Lil Wayne kicks off new season tonight of VH1's 'Behind the Music'

by Marcia White
Thursday September 10, 2009,

VH1's "Behind the Music" shines the spotlight tonight on rap mogul Lil Wayne.
One of my favorite reality/bio shows returns at 10 o'clock tonight, VH1's "Behind the Music."

The series will feature a profile on Lil Wayne.

I'm not a fan, but it doesn't matter. I always watch "Behind the Music," no matter who the artist is. If it's someone I'm into, that's a bonus. The show is a roller coaster ride that takes you to the darkest depths and super highs of famous musicians and bands.

Here's the network's summary of the episode:

"By the time he was 11 years old, Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., aka Lil Wayne, had lost his virginity, dealt drugs, snorted cocaine and nearly shot himself to death after accidentally pulling the trigger on a gun he found in his mother's bedroom. That was life in the dangerous, poverty-stricken neighborhood in New Orleans 17th Ward, where Lil Wayne grew up. A musical prodigy, hip hop was Wayne's ticket to a better life. ... But Wayne's path to stardom was littered with personal challenges. The violence of New Orleans struck again as his stepfather was gunned down when Wayne was just 14. ... Rumors of an addiction to prescription cough syrup and an arrest in New York City for gun possession only fueled the controversy surrounding the outlaw rapper. Regarded as a renegade, Wayne then released a prolific and game changing record, Tha Carter III. Almost instantly, Lil Wayne rocketed to superstardom and became the pop icon of 2008. The self proclaimed "greatest rapper alive" received the ultimate validation when Wayne walked away with four Grammy Awards, completing a remarkable journey for the 27-year-old."

How can you not watch that?

Here's a sneak peek:



more on Lil Wayne:

Lil Wayne was already on rap's radar back when he was a member of Cash Money Records' Hot Boyz crew. But when the collective — featuring Juvenile, BG, Young Turk and Wayne — disbanded, the New Orleans native's solo career sputtered despite showing promise on his major-label debut, Tha Block Is Hot.

In the rapper's upcoming "Behind the Music" special, set to air September 10 on VH1, he talks openly about scrapping his rhyme books during a furious recording session, where he transformed from Cash Money's young sidekick to the label's heavyweight superstar.

"The only way I won't be able to rap anything I've written again is to record everything I've ever written before once," he explained of what led to his now notebook-free style.

The result was a 35-minute freestyle called "10,000 Bars," on which Wayne's disjointed rhymes, parts of various working songs, become a cathartic release and set the tone for his memorable mixtape run and a series of Carter albums.

"That changed Wayne as an artist," his longtime manager, Cortez Bryant, said.

In the wake of that recording session, Wayne developed a spastic, flowing, free-association style. Songs like "A Milli" and "I Feel Like Dying," along with his Dedication 3 mixtape, cemented his prowess. The real confirmation came with his first-week sales of 1 million copies of Tha Carter III and his Grammy win for Best Rap Album this year.

The hour-long "Behind the Music" also looks at Lil Wayne's rise to pop stardom and features a number of familiar faces from his past: Juvenile, BG and producer Mannie Fresh offer insight in the MC's prolific ascendance; Turk, the fourth Hot Boyz member, is currently incarcerated.

Lil Wayne's still-pending court case in New York for allegedly carrying a weapon is examined. He also opens up about his 2004 marriage to his high school sweetheart and the mother of his first child. Throughout the show, the rapper's drug use and the shooting that almost took his life as a child are also detailed.

"I just slid to the door in my own blood," Wayne said of his self-inflicted gunshot wound and the aftermath.

The rapper's New York gun case stems from 2007 arrest following his first headlining show in Manhattan. Wayne's tour bus was stopped moments after his show and the rapper was arrested and later released. Wayne is due back in a New York court later this month.