Lil Wayne is our No. 21 Greatest Pop Star of the 21st Century for how the took over the world (with some help) in the late '00s and early '10s.
remains a fixture in the rap scene, and unquestionable as one of the most influential hip-hop artists of all-time. Take a snapshot of rap when Wayne entered the game and then survey today’s landscape and it’s easy to see: Just look at all the “Lil’s” running around, rappers with grills and face tattoos while sporting dreadlocks and it all can be traced back to the New Orleans rap deity – even if the neophyte MCs can’t mimic his AutoTune-drenched rhymes and genius punchlines.
Meanwhile, if an artist needed a guest verse in the second half of the ‘00s, there was only one rapper to call. Wayne sprinkled his syrupy flows onto myriad top 40 Hot 100 hits from ‘06 to’s arrival in June ‘08, like Chris Brown’s “Gimme That,” Lloyd’s “You,” Fat Joe’s “Make It Rain,” DJ Khaled’s “We Takin Over,” Wyclef Jean’s “Sweetest Girl,” Playaz Circle’s “Duffle Bag Boy,” Birdman’s “Pop Bottles” and Usher’s “Love in This Club Part II.
With Weezy at the peak of his powers, he was essentially minting new hitmakers on radio seemingly on a weekly basis, spamming the airwaves with appearances on smashes by artists like Kevin Rudolf and Jay Sean . The latter topped the Hot 100, and Wayne’s memorable verse – and thoughts on the economy – remain a staple in rotation for DJ sets at bars across the country.
An eight-month jail stint on Rikers Island in NYC for a gun charge forced the always-moving Lil Wayne to sit down for much of 2010, as he pressed pause for the first time in a long time and temporarily took off the “Best Rapper Alive” crown. Still, the motivational horns of “Right Above It” with Drake managed to invade the Hot 100’s top 10 from behind bars, following a premiere from Hot 97’s Funkmaster Flex. High school football players across the U.S.
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