Lil Wayne to retire? (Updated May 8, 2013)

Consider this: By January 2012, Lil Wayne was the seventh (and second male artist) all-time in digital tracks sales with 36,788,000. Nine months later, he passed Elvis Presley to become the male with the most entries on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with 109 songs. Then why, with all this success, is one of rap's most enigmatic personalities seemingly walking away from it all?

Or is he?

It was March 29, 2011, in an interview with Hot 97's Angie Martinez, that Lil Wayne announced that he would ultimately retire at age 35. And in November 2012, he said "Tha Carter V" would be his last album before he left music to pursue other interests. As it turns out, his health could be a reason why. On March 14, 2013, the singer suffered seizures he said were ultimately related to epilepsy, a well-known neurological condition. He'd go on to say, "This isn't my first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth or seventh seizure. I'd have a bunch of seizures. Ya'll just never hear about them. But this time, it got real bad because I had three of them in a row."

His health aside, Wayne has also said he wants to retire in order to spend more time with his four children, noting "I would feel selfish still going to the studio when it's such a vital point in their lives."
But for now that time is still nearly five years off, and before the health crisis, Lil Wayne announced he was working on sequels to "I Am Not a Human Being" and "Rebirth." After numerous delays, the former was released on March 26, 2013, debuting at No. 2 by selling some 217,000 copies. It contained the singles "My Homies Still," "Love Me" and "No Worries."

Wayne's "America's Most Wanted" tour kicks off July 9 in Birmingham, Alabama.

About Lil Wayne tickets

Considered and called the 'best rapper alive' by critics, fans, and himself, Lil Wayne can make a good argument for the moniker with a momentous body of work, steady trajectory of maturity and refinement of his style, rhymes and sounds, and, not yet 30 years old, nearly two decades of experience in the hip hop industry. As Lil Wayne has grown up, from a barely teen phenom, Hip Hop has also grown to become a dominant genre in American and worldwide culture. Lil Wayne has been there for much of that growth.

Ahead of His Years

Born Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. in 1982 in New Orleans, Louisiana, Lil Wayne met rapper Bryan Williams, owner of Cash Money Records, at age 11, and impressed the mogul by leaving free-style raps on his answering machine. That was enough to earn mentorship with Williams and eventually join Cash Money as the youngest member of the duo The B.G.'z, with rapper B.G. By age 14, Carter was an honor student at New Orleans' McMain Magnet School, but dropped out to focus on music, and joined The Hot Boys in 1997, along with rappers Juvenile, B.G. and Turk. The group recorded their debut album Get It How U Live! in 1998, followed by their major-label debut, Guerilla Warfare, which climbed to Number 1 on Billboard R&ampB-Hip; Hop Albums chart. The group's singles 'We on Fire' and 'I Need a Hot Girl' both reached the charts.

Going Solo

At age 17, Carter, who had gone by several names up to that point, committed to the name Lil Wayne and recorded his debut solo album Tha Block Is Hot in 1999, which debuted at Number 3 on Billboard, and earned him a nomination as Best New Artist from The Source magazine. With his popularity building, Lil Wayne began appearing as a guest on others' albums, including B.G., Juvenile and Big Tymers. Lil Wayne's next two albums failed to generate the success of his debut, but his 2004 effort, Tha Carter marked a critical maturity in his rapping skills and lyrical themes, and scored a top single with 'Go DJ.' The follow-up, Tha Carter II debuted at Number 2 on Billboard and went on to sell 2 million copies worldwide. Lil Wayne continued to increase his guest appearances on others' albums, such as those by Chris Brown, DJ Khaled, and Destiny's Child. Finally in 2008, he came out with The Carter III and it sold more than a million copies in the first week. Tha Carter IV is expected to be released in 2011, continuing Lil Wayne's amazing and still rising career. Lil Wayne tickets are a chance to get in on a performance of one of hip hop's most storied figures.