His marketing skills had become sharper, too, and it was no mistake that the album's hit single, 'Go DJ,' mentioned hip-hop's greatest tastemakers right in the title. Released in 2004, the album seemed familiar on one hand with Mannie Fresh's production, but the Wayne on the cover was a dreadlocked surprise, and the rhymes he laid on the tracks showed significant growth. He used these underground releases to drum up anticipation for his next official album, the breakthrough effort Tha Carter. The rest of the Hot Boys had defected and Wayne's planned 2003 album was scrapped, coming out instead as an underground mixtape called Da Drought.Wayne became enamored with the mixtape world after Da Drought drew so much attention from the hip-hop press. 500 Degreez landed in 2002 and while it went gold, rumors began flying about Cash Money's financial troubles and possible demise.

When Juvenile left the label, Wayne - or 'Birdman Jr.' as he was calling himself - showed his allegiance to his CEO by releasing an album with a title much hotter than Juvie's breakthrough effort.

While Fresh was primarily responsible for launching his career, Wayne was now much closer to Fresh's fellow Big Tymer and Cash Money CEO Birdman. His second album, Lights Out (2000), failed to match the success of its predecessor but it did go gold, and with an appearance on the Big Tymers' hit single '#1 Stunna,' his audience was certainly growing. It went double platinum but the rapper was still unknown to Middle America, since his hardcore rhymes and the rough Cash Money sound had not yet crossed over. Wayne would launch his solo career a year later with the album Tha Block Is Hot, featuring the hit single title track. In 1998, Lil Wayne would appear on Juvenile's hit single 'Back That Thing Up,' or 'Back That Azz Up' as it appeared on Juvie's album 400 Degreez. Mainstream distribution would help that year's Hot Boys album Guerrilla Warfare to reach the number one spot on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. Two years later, Cash Money would sign a distribution deal with the major label Universal.

He joined B.G., Juvenile, and Young Turk for another Fresh project, the teen hardcore rap group the Hot Boys, who released their debut album, Get It How U Live!, in 1997. release.That same year, he officially took the moniker Lil Wayne, dropping the 'D' from his first name in order to separate himself from an absent father. The 1997 album Chopper City was supposed to be the follow-up, but when Wayne accidentally shot himself in the chest with a 9mm, it became a solo B.G. Although only B.G.'s name appeared on the cover, the 1995 album True Story has since been accepted as the B.G.'z debut album both by fans and the Cash Money label. A year later, in-house producer Mannie Fresh partnered him with the 14-year-old B.G. Combining a strong work ethic with aggressive self-promotion, the 11-year-old convinced the Cash Money label to take him on, even if it was just for odd jobs around the office. He found music was the best way to express himself, and after taking the name Gangsta D he began writing rhymes. and raised in the infamous New Orleans neighborhood of Hollygrove, he was a straight-A student but never felt his true intelligence was expressed through any kind of report card. A game-changing artist and celebrity, Lil Wayne began his career as a near-novelty - a preteen delivering hardcore hip-hop - but through years of maturation and reinventing the mixtape game, he developed into a million-selling rapper with a massive body of work, one so inventive and cunning that it makes his famous claim of being the 'best rapper alive' worth considering.

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