During the years he was most prolific, Lil Wayne was firing off records at a rate few could keep up with. From roughly 2005 to 2010, he was the consensus best rapper alive, a warbling alien force capable of gut-busting punchlines, surrealist double entendres, and heart-wrenching turns of phrase, producing voluminous mixtapes alongside guest spots and glossy major-label studio efforts. One storied album from that period was a 2009 collaborative record with auto-tune crooner T-Pain—then also at the height of his fame—called T-Wayne.
In 2010, Weezy went to jail, a setback that effectively ended his hot streak. Since then, he’s alternated between uncharacteristically bad efforts, head-turning throwback verses, and headline-grabbing label problems. Amid the furor, T-Wayne never saw the light of day, and as recently as 2015, T-Pain said the album wasn’t any closer to coming out, thanks to Weezy’s label problems.