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If 2008 stands as a year for moving forward,  then

Lil Wayne is well into the future. As the year’s most celebrated

rapper, the New Orleans-based lyricist also earns the title of most

controversial with nary a month going by without a headline.

In

January, Lil Wayne was charged with of felony possession of a narcotic

for sale, possession of dangerous drugs, and possession of drug

paraphernalia after his tour bus was pulled over by U.S. Border Patrol

officers near Dateland, Arizona.

The Arizona case was not the only legal situation involving the man born Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr.

The rapper found himself dealing with gun charges for an incident that

occurred last July as well as a lawsuit from a man wanting compensation

for work done on his 1999 Bentley Arnage. In addition, another lawsuit

was filed against Lil Wayne regarding copyright infringement and unfair

competition for the alleged unauthorized use of the Rolling Stones song

“Play With Fire” with a song featuring the same title.

 Despite

this, Wayne did manage to resolve two of his major financial debts and

find time to launch his One Family Foundation, create his own brand of

champagne called Halo, collaborate with various rappers and singers to

dominate radio and further his acting career with a starring role in

the upcoming film The Patriots.And

while he endured his share of ups and downs, Lil Wayne achieved his

greatest victory this year with the release of his latest album Tha Carter III.

Powered by hit singles “Lollipop,” “Got Money” and “A Milli,” the

release lived up to the title of the latter song by sitting atop the

Billboard 200 with more than 1 million copies sold in its first week. 

Tha Carter III’s

showing was even more impressive considering the uproar Lil Wayne

created in May when he made comments against mixtape DJs. The fallout

from the remarks manifested in a leak of the album days before its

official release on June 10. Couple that with criticism from the Rev.

Al Sharpton, a string of canceled concerts and Weezy had more than

enough drama to keep the project on the minds of fans for a good

portion of 2008.

Nevertheless, Mr. Carter proved to have the last laugh with eight Grammy nominations for his work on Tha Carter III and the launch of his highly anticipated I Am Music tour. He even managed to break onto Billboard’s rock chart with Framing Hanley’s cover of “Lollipop” and become the first Hip-Hop artist to ever perform at the Country Music Awards.

 Now that 2008 is fading, the question now is what will Lil Wayne’s 2009 shape up to be?  Whatever comes, the self-proclaimed “best rapper alive” is sure to fight diligently to keep his chokehold on rap music secure.