Lil Wayne to Publish Prison Memoir Gone Till November Plus the Best Rap Memoirs Ever

Grammy Award-winning, multi-platinum selling artist Lil Wayne signed a book deal to publish his memoirs detailing an eight month stint he served at Rikers Island in 2010. The title "Gone Till November" references the first post Wayne wrote on his WeezyThanxYou.com blog that he started to stay in contact with his fans while in prison.

The memoir is scheduled to be released in November 2012 and will focus on the "internal monologue" Wayne cataloged in a collection of diaries while at Rikers.

If the book sells as well as any of Wayne's last few albums, it will be a runaway success. Last year's "Tha Carter IV" was Wayne's third No. 1 debut and sold a whopping 940,000 copies in its first week.

Dwayne Carter Jr. isn't the only rap star to pen an autobiography. In recent years, it seems to be a requirement for every hip-hop mogul (along with a clothing line, which is another thing Wayne has in the works). Here are a few of the best autobiographies from the last fifteen years.

"One Day It'll All Make Sense" - by Common, Adam Bradley (2011)

An open and accessible memoir from the epitome of the "socially conscious rapper." "One Day" shows that the values of positivity, virtue, humility, and responsibility preached in Common's lyrics were not forged in an environment without adversity. Common, aka Lonnie Rashid Lynn, poetically and vividly details the tough life on Chicago's South Side. Including a story about being kidnapped at gun! point by his father and driven to Seattle--a plan ultimately foiled by his savvy mother who plays a major role in the text and in his life.

"Life and Def: Sex, Drugs, Money, and God"

- by Russell Simmons, Nelson George (2002)

Before Diddy and Jay-Z made their millions, Russell Simmons was busy making his. Simmons' memoir is a veritable blueprint for hungry entrepreneurs and up-and-coming cultural innovators. It details how he built his massive empire piece by piece. There are also plenty of juicy biographical details on Simmons bad relationships and struggles with drugs--that once even led him to become a murder suspect.

"From Pieces to Weight: Once upon a Time in Southside Queens"

- by 50 Cent, Kris Ex (2005)

When Fiddy was just five years old he was beaten up by a neighborhood bully. Instead of consoling him, his hardened mother sent him back out to fight the kid and beat him any way that he could. A young Curtis Jackson did just that. After he found the kid, he beat him upside the head with a rock. It's these types of brutally honest anecdotes and memories about 50 Cent's early life as a crack dealer and an aspiring rapper that makes "From Pieces to Weight" a worthy read.

"I Make My Own Rules"

- LL Cool J, Karen Hunter (1998)

The ladies really do love cool Cool James. In this early, tell-all, hip-hop autobiography we learn that LL Cool J has had some rather unsavory sexual encounters. We also learn that his father shot his mother and grandfather with a shotgun. However, both survived after his grandmother arrived on the scene, chewed out the gunslinger, packed the injured into a car, and drove them to the hospital.

"Ruthless"

- by Jerry Heller, Gil Reavill (2006)

Not all of the best rap memoirs are by rappers. Love him or hate him, Jerry Heller's "Ruthless" memoir is a must read for any fan of N.W.A., the music industry, or West Coast rap. The intimate look at the Ruthless Records saga reads like a novel. Intertwined throughout is an odd-couple, father and son, stor! y that d etails the close relationship between Eazy-E and Heller.

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