The Greatest Rapper Alive

New Orleans rapper Lil' Wayne claims to be the greatest rapper alive. He not only claims it, he writes it on his albums and all of his promotional material, and repeatedly tells anyone who will listen. Regardless of the fact he sounds like Alvin the Chipmunk and writes terrible lyrics, he has some claim to the statement. His album, Tha Carter III, has sold more copies than any other album since 50 Cent's Get Rich or Die Tryin (2003) and The Massacre (2005), which sold an astonishing 21 million combined copies. But 50 did sell more albums, and he is still alive. Maybe a better title for Lil' Wayne should be "Greatest Rapper Within the Previous 3 Years."

Besides rapping, Lil' Wayne also has some has some claims to doing great things: Like accidentally shooting himself in the chest with a .44 cal; Forming the NWA meets Backstreet Boys group Hot Boys (Yes you read that correctly, Hot Boys); releasing 77 tracks in 2007, which is one track every 4.5 days; and getting busted at the border with cocaine, weed, Ecstasy, and a variety of loaded guns. Drugs and weapons, always a good time.

Lil' Wayne is now much richer than me, until he goes bankrupt for buying his 16th Escalde on 30 inch rims. When that day inevitably comes, at least he will still have his looks.