have been the stuff of lurid headlines. His love of a joint or two has led him into what will probably be a very lucrative (legal in California) business.

He is a charismatic force of nature that cannot be ignored. And Weezy has stayed true to his roots. He gets down and dirty with the best of them, even now. Here are 16 little know facts about Lil Wayne's rise to fame.

16 Started Rapping At The Age Of 9

Lil Wayne was born Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. in New Orleans in 1982. Dwayne, soon to become Wanye's,  mother was poorer than poor and only 19-years-old when he was born. His father abandoned the family when he was only 2-years-old. A total child prodigy, Wayne wrote his first rap song when he was 8 or 9 and got his first rap paycheck ($6,500) when he was all of 14-years-old. Our little Wayne was considered a "gifted" child academically.

15 His Mother Made Him Drop Out Of School At 14

Despite his academic prowess, his mother made him drop out of school when he was 14-years-old. Why? Well, one day she saw that he had a gun stashed in his backpack and she came to the conclusion that his hanging out at school armed and dangerous was a bad idea. Admittedly, at the time he already had a platinum album out. So, what the heck with school!

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14 1996: Signed To Cash Money Records

Cash Money Record's Birdman (Bryan Williams, on the right) and Lil Wayne have this love-hate thing going on. In some ways, Lil Wayne considers the guy his father. In other ways, the two have consistently locked horns legally. But there is no doubt that signing with Cash Money in 1996 was the beginning of something big. Lil Wayne started out with the group Hot Boys. Their 1997 debut album Get It How U Live was a big hit. And the rest is history, as they say.

13 1999: Solo Career

OK. The 1990 debut solo debut album The Block is Hot is a certified double platinum with 2.4 million sold. Its 17 tracks are, at the request of Lil Wayne's mom, "relatively" profanity free (for rap).  Like all his music, it is based in the down and out, drug-ridden Hollygrove area of New Orleans. The black, Southern culture informs and infuses all his music. It embodies its street-savvy, New Orleans style.

12 2006: A Loyal Dude Sticks With Cash Money

Lil Wayne can be said to be a big fan of Jay-Z. And Jay-Z pretty early on took notice of Lil Wayne's precocious talent. In 2005/2006, there was talk that Lil Wayne would desert New Orleans based Cash Money for Jay-Z's bigger and better connected Rocafella. Rumor had it Jay-Z offered him $5 million. No, Lil Wayne said. I'll stick with Birdman.

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11 2014: Near Meltdown With The IRS

It's the classic artist's tale of woe. Talented singer/songwriter, lousy businessperson with bad or nonexistent management. That was Wayne's dilemma in a nutshell. He got slapped with tax liens for Federal tax debt totaling (wait for it) $14 million going back to 2011 and 2012. Word on the street was that in 2019 Jay-Z came to the rescue and helped our Weezy pay it off. Nice of him we think.

10 Those Pesky Lawsuits Slow Him Down

If you Google "Lil Wayne" and "lawsuits" you get a bumper crop of results, mostly relating to people claiming he stole they lyrics or their songs (or both). For example, singer Karma claimed he told her he liked one of her songs, but they couldn't come to terms for his using it. Next thing, she claims he used it anyway. So she sued. Even in rap-land terms, Lil Wayne has more than his fair share of court time. And crippling legal expenses.

9 Fight Against Health Issues That Threatened To Derail His Career

Lil Wayne has suffered from epilepsy since childhood. He has admitted to having had numerous seizures that fans didn't know about. Rumor had it that a highly addictive drink called Lean (allergy meds and codeine) that he once guzzled brought on the seizures. As a result, the rapper has ended up in the hospital on more than one occasion, necessitating the cancellation of shows. Officially he has stopped drinking Lean. Let's hope so.

8 The Feuds That Sabotaged His Career

Lil Wayne's beefs. It's rap lyrics at ten paces, really. Little boy egos. 50 Cents calls Lil Wayne a "wh***e because he collaborates so much. And pretty boy Wayne tells him to "die ugly". Then Jay-Z, jealous of the Lil Wayne and Birdman thing, insults both of them. And guess how many four-letter words Pusha-T comes out with when Lil Wayne proclaims himself the greatest rapper ever? But still, it wastes a lot of time and energy.

7 He's One Of The Most Successful Hip Hop Artists Of All Time

There are rappers like Jay-Z who become moguls. And there are rappers like Lil Wayne who stay rappers. The 1999 album The Block is Hot went double platinum and reached number three on the Billboard charts. 2008's The Carter III was his most successful album yet, selling a million-plus in the U.S. in its first week. Then it got the Grammy for Best Rap Album. Did we mention that Lil Wayne has five Grammy wins? The guy has the magic touch big time.

6 He Has A Net Worth Of $120 Million

He makes around $600,000 per show. He does a spot of producing and documentary making. And don't forget those endorsements for Sprint and Mountain Dew and his royalties for songs he has written. Altogether Lil Wayne has amassed a net worth of $120 million, down after his IRS worries from a high of $150 million. We'll get to a new business venture in a bit.

5 A Career Plagued By Run-Ins With The Law

Our Weezy knows what it's like to be inside. He served time in New York's Rikers Island on weapons charges after his arrest in July of 2007. He wrote lyrics and kept a diary while he was banged up. Weezy's been busted for drug-possession in Atlanta, Arizona, and Idaho. His tours and gigs have been peppered with interruptions as a result of arrests. In December of 2019, he was arrested in Saudi Arabia for possession of weed and, trust us, on more than one occasion, his private plane has been searched.

4 Stymied By Litigation With Cash Money

Birdman and his Cash Money Records fell out big time over Lil Wayne's album Tha Carter V, with Lil Wayne filing a $51 million lawsuit against Cash Money in 2014 in order to clear the way for the release of the album. Finally, in 2018 Lil Wayne won the suit and the album was released, but not by Cash Money. No. Birdman and Lil Wayne are not best buds anymore.

3 He's Got His Own Cannabis Brand

Unless you are in Los Angeles, don't go looking for this! But at the end of 2019, that connoisseur of weed Lil Wayne, announced the launch of GKUA Ultra Premium, a line of what Forbes called "high potency cannabis products designed to provide consumers with the best high of their lives".  Lil Wayne says it inspires him. Right.

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2 The Dude Wants To Retire

Let's face it, the guys been at this rap thing for nearly 30 years. It's been a hard slog. Along the way, he's had a wife and a partner or two and 4 kids. He's been in and out of prison and in and out of lawsuits and feuds. He's amassed a $120 million fortune. Maybe he just wants to smoke his branded weed and chill out, while counting his money.

1 Lil Wayne The Writer

When Lil Wayne was banged up in Rikkers Island, he kept a diary that was published under the title of Gone Until November. Of it, The New Yorker said “Transfixing…[Wayne’s] prison diary is, above all, a testament to the irrepressibility of his charisma—his is a force that can never go dormant, even when it’s not plainly on display.” Coming from that magazine, that's something!

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