This should be a rare treat: me covering Lil’ Wayne. In my defense, he covers the new issue of Interview Magazine, and his interview was conducted by Paris Hilton. So, it’s newsworthy, as is Wayne’s general openness during the interview (btw, he asks to be called simply “Wayne”). I’ve only skimmed the highlights thus far (I don’t really care for him, but whatever, the full Interview piece is here), and what’s cracking me up is that everyone keeps describing Wayne as “bizarre” and “alien” and “weird”. Like, he’s the rapper version of Tilda Swinton. Anyway, Wayne is out of Rikers (he got out in November) and he’s off the sizzurp (or however you spell it). Here are some highlights from the piece:

HILTON: And now you’re being called the new king of hip-hop. What do you think of that? Is it something that’s hard to live up to? Or is it exciting to have people say that?
WAYNE: It’s very exciting. I love pressure, so I guess if that brings forth pressure, then I’m up for it. But, you know, titles are titles, and names are names. As long as people remember me forever, that will be enough for me.

HILTON: Do you ever read your own press, or google yourself?
WAYNE: Um, never. I don’t think I’ve ever googled myself. [laughs] But I do read some things that . . . I mean, if I know that I was with an interviewer and I kind of figure that he or she got something bad or something good from the interview, then I’ll read the piece when it comes out. But other than that, I’d have to have a reason to read it-and, usually, I don’t have a reason. So, no, I don’t really read too much, because I know you know that they word things the way they want to word them when they put it on paper.

HILTON: What’s the most bizarre thing that you’ve ever read about yourself?
WAYNE: The most bizarre thing I’ve ever read about myself is that I was dead. That was kind of weird to read that I’m dead— mostly because I was reading it. [both laugh]
HILTON: I read that about myself once, too. It’s pretty bizarre.

Lil’ Wayne on his experience with the paparazzi in Miami: “The only time I ever really witnessed some crazy paparazzi was during my court experiences. Every time I rode up to court, as soon as I jumped out of the truck, they were there to snap, and all in our way to where we couldn’t walk. It’s nowhere near like that around here. But maybe I’m just not that caliber of person that they want to take pictures of me like that.”

Lil’ Wayne on discovering Drake and the one thing he has taught him from his own experiences: “When I first heard Drake, I already knew that he had potential beyond my imagination, because the kid was singing and rapping—and he was rapping real well…So that’s when I already knew that he was gonna blow up, right there. He would’ve done it—with me or not—I just wanted to make sure it was with me. And the main thing I’ve told him, or taught him, for lack of better words, is just to stay humble and remember who you are throughout it all, because there’s gonna be moments in every single day when you’ll have to go back to that person and reflect on that person. You have to self-reflect. If you forget who you actually are, then what’s the use of even looking in the mirror.”

Lil’ Wayne and Paris Hilton on solitary confinement:
WAYNE: For me it was okay, because it just meant that I was alone with my thoughts.
HILTON: I had to do 24 nights in solitary. [Hilton was held in a separate cell as a safety precaution.]
WAYNE: Oh, so you know how it is.
HILTON: Yeah, I know how it is.
HILTON: How happy are you to have your freedom now?
WAYNE: Words cannot explain.
HILTON: Yeah, I know how you feel. [laughs] It’s the best feeling in the world when you come out.

HILTON: Do you believe in horoscopes?
WAYNE: I’ve read horoscopes before and what they say about Libras. But I would actually love to not be what somebody writes down—I don’t want to be described.

HILTON: Do you have any pets?
WAYNE: I like animals, but I only have a few pets. I have a bunch of fish, and I have two sharks. Those are my dudes.
HILTON: Wow. Sharks? Nice.
EHRLICH: How big are the sharks?
WAYNE: One is a little baby, so he’s about a foot or two, or something like that. Then the other one is a good two, two and a half feet, or almost three feet. EHRLICH: So do you have a huge pool for them? Or do they stay in a tank?
WAYNE: They live in a crib…It’s like a little pond under the stairwell in my house. So they swim under there.
HILTON: That’s dope.

Lil’ Wayne on what goals he wishes to accomplish by the end of the year: “I want to bank a cool $50 million at least. At the end of this year, I want to be able to say that I banked $50 million. Not generated $50 million, but actually banked $50 million.”

WAYNE: I wanna ask you something, Paris. When are you dropping your album?
HILTON: When am I dropping the album?
WAYNE: Yeah. Do you know?
HILTON: Hopefully soon. I’ve been working on it for so long—since my last album [Paris, 2006, Warner Bros.]. So I want to release it by this summer, because I have a lot of summer bangers. I want to just have it out, because that’s when people love to party.
WAYNE: That’s cool.
HILTON: If I had you on a song too, that would be hot.
WAYNE: That was gonna be my next question. I was gonna ask you, how are you gonna release an album and don’t get me on it?
HILTON: Well, if you would be on the album, then I would be honored. That would be the sickest thing. We should get each other’s phone numbers so we can call each other after the interview or text or something.
WAYNE: Cool. Sounds good.
HILTON: My number is 310-XXX-XXXX.
WAYNE: Okay. I’ll text you my number.

HILTON: …I have a recording studio that I built in my house—and a nightclub too.
EHRLICH: You have a nightclub in your house?
HILTON: I built one, yeah, because I don’t really like to go out as much as I used to, so I just built a club at my house with the studio attached to it.
WAYNE: You’re so f-ckin’ rich.
EHRLICH: Do you have a disco ball in there?
HILTON: No, it’s really elegant. Although it has a stripper pole, so maybe it’s not that elegant.

[From Interview Magazine]

I kind wish I could have that time back. Sigh… why are these people famous again? I mean, yeah, I get why Wayne is famous, and I can also see that he’s very talented. But Paris… and having Paris talk to Wayne. It’s just… rough.

Photos courtesy of Interview.

Lil Wayne is currently serving a year’s sentence in Riker’s Island after pleading guilty to weapons possession in New York earlier this year. He’s been in prison for about seven months and was originally expected to get out on good behavior after eight months. It looks like Wayne could be behind bars for a little longer than expected, as he was caught by staff with a contraband mp3 charger and headphones, something that is off limits to prisoners. He is allowed to listen to the radio, though, and also passes the time exercising, playing UNO, reading and answering fan mail. He’s been sent to solitary confinement as a result of the mp3 player, which was found with another inmate in a routine search. Wayne had the accessories for the player, and he tried to hide them by putting them inside a potato chip bag in the trash.

Lil’ Wayne has been tossed in Rikers Island’s version of solitary confinement after he was found to have a pair of headphones and an MP3 charger in his cell.

Weezy will be in punitive segregation, but he was already in a private cell. The difference is … now he will have less interaction with inmates and will spend up to 23 hours a day in an isolation cell.

His out-of-cell time is now restricted to visits, religious services and one hour of recreational time and his phone privileges are reduced to one personal phone call a week.

Wayne was found with a pair of headphones and a charger for an MP3 player and another inmate was said to be hiding the MP3 player.

Wayne has been locked up since March on a gun possession charge.

[From TMZ]

As Fox News points out, Wayne told Rolling Stone ahead of his prison sentence that he would have an mp3 player in jail. He said “I’ll have an iPod, and I’ll make sure they keep sending me beats.” This player wasn’t an iPod, but it was still off limits. It will now make his remaining sentence that much more difficult.

Lil Wayne has a website updated by letters he sends from Rikers. He’s very grateful to his fans for their support and mentions many people by name. He hasn’t yet addressed this issue over the mp3 player as it’s sure to take time for him to write letters and get them posted online. He’s staying positive and seems to be taking his sentence in stride. He writes:

During my prison stint, I want my fans to know I love you. I want all of you to know that I appreciate all the mail I get, and this is my way of saying thank you. The F is for Family, Friends, and Fans.

Love. Live. Life. Proceed. Progress. That’s who I am and who I’ll always be. You see, we’re all living on borrowed time, so I’m not worried about this situation. Life happens quick. The more time you spend contemplating what you should have done…you lose valuable time planning what you can and will do. Trying to tear down the past prohibits you from building up your future. So for my time here, my physical will be confined to the yard. My love and my spirit, however, know no boundaries.

[From WeezyThanxYou.com]

That’s really nice and I hope he hangs in there. From what I’ve seen of the guy in interviews, he seems like a decent person who is genuinely grateful to his fans. I was honestly surprised by what a decent guy he comes across as. Yes he never should have had an unlicensed gun but I don’t get how he got a year in Rikers for that charge when other celebrities had multiple DUIs with passengers in the car and got off with probation.

Lil Wayne is headed to jail for a yearlong sentence for attempted weapons possession. Cops searched his tour bus in New York in 2007 and he was slapped with two charges for a loaded .40-caliber pistol they recovered: criminal weapon possession and criminal possession of a loaded weapon. Wayne plead guilty to a lesser charge and received the sentence back in October of last year. It sounds pretty harsh to me that he’d have to serve a full year for having a loaded gun, but that’s how they do it in NY. If he was found guilty of the more severe charges he was facing up to 15 years.

Anyway Wayne was given a month’s delay on his sentence so that he can have dental surgery before he’s locked up.

The Grammy-winning, megaselling rapper avoided a trip to jail today thanks to some emergency grillwork.

Weezy, 27, was due to be sentenced to about a year in one of Manhattan’s finest lockups after copping to a gun charge last fall. Instead, he’ll remain free for the rest of the month so he can take care of a dental problem.

His lawyer, Stacey Richman, said Wayne needed to have a cracked tooth repaired. He is scheduled for surgery in Miami this Friday, she told the court, and he’ll need about 10 days to recover.

Judge Charles H. Solomon said that Wayne must be back on March to face the music. And no more delays.
“I don’t want this to get pushed back anymore,” he told Wayne. “This is the last adjournment.”

[From E! Online]

I have a lot of respect for Lil Wayne after seeing him interviewed by Katie Couric and on The View. He’s a smart, nice guy and a very hard worker. I feel for him that he’s going to jail. Sure there are much worse things to be concerned about and he’ll be fine when he gets out, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t care.

Lil Wayne was broadcasting live on UStream when I wrote this right before 7 a.m. EST. The audio was off and he was just occasionally smiling into the camera. There’s news that he recorded a message thanking his fans and saying goodbye before his sentencing was postponed. He said “To all my fans, my real fans I really, really truly love you. I love you with all of me for real.”

Gawker has this awesome picture of Ireland Baldwin’s birthday cake, made to look like Lil Wayne’s head complete with licorice dreads. Ireland’s birthday was October 23, so this is recent and just in time for Halloween. Doesn’t Lil Wayne look kind of ominous? Someone screwed up and put “Wade” instead of “Wayne” on the red bandaid on his cheek, but otherwise the artistry is flawless – and creepy. This cake just reminds us Poor Lil Wayne the artist will soon be sidelined by a one year jail sentence for possessing a loaded weapon.

The Beverly Hills cake shop that made this masterpiece, Rosebud Cakes, has plenty of other amazing cakes in their gallery on Flickr, including a zombie Hello Kitty, a skull with a snake coming out of its head, and an elaborate haunted house that would be impressive for a diorama and is just out of sight for a cake. These cakes don’t come cheap, though. Rosebud Cakes only accepts minimum orders of $300.

If you’d like to pass some time checking out horribly awesome cakes, I love the site CakeWrecks, “A gallery of deformed, distasteful and bizarrely decorated wedding and birthday cakes.” They’re currently featuring some laughable Twilight cakes, and some amateur-looking Halloween monstrosities.

Thanks to Rosebud Cakes for these images.

Lil Wayne will be spending at least a year in prison, thanks to a plea bargain made with the New York City District Attorney today. Wayne was being charged with criminal weapon possession and criminal possession of a loaded weapon (you read that right, possessing a weapon is one charge, if it’s loaded that’s an additional charge). In July of 2007 police searched Lil Wayne’s tour bus and found a loaded .40-caliber pistol. He could have spent up to fifteen years in prison if he’d been found guilty of the two original charges, but instead pled guilty to a lesser charge of attempted weapons possession.

Lil Wayne’s heading to the big house. The “Hot Revolver” rapper struck a deal with Manhattan prosecutors and pleaded guilty today to attempted weapons possession in exchange for a one-year prison sentence, a spokeswoman for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office confirmed to E! News. The 27-year-old Grammy winner, aka Dwayne Carter III, appeared before Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Charles Solomon and copped to a felony count of attempted criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. Hizzoner allowed the New Orleans MC to remain free on his current $30,000 bond but ordered him to surrender his passport.

No comment yet from Team Wayne. (Maybe he can ring up incarcerated pal T.I. and ask for some pointers?) Still, Weezy should consider himself lucky, given he could have gotten a much longer sentence if convicted on the original, more serious gun charges. Lil Wayne got into this mess on July 22, 2007 when police searched his tour bus following a concert at the Beacon Theater in New York City and found a loaded .40-caliber pistol. He was initially booked on one count of criminal weapons possession and one count of criminal possession of a loaded weapon, charges carrying a minimum of three and a half years and a maximum of 15.

The Grammy winner’s plea bargain came a day after a hearing on DNA evidence in the case in which his attorney, Stacey Richman, argued that investigators’ profiling technique wasn’t widely accepted in the scientific community and that the gun in question didn’t belong to her client but someone else on the bus. Lil Wayne’s trial was set to kick off Jan. 20. Solomon has now scheduled the next hearing for Dec. 15, at which point the case will be adjourned until February for sentencing.

[From E! News]

Lil Wayne’s been a busy guy between the July 2007 incident and his plea bargain. He’s expecting his third child of this year. Yeah when I said he was busy I really meant it. This’ll be his fourth child in all, each by four different women.

Despite the gun possessing and random baby having, Lil Wayne actually comes across as a pretty decent guy. His own father was never around growing up and it seems to really have affected him. One would think he’s more involved in his own kids’ lives. He talks a lot about working hard to make something of himself, and it’s logical to believe that ethic applies to his parenting as well. It’s obviously going to be hard to be in prison for a year, and that’s important time he won’t have with his kids. It’s better than 15 years though. I’m not usually particularly empathic towards this sort of thing, but I can’t help but feel badly for the guy.

Here’s Lil Wayne performing live on stage at the Molson Amphitheatre in Toronto on August 4th. Images thanks to WENN.com .

Lil Wayne shared some personal and painful information in an interview with Katie Couric. He said that he became “Wayne” instead of his given name, Dwayne, because he’s estranged from his father and doesn’t want to be associated with him in any way.

On why he’s “Wayne,” not “Dwayne”
“I dropped the D because I’m a junior, and my father is living, and he’s not in my life, and he’s never been in my life, so I don’t want to be Dwayne. I’d rather be Wayne.”

When Katie asked if Lil Wayne’s dad knew about that, he answered “He knows now.”

Lil Wayne, 26, talked about his young start in the music industry, in which he hung around a record company in his hometown of New Orleans and recorded his first rap at the age of 12. He said that he attributes his success to hard work and that “If you work hard you’re going to get good, and good turns to great.”

Half admits he still drinks “syrup,” claims it’s no longer a problem
Wayne also opened up about his issues with addiction. He said he used to take so much “syrup,” a prescription codeine cough syrup he was often seen drinking during performances and interviews, that his stomach was messed up from it, but that he’s “not addicted to it” now. This is not just your average cough syrup and at least three known members of the hip hop community have died from overdoses of the stuff. Wayne has defended his use of the powerful narcotic in the past.

Smokes pot for terrible migraines
When Katie asked him about weed, he said “I will stand up for marijuana every day.”

He claimed it was medicinal and was very serious and earnest looking about it. “I have migraines, right? They are migraines that make me just want to kill myself.”

A lot of people suffer from terrible migraines, and I’m lucky to have only had maybe one or two in my life, but some of my friends have them regularly and need to turn off the lights and lay down their migraines are so bad. Pot should be legal for medical problems as it is in California and maybe it gives him some relief. You wonder, though, if Lil Wayne’s addiction to “syrup” is at all related to his bad migraines. One of the side effects of of extended codeine use is something called “medication overuse headaches” in which headaches can recur when you try to cut down on the medication. If Wayne is drinking that codeine syrup every day this could be part of the reason why his headaches are bothering him so much.

He told Couric that he’s not going to stop smoking pot because “I’m a rapper. That’s who I am, Miss Katie, and I am a gangster. I do what I want, and I love to smoke.”

Lil Wayne may be a double platinum selling artist and the best rapper alive, according to Time Magazine, but he’s not above having to go through security before performing. The NY Post reports that Lil Wayne, 25, refused to pass through a metal detector or let his bag get searched before he was due to go on stage during the Fashion Rocks event in NY this weekend. He got indignant and left, but then tried to return later and was too late to go on. His show ended up getting canceled at the last minute:

HEY, LIL’ Wayne – what was in the bag you were carrying Friday night? The rapper – whose album “Tha Carter III” was one of the biggest hits of 2008 – was supposed to perform at “Fashion Rocks” but left when he found out he’d have to go through security.

“When Lil’ Wayne showed up to perform in the show – and he showed up on time – he was carrying a bag and refused, point blank, to go through security,” one senior production person told us. “Everyone else – including Rihanna, Chris Brown, Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake and Kid Rock – went through security, and we couldn’t make an exception. He’s obviously not a Boy Scout and has a history with drugs and guns.

“But he wouldn’t budge and refused to have his bag searched or have a security wand passed over him. Then he started getting abusive: ‘I don’t need your [bleeping] show – I’m leaving if you make me do this.’ So he had to leave, I mean, who knows what was in that bag?

“He got back in the car we’d paid for and drove off. Minutes later, we got frantic calls from his management and record label begging us to have him back. We said, ‘OK, we have an opening at 7 p.m.’ The next thing you know, Wayne’s people are saying, ‘Can we do a bit later. He’s not going to be ready.’

“We had a crew of 250 people waiting for him . . . Then he calls at, like, 9:30 and says, ‘I’m five blocks away,’ which is like 500 blocks away in New York traffic, so we just pulled the plug. It was just so disrespectful to the crew and to the 5,000 audience members. Unbelievable.”

Lil’ Wayne’s manager didn’t return calls.

[From The NY Post]

Maybe this guy has a legitimate reason to fear for his life. I’m not defending his refusal to pass through security, or the assumption that he was carrying a concealed weapon, with or without a permit. He could have passed the bag onto one of his staff and told them to stash it in his bus or limo if it contained a handgun or an illicit substance but instead he kept it with him, suggesting he had something in it he didn’t want to part with. It’s possible he has received threats and is scared to be without a gun. If everyone else was going through security, he could feel moderately safe that no one in the crowd was armed. Who knows what his life is like though and if he’s afraid that someone is going to take a shot at him.

The Post reminds us that Lil Wayne was at a hearing in NY yesterday about whether the police were violating his rights when they came on his tour bus and found a 9mm gun in one of his bags. If they didn’t have a warrant, maybe they were.

I’m not for gun rights in general, but I also have no clue what it’s like to live in fear of other people with guns. It’s a complicated issue and one to which there aren’t easy solutions.

There are several reports floating around the internet that rapper Lil’ Wayne’s 8-year-old daughter Reginae Carter was killed in a car accident yesterday. Wayne’s Myspace page is flooded with condolences, but there has been no official word one way or the other.

Lil’ Wayne Daughter Killed – Reginae Carter, the daughter of Lil’ Wayne, has reportedly been killed. She was only 8 years old.

According to reports, the daughter of Lil’ Wayne, whose real name is Dwayne Carter, Reginae Carter allegedly died in a traffic accident late in the evening on August 10th, 2008.

An online celebrity site is responsible for reporting the story as fact, but there is no confirmation from any mainstream media outlets.

Lil Wayne’s myspace page is literally covered with Reginae Carter comments about her alleged unconfirmed death tonight. Comments about Reginae Carter’s death appear on Carter’s myspace page since 10 pm PST Sunday.

[From the Post Chronicle]

All of the information cited in the article is basically gossip, along with Myspace and Yahoo! Answers. MTV picked up the story but again emphasized that there’s been no official word from Lil’ Wayne’s camp. Someone claiming to be Reginae’s aunt write on the Myspace page that the rumor is false – but again there’s no way to know if the woman really is who she says she is. Rumors like this can often take on a life of their own so we’ll have to wait a bit and see what other information comes out. If it is true, we send our deepest condolences.

Update by Celebitchy: Lil Wayne’s rep issued a statement to SOHH saying this isn’t true at all and that Regina is fine. There’s also a comment on his myspace from a woman claiming to be his aunt which says “I am pleased to inform you that this report is false. It is merely a rumour started by someone who obviously is miserable in their own skin that they would even have the notion to attack a child.”

“Rest assured Reginae is tucked away in her bed at this very moment trying to get past the hurt this ugliness has caused her and our family.” [via Radar]

We’re sorry for the incorrect story and are glad to see this rumor isn’t true at all. Shame on the person who started it.

Here’s Lil’ Wayne on BET’s “106 & Park” in New York on May 15th. Images thanks to PR Photos.