- I go hard in the paint with this rap.
Real hard.
When it's my turn, if I only got eight seconds of the song,
I want that to be the most memorable eight seconds
of the song.
I'm a very passionate man in whatever I do.
I just want you to understand
and to ask yourself at all times
what's the reason you're doing
or trying to do or saying you do what you do?
- He's an American hip-hop recording artist.
He's also the CEO of his own label,
Young Money Entertainment.
He has sold over 100 million records worldwide.
He's Lil Wayne, and here's my take
on his top 10 rules for success.
Rule number one is my personal favorite,
and make sure to stick around all the way to the end
for some special bonus clips.
Also, as he's talking,
if he says something that is meaningful to you,
that has an impact,
write it in the comments below and put quotes around it
so that other people can be inspired as well.
- I go hard in the paint with this rap.
Real hard.
I take it real seriously.
I take every single thing I do,
every word, every letter, every sentence,
every phrase, every quote, every chorus,
every verse, every bridge,
every intro, every outro
personally.
So if you're of fan of me,
then know that you get the full me
because I give my all to my music.
You dig?
You got to stand out, you know?
You got to stand, like I said earlier,
you don't want to look or sound or feel like nobody else.
I like when it's my turn,
if I only got eight seconds of the song,
I want that to be the most memorable
eight seconds of the song.
Thank God every time that part come on,
all I got to do is put my mic to the crowd.
They already know that I am the beast.
- Why do you think your music is really
sort of hitting this stride?
- Well I work very, very hard, Ms. Katie.
- You love to work.
- I love to work.
(crowd cheering)
(rapping)
We don't approach things like we're good.
We just approach things like we're going to work,
and we're going to work hard.
Watch
And hard work pays off.
If you work that hard, you're going to get good.
And good turns to great.
And hopefully I'm the definition of that.
- Do you think you're great?
- I do.
- Now Wayne, for the last two years
you've blessed the streets with the freestyles,
the collaborations, the features.
Not many MCs would want to do that.
A lot of people want to hold back their lyrics.
What inspires you to spit so much
in such a short space of time?
- Man, I can't help it, I think.
I can't help it, no matter what.
I breathe it, I live it.
I get it.
The best way I can explain it is
what's your best thing you do?
Whatever your favorite thing to do,
if it's to count the numbers on the wall,
whatever it is, whatever that feeling is you get
every single time you do that or hear that or say that,
that's the exact same feeling I get
when it's time to go in that booth.
Anything that has to do with creativity,
anything I do with music, that's how I've laid it.
- Message to upcoming artist today
just basically people trying to make it in the world.
- Message to the upcoming artist.
If you are an artist,
please don't ever stop your craft.
Don't let nothing stop your craft.
What I mean by that is example.
My mom tried to stop my craft, and I still did me.
When my mom took my tablet,
I stopped writing and just kept it up here.
You know what I'm saying?
So if you're an artist and you do it,
everything is going to come in your way.
Every obstacle you have, if that's what you want to do,
then you got to do it.
And then at the end of it, you're going to be like
I went through all that and made it here.
Dig?
- [Narrator] After the Hot Boys broke up,
Wayne's solo career was faltering.
Convinced that the physical process of writing
was constraining his creativity,
the 21-year-old MC decided to purge himself
of all of his written material
in one pivotal recording session.
- I said you know what?
The only way I won't be able to rap
anything I've written again
is to record everything I've written all at once.
So therefore I have no more written material.
- [Narrator] Armed with a notebook filled with
all of his unrecorded lyrics,
Wayne entered the booth and let loose.
- [Lil Wayne] Go. (beep)
♫ It's pistol play regardless of the matter
♫ I'm a heartless lil bastard
♫ Since Rabbit died my life's been darkened and shattered
♫ We on some family (beep)
- You could hear the songs ripping.
You could hear the pages ripping,
as he's going through all these last raps,
and that was the last time he ever wrote anything down.
- [Narrator] Wayne emerged from the booth with 10,000 bars,
an uninterrupted 35-minute song
that would mark the end of an era.
- When I stopped writing,
I noticed that everything was real now.
I can't speak about nothing but what's real
because I can't write nothing down.
- That changed Wayne as an artist.
He started pouring all his feeling out.
Everything what's on his heart,
everything what's in his head,
he just started putting it out.
- [Narrator] Reenergized by his new freestyle approach,
Wayne released Tha Carter in 2004.
It would go on to become a Top 5 hit
and put to rest any doubt about the 22-year-old MC
and the label he had helped build.
- I was also saying I picked up a guitar
and I put out a rock album.
I just want you to know that I'm a very passionate man
at whatever I do.
I just want you to understand
and to ask yourself at all times
what's the reason you're doing or trying to do
or saying you do what you do?
Because my reason for picking up that guitar,
because I wanted to learn how to play a guitar
and sing it to a woman.
That was my reason.
Period.
I ain't want nobody to say, "Oh Weezy be rocking out."
I would want to be able to pick up a guitar
and sing to a woman.
It just turned out to be something else.
I put out a rock album.
It went gold.
I bet you your girlfriend know how to sing Prom Queen.
I bet you you know what Drop the World is.
That's from off my rock album.
It worked.
I'm passion.
I want you to understand that.
If you're going to try to do something,
I ain't telling you don't go out there and pick up a guitar.
I'm not telling you don't go out there and switch you style.
I'm not telling you don't go out there
and try to make a new song where you're singing.
I'm not telling you don't do that,
because it might work for you.
Because I did it, and it worked for me.
And I wasn't the first to do it,
but it worked for me.
And now everybody else is trying to do it.
It's not working for everybody, that's okay.
Just remember why you did it.
I think you, I think originality period
could crack not only the U.K., anywhere.
Originality, people strayed away from that.
Every time people do music or anything they do now,
they do it like someone who has done it before,
or they do it like what they think the people want.
I don't do that.
I do what I know is nice to me.
I do what I think is cool.
And if you don't think it's cool,
then I think you're not cool.
So if you approach it with that attitude,
then I don't think you could ever lose.
- Now you've got, you're working crazy.
I've seen you do four videos today.
- Five.
- I only saw four and I'm exhausted.
I was falling asleep with the back men.
(hip hop music)
Man, how do you do it right now?
- Oh man, determination.
You set a goal,
and I'm one of those people that actually don't stop
until the goal is done.
So I set that goal.
I had to finish it.
- [Narrator] Wayne says he started writing songs
as a child growing up in New Orleans
living in one of the poorest wards.
- In New Orleans, reality is handed to you very, very early.
That's the difference between
New Orleans and everywhere else.
(hip hop music)
- [Narrator] And after Katrina hit,
Wayne remembered where he came from
donating $200,000 to rebuild a neighborhood park
where he played as a kid.
- And the word today and the word forever is kids.
- The song you're singing at the GRAMMYs
is about Katrina, right?
And in that song, you write,
I knew some people who were in that pool, right?
Are you still angry about it?
- Angry isn't the word.
- How do you feel about playing that song at the GRAMMYs?
- I can't wait.
- [Narrator] It's been like this his whole life,
Wayne expressing himself through his music.
- I will always love you.
(crowd cheering)
- Thank you guys so much for watching.
I made this video because
Janet or Jeanette Sedano asked me to.
If there's a famous entrepreneur
that you want me to profile next,
leave it down in the comments below,
and I'll see what I can do.
I'd also love to know which of the top 10 rules
had the biggest impact on you and why,
what change you're going to make in your business or life
after watching this video.
Leave in the comments.
I will join in the discussion.
I also want to give a quick shot out
to Justin Morgan from newfuturebuilder.com.
Justin, thank you so much for picking up a copy of my book.
Really, really, really means a lot to me.
For those of you watching,
you want your chance at a shout out in a future video,
make sure to pick up a copy of the book
and email in your receipt so we can keep track.
Thank you guys so much for watching.
Continue to believe or whatever your one word is,
and I'll see you soon.
- Where did you get the name Lil Wayne?
And by the way, do I call you Wayne, Weezy, Lil?
- Lil Wayne.
Wayne is fine.
Wayne is so perfect. (laughs)
- But your real name's Dwayne, right?
- Real name.
- So why'd you drop the D?
- I'll tell you right here on TV
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.
- Does he know that?
- He knows now.
- [Pete] Is that an interview
that you actually gave with Katie Couric?
- Is that an interview that I actually gave
with Katie Couric? - Yeah.
- What's your name again?
(chuckles)
- [Pete] Well that's not the question.
- What is his name? - It's Pete Ross.
- Huh? - Pete Ross.
- Pete Ross, that's a stupid-ass question.
You just saw me on there giving an interview with her.
- [Pete] Okay.
So that was you.
Isn't it something that you would remember
if your album, Tha Carter III,
was the biggest-selling album of the year in 2008?
- Isn't it something that I would remember that?
- [Pete] Yes.
- Isn't that a personal opinion-type question?
Because I would be actually answering a question to
isn't it something, that's my question?
Isn't it something?
- [Pete] That you would remember.
- Isn't it something?
That's the question I have to answer, your Honor?
Isn't it something?
- [Judge] Do the best to try to answer it.
(laughing)
- Yeah, it's something out of your ass.
That's my answer.
Yeah, it is something out of your ass.
- [Pete] Have you ever hired a photographer
to photograph an event?
- Have I ever hired a photographer
to photograph an event?
Sorry sir, no.
I'm a superstar.
People hire them themselves to photograph me.
We don't hire them.
- [Pete] How would you describe your image in the media?
- How would I describe my image in the media?
- [Pete] Yes.
- I wouldn't describe it.
- [Pete] Well how would you describe it if you had to?
- I don't have to.
- [Pete] Well what image are you portraying in the media?
- I don't portray anything.
I am who I am,
and you guys portray what you get.
- [Pete] Who are you?
Who's the real?
- I am Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr.
- [Pete] Okay.
Do you
like to portray yourself as--
- I just answered that and said that
I don't like to portray myself as nobody.
I completely be Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr.
I don't portray myself as anything.
An image is self-described.
- [Pete] Well you have to wait until
I'm done with the question.
- I don't have to wait until anything.
Honestly, I mean,
this guy right here may tell me that I have to wait.
But personally, I don't have to do nothing.
Tonight say hell yeah.
- [Crowd] Hell yeah.
(crowd cheering)
- Hold on one second.
Hold on one second, one second, one second, one second.
Don't throw no ice at me, homie.
Don't throw no ice at me,
because listen, listen, not none of these security,
none of these niggas around me.
It'll be me that you up.
- Tell me how did you guys connect,
because you all are friends
and he's been a big influence on.
You know Lil Wayne and I are like this.
- I know, I know that's your dawg.
- Yeah, that's my dawg.
(laughing)
He kept saying to me, "I'm a gangsta, Ms. Katie."
- I remember, I remember the interview.
I watched it.
It was great.
- But how did you guys get to know each other?
- We were introduced through another gentleman from Houston.
His name is Jas Prince.
He found me on Myspace and loved my music on Myspace,
and he was like, "Man, I know Lil Wayne
"and I'm going to play him your music one day,"
and I was just like (scoffs) yeah right, you know.
I didn't buy it at first.
And then, I'll never forget.
We formed a relationship,
and we used to talk and chop it up.
Chop it up is like converse.
- Thank you.
I kind of figured that. (laughing)
But thanks for the translation.
Thank you, Drake.
- (laughing) And so we would talk, and he called me one day.
I was in the barber shop getting my hair cut.
But he called me from his number.
But it was like (imitates phone ringing).
And the phone rang, and I picked it up.
And it was like, "Yo."
And I was like, you probably know that voice.
I was like hello?
It was like, "Yo, what's up?"
I was like this doesn't sound like my friend.
And he's like, "Yo, what's up, it's Weezy."
And it ended up being Wayne.
And he was like I'm starting this thing called Young Money
and I'd really love for you to be a part of it.
So I want to fly you out to Houston and meet you.
And he did just that the day after.
And that formed our relationship.
And I was like this quiet kid in the corner of the bus
while everything was going on around me.
Tha Carter III was just, I think it was like
maybe two or three weeks away from coming out
and what a time, what a time.
- What kind of advice did he give you
or how did he help you
kind of take your music to the next step?
- The greatest advice Wayne has ever given me,
and it's a constant.
It's less of advice and more of a constant reminder
which I love him so much for saying this to me,
is he's always just like man, please be yourself.
Please don't ever try and be me or anybody else.
Don't ever go get tattoos.
You don't have to dress any different.
Because from the day Wayne met me until now,
I haven't changed anything about myself.
He met me, and he really liked the kid that he met.
- How old were you then?
How old were you, Drake, when you met him?
- That was about, I'd say it was like two years ago?
- Yeah, two or three, when that album came out.
Yeah. - Yep, two years ago.
And he was like don't stop smiling either.
Don't try and get mean or aggressive.
He's like just be you, man.
Just be you and rap about life and women and family
and just love life and be happy.
Be that guy.
Be the guy that I could never be,
because he can't be that guy.
Because he has tattoos all over his face,
then he has dreads,
and he has diamonds in his mouth,
and he's a completely different person.