Lil Wayne is anticipating doctors news of a new arrival and it's not a baby daughter or son. No, due any day now is the DNA report from the New York medical examiner's office that will tell prosecutors whether or not the rapper's genetic material matches traces recovered from a loaded, snazzy, green, .40-caliber semi-automatic pistol.At the same time first-week sales show Lil Wayne has the hottest CD of 2008 and is on its way to the first million-plus seller in three years!!
The awaited DNA report may put him behind bars for a minimum of 3-1/2 years. But in the end, going to jail will solidifying 'gangsta' credentials and thus sell even more CDs.
Police say the gun was inside an equally snazzy Louis Vuitton bag that Lil Wayne jettisoned from his lap when cops boarded his tour bus at Columbus Ave. and W. 61st St. on July 22, 2007. Lil Wayne, whose real name was recorded on the arrest report as Dwayne Carter, resisted giving a DNA sample.
A judge ordered otherwise and Lil Wayne complied on May 13 in a hallway at Manhattan Supreme Court, swabbing the inside of his mouth with a cotton swab under the gaze of police.
Prosecutors expected the results back within three weeks, or around June 2. The report on whether it is Lil Wayne's DNA on the gun was still not in on June 10, when his CD "Tha Carter III" was released.
Sales have been down more than 10% industry wide, but the rapper who has favored lyrics such as "Most likely imma die with my finger on the trigga" went for raunch over rage, sex over violence with the hit song "Lollipop."
The result was 430,000 copies of the CD sold on the very first day of its release, a blockbuster in any era, a truly remarkable figure in an age of pirated copies and file-sharing and single-song downloads.
At the same time, more than a half-million people paid to download "Lollipop" as a ring tone. Cell phones all over the city emitted snippets of the hit as the moment neared when the medical examiner's office would call the prosecutors to say the DNA results were complete.
The DNA on the gun may prove not to be his, but the star of "Tha Carter III" can expect Tha Minimum III1/2 years in prison if his DNA is found to match that recovered from the model XD-40 Springfield Armory pistol, serial number US436285.
Other tests have established that the gun was fully functional, loaded with nine bullets and showed evidence of discharge. A check for fingerprints was negative, but such checks are seldom positive when it comes to handguns.
In the court papers documenting the rap against Lil Wayne is an exchange he is alleged to have had with Police Officer Diane Hornung at the time of his arrest.
"What am I being charged with?" Lil Wayne supposedly asked.
"Criminal possession of a weapon," Hornung said.
"I have a permit for that gun in Florida."
"You do? Do you have it on you?"
"No."
The Florida permit would have no legal bearing on the case, but the statement could be taken as an implicit admission that the gun belongs to him. Lil Wayne's best hope is that at least the DNA on the pistol belongs to someone else.
Otherwise, the rapper may have more than sales reports to teach him the wisdom of going for sex over violence, lollipops over gats.
Lil Wayne may beat the case and go on to enjoy his "Lollipop" of success, or the Manhattan district attorney may teach him a big lesson: That even rappers who sell a million CDs have to adhere to Tha Rules. Source: Michael Daly, mdaly@nydailynews.com