Many regarded Lil Wayne’s 2008 album “Tha Carter III” a hi t overnight. It was the year’s best-selling album, selling nearly 1M copies in its first week. National hi ts including “Lollipop,” “A Milli,” and “Got M on ey” played in vehicles, clubs, and radio.

Lil Wayne’s skateboard, dreadlocks, and strangled rapping were everywhere. After nearly a decade, the New Orleans rapper was hip-hop’s latest sensation.

Lil Wayne’s breakthrough took time. Over his long voyage, he worked hard and sought perfection. A Hollygrove ghetto kid from New Orleans who loved rap and made it his career was behind every global stadium tour, record-b rea king album sale, and critical acclaim.

Early Years: Prodigy

Wayne was born in New Orleans’ poorest neighborhood in 1982. Wayne’s mother received food aid after his father departed. Carter loved rap despite this obstacle.

Lil Wayne reportedly wrote his first rhymes at 8, nearly died from a self-inflicted gunsh ot wo u nd at 11, and lived with a local rapper to focus on music.

Wayne said, “I started rapping just punching words together,” in an interview. “I didn’t know what I was saying, but I could rhyme and put it together.”

He became the youngest H o t Boy in Master P’s New Orleans group Juvenile and B.G. at 12 after freestyling on street corners. Wayne learned a lot performing, recording, and seeing local rap take off.

H ot Boys Build It

The 1997 H  ot Boys album “Get It How U Live!” debuted Lil Wayne’s voice. The album failed, but “Guerrilla Warfare” went platinum and earned them guest roles on Mystikal and Master P’s songs in 1999.

Wayne made rap history with the H  ot Boys, touring and learning everything. Cash M on ey Records executives spotted Wayne’s promise and encouraged him to go solo as a kid.

“I was actually still in the H  оt Bоys when I did my first sоlо album,” Wayne tоld Rap Radar. “I was trying tо get us оver the hump befоre I cоuld stand alоne.”

Fake Starts Before Breakthrough

The 1999 solo debut “Tha Block Is H  ot” by 17-year-old Lil Wayne highly anticipated. The album sold over 900,000 copies, making Wayne a rap star. His childish lyrics and delivery disappointed critics. Wayne was an unrefined boy who rhymed early despite his talent.

His solo albums after that were “Lights Out” (2000), “500 Degreez” (2002), and “Tha Carter” (2004). Each project grew commercially and creatively with “Way of Life” and “Go DJ.” However, Wayne’s shallow lyrics were criticized.

Wayne struggled without mainstream praise. He was still popular in the South but not crossed. He was examined for drive and resilience.

“Everyone was saying I fell off from when I first came out,” Wayne recalls those difficult years. “I knew it wasn’t true, I just had to convince them.”

Wayne’s “Tha Carter” Breakthrough

Lil Wayne released “Tha Carter,” his fourth solo album, in 2004. The classic cover photo of Wayne with his new dreadlocks and the profound lyrical and avant-garde rapping showed artistic development quickly. Wayne was lauded for his wit, analogies, and rhymes.

Catchy “Holia Than Thou” and forceful “Go DJ” showed fresh musical skill and inventiveness. Wayne pioneered transportive, deeply moving music.

Wayne demonstrated his fluidity, wordplay, and breathlessness in fitting intricate rhymes into short spaces on songs like “Fireman”. He rapped brilliantly, “I’m so with it, Santa with it / Annie Oakley with it / Tandy on it / Randy Moss with it / No pa n ty-on it.” Years of practice made his writing and delivery distinctive.

“That’s when I knew this is what I wa  nted to do,” Wayne says of making the record. “This will be my game na me.”

Wayne got the critical praise he wan  ted with the Platinum-selling record. Later classic albums followed its example.

Carter II (2005) maintains its predecessor’s tremendous rhythms, enigmatic language, and wit. “Fireman” and “Best Rapper Alive” (sarcastically) possessed unwavering confidence and lyricism. Wayne became famous.

Wayne was at his best in Tha Carter III (2008). The album was a hip-hop avant-garde classic with hazy sounds, strange rhymes, and emotional lyrics. It was groundb rea king and accessible with massive pop hi ts like “Lollipop.”

After the record sold over a M copies in its first week, Wayne became famous worldwide. Wayne released innovative records after over a decade in the underground, regionally popular but without broad appeal.

Where was this mo ne y years ago? Wayne pondered. Before anybody noticed, I worked hard.”

Hard work, perseverance

Looking back, Lil Wayne’s rise was harder. Traumatic difficulties, years of anonymity, and near-misses would have crippled others.