The jury is still out on who the greatest rapper is, but feelings seem to be unanimous that Wayne is tearing it down at his shows:

Headlining the I Am Music tour with T-Pain, Keisha Cole and Gym Class Heroes, Lil Wayne burst onto a sold-out Gibson Amphitheater stage on Sunday from a creative 30-foot steel mesh cage that cleverly functioned as part of a seven-screen video display. Backed by a powerful band and DJ, he ripped through a 90-minute set that included “Mr. Carter,” “Got Money,” “Turning Me On,” “Misunderstood,” “Go DJ” and many more that covered the breadth of his 10-year career. And mind you, he’s only 26.

If there is a weakness in Wayne’s arsenal, it is his vocal limitation, but it was masked by his immensity lyrical capabilities. He reached deep on some notes, then easily soared into a rasp that would have made Tom Waits proud. Wayne closed with the majestic “My Life” (made famous through his collaboration with the Game) and “A Milli,” the latter from this year’s double-platinum “Tha Carter III.” He took a bow, comedically but lovingly, on “I Will Always Love You,” and then the curtains came down.

This his been a great year for Wayne. After all of the hate from his detractors and the pressure to release an album that had the successful numbers of those he is compared to, he sold over 1 million copies of his album in a week and has gained critical acclaim for his work. Now if we could just get him to stop singing and using that GAWD DAMN AUTO-TUNE everything would be good.

This is that hot shit. Jada teamedup with Lil Wayne for one of the most memorable songs of 2008. The song is from Kiss’ upcoming solo album “The Last Kiss” coming February 10, 2009. What do you think of the track ?

New music from Swizz Beatz. This single is hot. Swizz sampled vocal from Luke for the chorus. The only problem I have with the song is Lil Wayne with that damn Auto Tune BS again. What do you think ???

From his run-ins with the law, selling a million albums in 1 week and having a new baby - this has been some year for Weezy:

Lil Wayne didn’t get “A Milli” Grammy nominations, but his total haul was still pretty amazing - eight.

Nominations for the prolific and ubiquitous rap MVP, who became pop’s biggest success in 2008 with his top-selling album, “Tha Carter III,” included a coveted album of the year bid.

Although the New Orleans rapper - who has been nominated for Grammys before but has never taken home a trophy - was the leading nominee, he wasn’t the only big act to have a big night Wednesday.

Following close behind during the Grammys’ first-ever nominations ceremony/concert combination was Coldplay, with seven nominations. The Chris Martin-led British group’s “Viva La Vida,” one of the year’s best-selling CDs, is in album of the year contention along with Radiohead’s groundbreaking “In Rainbows”; singer-songwriter Ne-Yo’s “Year of the Gentleman”; and Robert Plant’s collaboration with Alison Krauss, “Raising Sand.”

Coldplay and Plant & Krauss were also nominated in the coveted record of the year category for the respective songs “Viva La Vida” and “Please Read the Letter.” Other record of the year nominees were British songstress Leona Lewis for “Bleeding Love”; another British newcomer, Adele, for “Chasing Pavements”; and M.I.A. for her breakthrough hit, “Paper Planes.”

Some surprising omissions: Katy Perry, who had one of the year’s biggest hits with “I Kissed a Girl,” was shut out of the top categories, including record of the year and best new artist. Still, she was excited about her nomination for female pop vocal performance: “I feel very grateful to be recognized by an institution of such iconic musical history. I can’t believe it, but this year I won’t be watching the Grammys in my jammies!” she said in a statement.

Metallica got three nominations, but their huge comeback record “Death Magnetic” didn’t get a nod for album of the year despite being a top seller in 2008.

Nominations were announced in a new format this year, with an hourlong CBS concert special that featured a brisk procession of performers and LL Cool J and Taylor Swift as hosts.

Though she hosted and performed, Swift, last year’s best new artist nominee, was shut out completely. The 18-year-old country artist has had a sensational year thanks to the continued success of her 2006 self-titled debut album and her latest top-selling CD, “Fearless.” While neither was eligible for consideration, her recent singles were.

While “Tha Carter III” was not regarded by critics as his greatest CD, it was the album that made the highly regarded rapper - who has been on the scene for more than a decade - a certified superstar, thanks to massive hits like “Lollipop” and “A Milli” - Lil Wayne slang for “a million.” Lil Wayne not only rapped on his own hits but seemed to be on just about every urban act’s record, and that was reflected in his multiple nominations, some of which were for collaborations.

“Tha Carter III” was the only record this year to sell 1 million copies in its first week and is the year’s top seller with 2.7 million copies sold.

I wonder what 2009 will bring for Weezy and Hip Hop as a genre ???

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New music from Weezy. As much as he works there’s no telling if this is for an album or a mixtape. How do you like it ?

Somebody is starting to act like a DIVA:

Rapper Lil Wayne has lashed out at critics questioning his professionalism after he postponed a New York concert date for a second time.

The Lollipop hitmaker, real name Dwayne Carter Jr, was originally due to perform in Rochester on 26 October.

But the gig was pulled at the last minute because Lil Wayne was unhappy with the standard of the audio equipment.

The date was postponed until 6 December, when the star was billed to co-headline with TI - but now that show has been cancelled because it clashes with Wayne’s rehearsal time in preparation for his upcoming US-wide tour. The Live Your Life hitmaker had also double-booked himself - he’s due to appear on sketch show Saturday Night Live that night too.

Lil Wayne has subsequently been savaged for the continuous delays - but now his publicist Myiah Hughes has hit back at reports of his tardiness, blaming the concert promoter for the initial cancellation.

The representative tells AllHipHop.com, “Lil Wayne has not cancelled the Rochester, New York Blue Cross Arena performance.

“Failure to provide adequate equipment per a signed agreement, caused the October 26 concert date to be postponed.”

The spokesperson went on to defend Wayne further, claiming he had made every attempt to reconcile with the promoter.

Hughes adds, “Wayne offered the promoter, Ed Strickland, another date without penalty. Due to mandatory tour rehearsal for his upcoming I Am Music tour, the date had to be postponed again.

“He never wanted to let down his fans and has already made arrangements to reschedule the performance. The Rochester date will take place after his tour.”

Lil Wayne’s I Am Music tour kicks off in Miami, Florida on 14 December.

“Brother starts making a little money and you can’t tell him nothing” (Doug Williams on Jamie Foxx at the Roast of Emmit Smith).

Lil Wayne’s multi-million-selling album Tha Carter Iii has been named the Best Album of 2008 in the year’s first pop poll. The rapper’s hit album beat Girl Talk’s Feed The Animals release and TV On The Radio’s Dear Science on the new Blender magazine hitlist.

The top 10 is:

1 Lil’ Wayne - Tha Carter III

2 Girl Talk - Feed The Animals

3 TV On The Radio - Dear Science

4 Metallica - Death Magnetic

5 Hot Chip - Made In The Dark

6 Robyn - Robyn

7 Of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping

8 Randy Newman - Harps & Angels

9 Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

10 Fall Out Boy - Folie A Deux.

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As we reported earlier in the week, rapper Lil Wayne announced at the 2008 BET Hip Hop awards that he was going to be a father for the second time. The star, real name Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., welcomed a baby boy on Wednesday, just days after his announcement.

The newborn, named Dwayne Carter III, was born at Christ Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio on Wednesday afternoon.

The identity of the child’s mother is unknown.

Wayne already has a nine-year-old daughter, Reginae, with ex-wife Antonia Carter.

Rapper Lil Wayne’s assistant, Terry Bourgeois, took the stand in a New York courtroom yesterday and testified that he occasionally saw a hand gun and people smoking marijuana on the Wayne’s tour bus.

To make matters worse, when questioned by the DA, Bourgeois even went as far as to say that weed is “something we always have” on the tour bus and that Wayne only smokes “dro.” Damn !!!

Wayne was arrested on weapons possession charges in New York last July after a 9mm handgun was found on the rapper’s tour bus. Last month, a police officer testified that she boarded the bus after smelling the aroma of marijuana smoke and saw Wayne himself trying to hide a handgun.

Although Bourgeois’ testimony seemed to be damming, he noted that he never saw Wayne with a gun on the night of his arrest and that he didn’t even know if there was a gun on the bus that night. If convicted of the charges, Wayne faces three and a half years in prison.

The case is scheduled to resume in December.

Source: TMZ.com