Lil Wayne's World

The thing about arranging an interview with Lil Wayne is that when you finally do get The Call--after much negotiating and multiple reschedulings--his publicist puts you on hold and the music you hear, by a country singer (according to Google) named Billy Currington, goes, "She had Hollywood written on her license plate; she was lost and looking for the interstate, needing directions and I was the man for the job; I told her, 'wait up yonder --'..." And then Lil Wayne's publicist comes back on the line with the tattooed wonder, only you're still marveling at how odd it is to be listening to abysmal country music while holding for the hottest MC alive.

But before long you'll be marveling at something else. Namely that this laconic dude really is the hottest MC alive. He freestyles some of the weirdest couplets known to man (from his forthcoming album: "I could get your brains for a bargain, like I bought it from Target / Hip-hop is my supermarket, shopping cart full of fake hip-hop artists") and his syrup-soaked nasal burp appeared on more cameos last year than Hillary Clinton has campaign debt.

Now he's taken his success to the next level: "Lollipop," the raunchy first single off his new album, "The Carter III," has held the top spot on Billboard's singles chart for four weeks running (just in time for prom!)—beating out new American IdolDavid Cook and current iPod posterboys Coldplay. NEWSWEEK's Brian Braiker caught up with Lil Wayne—ne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., but also known as Weezy F. Baby, and Birdman Junior, and, um, P---- Monster—on Saturday, the weekend before the long-awaited third installment in the Carter opus was officially released (and days after it had already leaked online). Excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: Congratulations on "Lollipop." It's huge. Do you feel like you're crossing over into a new level of stardom?
Lil Wayne: That's what it did and that's what it does. My aim is just to make good music every single time.

You're sort of famous for your productivity and your cameos and your mixtape output. Why do you think it took so long for an official release of "The Carter III" to come out?
I don't know. I guess perfect timing. It was nothing like they didn't want to put it out. I wasn't worried about it. They wasn't worrying me about it.

Are you happy with the way it turned out?
Oh man, elated.

The record leaked a couple of days ago. This DJ, Chuck T, is claiming that he leaked it. This album was delayed a year because of another leak. What goes through your mind after all this, that the week before the official release there's this leak?
Nothing goes through my mind. It harms me in no way because, first of all, I am good music. Bootlegged or not, what you just heard, or what you will hear, is great. And that's the point I'm trying to get across at the end of the day and the beginning of the morning: that I'm great. Things I say have value and I would love for you to value them, however you get it. I don't really care about the leak or the DJs that's leaking it. I'm glad that people even care enough about it to make this situation a topic.

It wouldn't bother you if people decided to download it instead of going out and buying it?
This is my 15th year. This is what I do and I'm very, very straight. I don't need anything. With my fanbase, I know—whether it's downloaded, leaked or not—I know when I step on stage, I'm going to get the same reaction that I always get. That's what matters to me.