Happy 20th year Anniversary to Lil Wayne and his album ”Tha Block Is Hot”. It was released by Ca$h Money and Universal with executive production from Baby and Slim, and soley produced by Mannie Fresh. Apart from the song ” F**k The World”, the album is almost completely free of profanity from Wayne himself, due to his mother’s wishes. In the United States, the album sold 229,500 copies in its first week, entering at number three on the Billboard 200. In the 2nd week, the album sold over 120,000 copies. On December 10, 1999, the album became certified platinum by the (RIAA) for sales of over a million copies. As of 2012, the album has sold 2.1 million copies in the United States and 2.4 million worldwide. His two singles were ”The Block is Hot” and ”Respect Us” with both songs spending time on the Billboard Charts.
Lil Wayne’s career began in 1995, at the age of 12, when he was discovered by Birdman and joined Cash Money Records as the youngest member of the label. He would become part of The B.G.’z, alongside B.G. before then becoming the group Hot Boys, with Cash Money label-mates Juvenile and Turk in 1997. They release of their debut album, Get It How U Live!, that same year. The group became popular following the release of the platinum-selling album Guerrilla Warfare (1999) and the 1999 single “Bling Bling”. This would be the springboard Lil Wayne would need to bounce his career with the release of his solo album that same year.
Lil Wayne would go on to release Lights Out (2000) and 500 Degreez (2002), they went on to be certified gold. Them albums was followed by ”Tha Carter II” (2005), as well as several mixtapes and collaborations throughout 2006 and 2007. It would not be until Lil Wayne released Tha Carter III (2008), where he would be placed into hip hop prominence, the album became his most successful album to date, with first-week sales of over one million copies in the United States. Shortly after, Wayne was nominated for eight Grammys – the most for any artist nominated that year. He was then named the first MTV Man of the Year at the end of 2008. He won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance for “A Milli”, Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for his appearance in T.I.’s single “Swagga Like Us”, and Best Rap Song for “Lollipop”. Tha Carter III won the award for Best Rap Album. MTV News listed Lil Wayne number two on their 2009 list of the Hottest MCs In The Game.
Lil Wayne would use this publicity to start his own the label and he was responsible for the breakout careers of artist like Drake, Nikki Minaj and Tyga, just to name a few. These artist are responsible for selling over 300 million records and are considered hip hop elite their selves. In 2009 Wayne released the album with Young Money, We Are Young Money, with its lead single being “Every Girl”.The second single was “BedRock”, featuring Lloyd, with the third being “Roger That”. On May 24, 2010, the album was certified gold by the RIAA with over 500,000 copies sold. To support its release and that of We Are Young Money, he was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone and headlined the ‘Young Money Presents: America’s Most Wanted Music Festival’, a United States and Canada–only concert tour.
Lil Wayne would go on to release a total of 12 albums. His twelfth studio album, Tha Carter V, was released in 2018 after multiple delays. It sold 480,000 units in its first week and went on to be certified platinum. Lil Wayne has sold over 120 million records worldwide, including more than 15 million albums and 37 million digital tracks in the United States. He is considered one of the best selling artist of all times and happens to be responsible for two of the other top selling artist. Lil Wayne’s impact stretched beyond hip hop, even having the word Bling Bling added to the Webster’s Dictionary. The album ”The Block is Hot” would introduce the world to Lil Wayne and he would set a path that will be forever hard to follow. His impact on hip-hop can’t be measured by only his success, but also the artist he chose to be his successor.
Salute to Lil Wayne and his album ”The Block is Hot” on the 20th Year Anniversary and thanks for all the hits.
