After launching his career as a member of the Hot Boyz, Lil Wayne emerged as an influential voice in his own right in the mid-noughties, and someone one who appeared at ease with the changing shape of the music industry.
As the digital distribution and consumption of music grew so did issues of piracy and copyright. The mixtape culture, which saw DJs splice artist offcuts to original tracks before selling them on, was the subject of police action while recordings were frequently being leaked online. A substantial portion of Wayne's sixth album, Tha Carter III, was leaked, but he turned it to his advantage.
Repackaging some of the leaked tracks as an EP, he made and released others online, sometimes on the same day, all the while guesting on many of the hottest tracks around. For 12 months, Lil Wayne was ubiquitous to the extent that when a reworked Tha Carter III finally hit the streets it shifted 1m units in its first week. Three years later and Wayne's Young Money crew, incorporating Nicki Minaj and Drake among others, dominates the charts.
