Lil Wayne is a rapper and producer with an estimated net worth of $140 million. He was born on September 27, 1982 in New Orleans, to a 19-year-old mother and her boyfriend. His father ran off on the family when he was only 2, leaving his mother to care for him by herself. She was a cook without much money, so his early life was not as upscale as it might be these days. His mother forgot about his father, who is still alive, and she married another man by the name of Rabbit who became the star’s stepfather. Lil Wayne has a tattoo of a rabbit on his body in honor of the man he considered his father as he was there for them growing up. His stepfather, sadly, was murdered before the star became the famous celebrity his is today, but he often speaks of him.

When he was only 8-years-old, he began writing rap songs and leaving them on the answering machine of the owner of Cash Money Recaords, Bryan Williams, whom he met in 1991. This led the famous music producer to want to mentor the young rapper, so he did. He was then allowed to rap with another young rapper when he was only 11, and he began his music career then. He attended school as part of the gifted program as well as an honor student, but he dropped out of school when he was only 14 because he wanted to focus on his music career. He became part of the Hot Boys crew in 1996 and began making a name for himself as part of the group. Within three years, the group had a number one record on the Billboard chart, and Wayne was making it big. He rapped with Juvenile in the hit song, “Back That Azz Up,” and he wrote and was featured on a number of songs until 2003 when the Hot Boys decided no longer to work together.

Lil Wayne released three albums before 2004, but he was considered immature and his lyrical style was not considered good enough. It was not until 2004 when his fourth album came out that many of his biggest critics began to see a positive change in his rapping and began to take him more seriously. His album sold more than 2 million copies in a week and debuted at number two. It was at that point that he decided to follow up his hit album with some collaborations with the biggest stars in the world, including Birdman, Robin Thicke, Chris Brown, Fat Joe, Rick Ross, Wyclef Jean and even Jay-Z.

Much of Lil Wayne’s net worth comes from his rapping, but also his production company and his many different songs. He has four kids, all with different women, the first one born when he was only 15. He’s been involved in his kids’ lives even though he’s got so many women to deal with, and he seems to work hard to ensure he has a good relationship with each one, retiring at the age of 35 – he recently announced – so that he can spend time with his kids as they are in the most crucial time of his life when they need him the most.

Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images