Lil Wayne makes Billboard history, Eleven Singles on the Charts

By The Hip Hop Writer
Hip Hop Vibe Staff Writer

Everywhere he goes, Lil Wayne seems to break records. His latest album, Tha Carter IV set a new iTunes record for first week sales. Entering its second week on the charts, Wayne's latest album is already platinum.

Throughout the early parts of this year, Lil Wayne's Carter IV lead single, "6 Foot 7 Foot," dominated the charts. The single was followed by "John" and "She Will." Lil Wayne recently leaked eight songs from his album.

Now, Lil Wayne has set a Billboard record, having eleven total singles on the charts. Wayne has tied David Cook and Taylor Swift for the most singles on the Billboard Hot 100. Lil Wayne now matches Jay-Z in another category, being second to only The Beatles on the charts.

In 1964, the British group had fourteen songs on the Billboard Hot 100 at the same time.

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Single Review: Lil Wayne - "How to Love"

By Hardcore Critic
Hip Hop Vibe Staff Writer

Towards the end of May, fans were gearing up for the release of the long-awaited Tha Carter IV from Lil Wayne. "6 Foot 7 Foot" had been dominating the radio for months and "John (If I Die Today)" was becoming a big hit. Lil Wayne was preparing to change things up.

"How to Love" was released and it immediately touched the hearts of fans around the world. Not only was the song different from other songs from Lil Wayne, at the time, it also had a powerful message. This goes without mentioning how Lil Wayne sang with no auto-tune.

The lyrics of "How to Love" describe a beautiful woman who made the wrong decisions in life. Now a single mother, she is stripping to support her family. In the video, which is reminiscent of 2009's "Prom Queen," the woman is shown to have turned a guy down in high school, which led to her contracting HIV while stripping. But, in the alternate ending, when she dates the guy, she is stable, successful, and discovers she is pregnant, as opposed to having HIV.

While the song's theme may have heavily borrowed from "Prom Queen," "How to Love" does stand on it's own legs.

Hip Hop Vibe's Rating: 7/10

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Lil Wayne on Cory Gunz, Unreleased Young Money albums, and the Future

By The Hip Hop Writer
Hip Hop Vibe Staff Writer

For the most part, Lil Wayne has proven all of his critics wrong. When he said he was the best rapper alive, most laughed. After the release of Tha Carter III, Lil Wayne said his Young Money crew would take the game over and the laughter continued.

But, before the end of 2009, he made everyone a believer and then unleashed Drake and Nicki Minaj. Despite their success, critics are beginning to say the rest of Young Money will not make it. Currently, Cory Gunz is riding the wave of "6 Foot 7 Foot."

Lil Wayne told fans not to expect any new music from the hot spitter anytime soon. Wayne said he is not going to force feed Cory Gunz because he is on a hot song. The goal is for him to become a bigger artist, so Lil Wayne said he would not risk turning Cory Gunz into a one hit wonder. Even though he has buzz, Lil Wayne feels is not ready at the moment.

While Young Money has released albums from Drake and Nicki Minaj, they have held back on many other artists signed to the label. This includes Jae Millz, Shannell, Lil' Twist, Mack Maine, and Gudda Gudda.

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Lil Wayne ft. Cory Gunz - "6 Foot 7 Foot"

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Jadakiss hops on "Tha Carter IV"

By The Hip Hop Writer
Hip Hop Vibe Staff Writer

Three years ago, Lil Wayne said Tha Carter IV was supposed to be the album everyone liked. At the time, Wayne was under the impression the album would be released in 2009. In the end, the album was delayed from an initial late 2008 release until sometime next month, June 2011.

In the meantime, however, Lil Wayne has released several albums, which have held fans over. But, when he came out of prison, he halted all promotion on his album at the time. Immediately, he released the "6 Foot 7 Foot" single. The song quickly became a hit and has been dominating radio for nearly six months.

Tha Carter IV has been taking shape for the past few months and the lineup includes the usual players. Nicki Minaj and Drake will both be featured on the album. Jadakiss revealed he will also be a part of the album. The L.O.X. frontman said he will be on a posse cut, also featuring Drake and Young Jeezy.

While he could not remember the name of the song, Jadakiss said it has some deep lyrics. He said the song is much more lyrical than his 2007 "Pop Bottles" collaboration with Lil Wayne. Jadakiss also said he will be featured on Young Jeezy's TM103 album. This is the second major single announced for Lil Wayne's album, following a Jim Jonsin-produced song in the vein of 2008's "Lollipop," featuring Pitbull.

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Lil Wayne and Young Money doing a Documentary

By The Hip Hop Writer
Hip Hop Vibe Staff Writer

As soon as he was released, Lil Wayne got right back to work on his new projects. Wayne immediately recorded "6 Foot 7 Foot" and got the ball rolling on Tha Carter IV. Once the song clearly became a hit, a tour was set in place.

Lil Wayne called upon Nicki Minaj and Rick Ross in order to establish the I Am Music II tour. Those three artists are among the biggest names in the hip hop game. With the tour coming to a close, Lil Wayne sees another avenue to make extra money.

In an interview with MTV, Lil Wayne announced he has filmed various locations and performances on the tour. Lil Wayne intends to make this a part of a documentary that will be available for sale and will be played on several outlets.

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"Tha Carter IV" pushed back until June

By The Hip Hop Writer
Hip Hop Vibe Staff Writer

With news of Tha Carter IV leaking, fans were more than excited about the May 16 release of the album. Lil Wayne has been on an incredible streak ever since 2007. Last year, while serving a prison sentence, he was still rap's most imposing figure.

Free, Wayne intended to dominate from the start of 2011 until the end. When "6 Foot 7 Foot" was confirmed as the first single, he did just that. The dominance continued when the video was released last month.

The "6 Foot 7 Foot" single has been dominating the radio waves for nearly four months. Still, the song has showed no signs of slowing up. Neither has Lil Wayne, he announced his latest album would have collaborations from Eminem, Jay-Z, Rick Ross, and other big names.

Tha Carter IV is in the makings and will likely be the highest-selling album of 2011. It appears it will follow in the footesteps of 2008's Tha Carter III with a June release. Initially, the album was prepared for a release on May 16, but the Cash Money team decided to wait on the official release.

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Video of the Day: Lil Wayne ft. Cory Gunz - "6 Foot 7 Foot"

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Video of the Day: Lil Wayne ft. Cory Gunz - "6 Foot 7 Foot"

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Lil Wayne to release "Tha Carter IV" on May 24

By The Hip Hop Writer
Hip Hop Vibe Staff Writer

Even before he was sent to prison, Lil Wayne was doing all he could to keep his name out there. First, the Young Money front man released two albums in two months. During this time, Wayne also filmed over ten videos, which were released throughout the year.

Only a month before he came out of prison, Lil Wayne released another album. Due to his confinement, Wayne was unable to promote the album. Without promotion, the album still posted a top ten hit single. Aside from the popularity, the album was able to certify gold.

Upon getting out of prison, Lil Wayne decided to keep moving forward. His focus was now on Tha Carter IV, releasing the first single "6 Foot 7 Foot." The song heated up the radio for months before the official video was released last week. With the video out, anticipation for the new album has reached new heights.

The video has put Lil Wayne back on top of the rap game and his label is not wasting any time getting the long-awaited Carter IV released. Yesterday, Birdman revealed Tha Carter IV would be released on May 24, 2011.

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Lil Wayne reunites with Play-N-Skillz and T-Pain

By The Hip Hop Writer
Hip Hop Vibe Staff Writer

It appears as if Lil Wayne is attemping to make lightning strike in the same place twice. Three years ago, Lil Wayne made the jump from popular collaboration artist to rap superstar. He did this with popular songs and proper production. In 2008, Wayne proved he was more than a one hit wonder with "Got Money."

The song was produced by Play-N-Skillz and featured T-Pain on the hook. While "Got Money" was not as big of a hit as the lead single, "Lollipop," it was still a major single. It was a big deal for Lil Wayne to have two top ten singles at the same time. At this point, Lil Wayne had not had much commercial success.

But, after Tha Carter III, chart-topping singles became nothing to Lil Wayne. While in prison, he released a chart-topping album and a top ten single. When he came out, he began promoting another album only two months following the release of I Am Not a Human Being. The result has been his latest hit, "6 Foot 7 Foot."

Lil Wayne is determined to keep his streak going and he will be doing so by going back to what worked for him three years ago. Recently, Play-N-Skillz announced they were going back in the studio to work on the latest edition of Tha Carter. While in the studio, Lil Wayne also revealed he would be working with T-Pain for the first time since their 2008 collaborations. Wayne also admitted they would soon begin working on their T-Wayne group/album.

It seems as if 2011 will end up being the biggest year of Lil Wayne's career so far.

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Video of the Day: Lil Wayne - "6 Foot 7 Foot"

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Cory Gunz speaks on "6 Foot 7 Foot" video and Reality Show

By The Hip Hop Writer
Hip Hop Vibe Staff Writer

The recent release of the "6 Foot 7 Foot" video came as a surprise to its co-star. Cory Gunz has received quite a boost in his career from being featured on the song and the video. However, Cory Gunz does not follow hip hop news closely. When the video was released, he was actually surprised because he expected the video to release sooner.

Cory Gunz explained the delay of the video came because the video was not complete. At the last minute, more edits were made to the video. MTV had partnered with Lil Wayne for the official premiere of the video. The plan was for Lil Wayne to conduct an interview, which would conclude with the premiere of the "6 Foot 7 Foot" video. Cory expected the video to come out sooner.

Outside of rap, Cory Gunz is venturing into television. He partnered with Nick Cannon for a new reality show, which will be called "Son of a Gun." The premiere of the series is being held up because of legal troubles over the name. The title, itself, is alright to go ahead and film the series, but for merchandising and other projects, there is going to be a holdup. Cory Gunz said Nick Cannon and his team is currently working out the kinks in order to make things go smoothly.

The first season of the series has already been filmed and it will begin airing in April.

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Video of the Day: Lil Wayne ft. Cory Gunz - "6 Foot, 7 Foot"

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Lil Wayne announces Drake collaboration album

By The Hip Hop Writer
Hip Hop Vibe Staff Writer

While Lil Wayne was in prison, Drake held things down for Young Money. He kept the fans updated about Lil Wayne and announced release dates. Drake did his part in keeping Young Money afloat over the seven months Wayne was gone.

Following the release of Thank Me Later, Drake announced a collaboration album with Lil Wayne. He said their album would be released some time after the release of Tha Carter IV. As Drake was promoting his album, all talk of the Lil Wayne album ended.

Soon, Jay-Z and Kanye West stole the show when they announced their own collaboration album. Upon hearing about the album, Drake hinted towards them stealing the idea he and Lil Wayne had. While this may have been the case, Drake said he holds no ill will towards either of them, and he still plans to work with them again.

Lil Wayne has been on a tear since coming out of prison. His first project was "6 Foot, 7 Foot" and the video was officially released yesterday. The positive response to the video has Lil Wayne excited as he is back like he never left. Focusing on the future, Lil Wayne announced the album with Drake was much more than a myth. The album is coming, but it will come after Lil Wayne's other planned collaboration albums, first with Birdman, since 2007 has been delayed, and the T-Pain collaboration album, which has been held up since 2008.

Drake wants to respect their plans with Lil Wayne before he pushes to release his own album with him.

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New Video of the Day: Lil Wayne ft. Cory Gunz - "6 Foot 7 Foot"

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Lil Wayne to premiere "6 Foot, 7 Foot" video on Thursday

By The Hip Hop Writer
Hip Hop Vibe Staff Writer

Barely one month out of prison and still promoting his I Am Not a Human Being album, Lil Wayne released "6 Foot, 7 Foot." It would be the lead single from the long-awaited Tha Carter IV. Promotion for the album began as the single began to gain traction.

Last month, Lil Wayne partnered with MTV for the official premiere of the "6 Foot, 7 Foot" video. The song has a strong following even after being out for months. Wayne planned to hold an interview with MTV, which would conclude with the official video premiere. But, the video premiere was delayed.

The delay was announced to the public, but the rescheduled date was not announced. Recently, Lil Wayne and MTV have announced the new date for the video premiere. The video was produced by Hype Williams and Wayne said the video will serve as promotion for Cory Gunz. Late last year, Cory Gunz joined Young Money and recorded on "6 Foot, 7 Foot."

The official video for "6 Foot, 7 Foot" this Thursday on MTV at 7:54 pm ET.

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