Last week, when Lil Wayne, 26, became a father for the second time to baby boy Dwayne Michael Carter III, at Christ Hospital in Cincinnati, he wasn’t handing out cigars in the waiting room. He was right there in the delivery room.
“I delivered him. I held the left leg the whole time,” Wayne said Tuesday night at Power 105.1′s Powerhouse concert. “It was nasty, very nasty, but it was wonderful. Oct. 22, 9:25 a.m., 7 lbs., 12 oz. He’s the best thing to ever happen to me, next to my daughter.”
Lil Wayne’s first child, 8-year-old Reginae Carter, belongs to Wayne and his high school sweetheart Antonia “Toya” Johnson.
The identity of the newborn’s mother remains private.
The rapper – whose album “Tha Carter III” was one of the biggest hits of 2008 – was supposed to perform at “Fashion Rocks” but left when he found out he’d have to go through security.
“When Lil’ Wayne showed up to perform in the show – and he showed up on time – he was carrying a bag and refused, point blank, to go through security,” one senior production person told us. “Everyone else – including Rihanna, Chris Brown, Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake and Kid Rock – went through security, and we couldn’t make an exception. He’s obviously not a Boy Scout and has a history with drugs and guns.
“But he wouldn’t budge and refused to have his bag searched or have a security wand passed over him. Then he started getting abusive: ‘I don’t need your [bleeping] show – I’m leaving if you make me do this.’ So he had to leave, I mean, who knows what was in that bag?
“He got back in the car we’d paid for and drove off. Minutes later, we got frantic calls from his management and record label begging us to have him back. We said, ‘OK, we have an opening at 7 p.m.’ The next thing you know, Wayne’s people are saying, ‘Can we do a bit later. He’s not going to be ready.’
“We had a crew of 250 people waiting for him . . . Then he calls at, like, 9:30 and says, ‘I’m five blocks away,’ which is like 500 blocks away in New York traffic, so we just pulled the plug. It was just so disrespectful to the crew and to the 5,000 audience members. Unbelievable.”
Lil’ Wayne’s manager didn’t return calls.
Meanwhile, the rapper attended a Manhattan court hearing yesterday on whether cops violated his rights after a concert with Ja Rule at the Beacon last November. That’s when they stopped and boarded his tour bus and found him sitting on a bed in his boxers, allegedly tossing a Louis Vuitton bag containing a 9mm gun to the floor, The Post’s Laura Italiano reports.
Rapper LIL WAYNE is facing legal action over accusations he has copied THE ROLLING STONES in one of his songs.
Bosses at music publishing firm Abkco Music Inc. allege the star has released an alternate version of the British rockers’ hit Play With Fire, which the label owns the rights to, without their permission.
And they’ve branded Lil Wayne’s track an “explicit, sexist and offensive” rendition of the 1965 tune, according to the lawsuit obtained by TMZ.com.
The company is suing for copyright infringement and seeking unspecified damages.
Industry insiders weigh in on the buzz surrounding Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter III
Cash Money/Universal Motown Records multi-platinum recording artist Lil Wayne expands his dynasty with Tha Carter III. The new CD is the biggest release by far for 2008, selling over 1 Million copies it’s first week, reigning #1 on Nielsen SoundScan, besting Mariah Carey’s record-breaking release earlier this year. Not since 50 Cent’s The Massacre in 2005 has an artist sold over 1 Million albums their first week. “This is truly a proud moment for the Cash Money family, says Cash Money co-founder Ronald ‘Slim’ Williams. “Lil Wayne is truly changing the game of hip-hop.” Cash Money co-founder Bryan ‘Birdman’ Williams adds “I knew my son had it in him, and this just proves what I’ve been saying all along. Lil Wayne is the most talented rapper out there right now, and these numbers prove it.”
“This is a landmark week for Lil Wayne and for our company,” said Universal Motown President Sylvia Rhone. “Wayne has not only scored by far the biggest debut of the year, but the highest first week sales in Universal Motown history. He has energized his fans and the retail community by delivering a seminal, original album that defines the state-of-the-art in hip-hop. Wayne’s explosive success proves that when the music is there, the consumer is there. This is an event release from a genius artist who represents and speaks for youth culture. ‘Tha Carter III’ had a brilliant set-up, and I want to thank my entire Universal Motown team and our colleagues at Cash Money for all the hard work, devotion, and enthusiasm that made this day a reality.”
GQ Magazine (2007) called him the “greatest rapper in the world,” proclaiming him Man of the Year, and Blender Magazine (2008) declared him the “Best Rock Star Alive.” Lil Wayne lives up to widespread critical acclaim garnering over 216 million in radio audience at Crossover and Urban radio. The talented rappers stronghold at radio extends to holding the #1 position at Crossover for nine straight weeks.
Two singles from Tha Carter III simultaneously blitz the Top Ten mainstream radio charts including the smash hit “Lollipop” at #2 and “A Milli” at #9, tagged as a Greatest Gainer. With these impressive figures, he eclipses Kanye West by nearly 10,000 units in first week performance. A dozen major retailers including Amazon, Circuit City, Kmart, Target and Walmart show Lil Wayne outselling West since the album dropped on June 10.
Star power sizzles for Lil Wayne, as a follow-up to his biggest solo effort, the multi-platinum Tha Carter II. With success squarely in the bag, Lil Wayne worked diligently to produce Tha Carter III and the result is a carefully honed masterpiece.
Lil Wayne was born and raised in the infamous poverty-stricken section of New Orleans- the 17th Ward. His rise to stardom came in 1995 at the tender age of 12 when he made his debut on his former label mates’ B.G’s True Story CD. Shortly thereafter, the rap prodigy garnered national attention as a member of the group, Hot Boys, which consisted of rappers Juvenile, Turk and B.G., with their 1997 debut album, Get It How You Live, followed by 1998′s platinum certified Guerilla Warfare and 2003′s Let Em Burn. Success continued to follow Lil Wayne, as a solo artist, his debut CD, 1999′s Tha Block Is Hot reached platinum status and was a #1 Billboard Album. He later released in 2000, Lights Out, 500Degreez in 2002 and his defining album, 2004′s gold certified, Tha Carter, which featured the hit single “Go DJ.”
Since the release of his last CD, the platinum selling Tha Carter II, Lil Wayne has guest appearances on over 70 songs for other artists including Fat Joe’s 2008 Grammy nominated single “Make It Rain,” DJ Khaled’s “We Taking Over,” and Wyclef Jeans’ “Sweetest Girl.” He also released a duet CD with Bryan “Birdman” Williams titled Like Father, Like Son in 2006 which was a critical and commercial success.
Lil Wayne heralds Tha Carter III, as ‘The album he was born to make.’
The excessive leaks and bootlegging of Lil Wayne’s new album haven’t prevented it from being a hot seller: The rapper’s “Tha Carter III” sold 423,000 copies in its first day of release, according to Billboard magazine, citing figures from Nielsen SoundScan.
With such sales, Lil Wayne is on pace to sell about 900,000 copies of the CD in its first week and post the best sales debut of the year. Last year’s first-week top-seller was from Kanye West, who sold some 957,000 copies of “Graduation.”
Though Lil Wayne has been on the rap scene for years, “Tha Carter III,” released Tuesday, was expected to be the album that catapults the critically acclaimed rapper into pop superstardom. Ubiquitous on mixtapes and a frequent collaborator, he has owned the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 pop chart for the past few weeks with his song “Lollipop,” and “Tha Carter III” is among this year’s most anticipated CDs.
His last two albums, “Tha Carter” and “Tha Carter II,” sold 1.1 million and 1.4 million copies, respectively.
The release date for “Tha Carter III” was pushed back several times because the album was frequently leaked and bootlegged.
The year’s best first-week seller so far was posted by Mariah Carey. Her “EMC2″ sold about 463,000 in the first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Rapper Lil’ Wayne has been accused of failing to pay a $146,000 jewelery bill. The star – real name Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. – is being sued by Jack Sutton Fine Jewelery who allege he failed to pay for a diamond ring and necklace he purchased earlier this month.
The shop filed a lawsuit at Miami-Dade Circuit Court in Florida claiming Carter agreed to pay the bill in monthly installments – but after receiving the first check for $24,000 on Oct 12 and a second dated January 2008, the payments were stopped.
Proprietor Jack Sutton says, “I’ve been doing business with him for at least 10 years. He’s always been wonderful with paying me. He spent a lot of money with me. I thought we have a really good relationship. I don’t know what happened.”
Carter’s attorney Ron Sweeney branded the incident a “misunderstanding”.
He says, “If, in fact, the allegations are true, then it will be resolved. My client is very responsible.”
The jewelery case is the latest in a series of legal trials for Carter – he is currently fighting drug charges in Atlanta, Georgia, gun possession charges in New York and two civil suits in Baltimore, Maryland after several women suffered injuries during his homecoming concert.
