Believe it or not, Lil Wayne has been consistently releasing music for the better part of 20 years now.

Wayne was a mere 17 years old when his first album, “Tha Block is Hot” went platinum, selling over 1 million records in the U.S. alone.

His career can be divided into three distinct sections.

We can label the first section, from 1999-2005, “The Best Rapper Alive.” This section spans from “Tha Block is Hot” to “Tha Carter II,” undoubtedly showcasing Wayne’s most consistent greatness.

Here, Lil Wayne forced himself into the best-rapper-at-the-time conversation, which featured the likes of Kanye West, 50 Cent and Jay-Z.

The second phase of his career spans roughly from 2006-2011. Most notably, Wayne released both “Tha Carter III” and “Tha Carter IV” during this period. However, it was during this second phase that he became affectionately known as “the punchline king.”

I mean, without punchline-Wayne, would anybody’s ears have ever been blessed with the “Real Gs move in silence like the lasagna” line? No, of course not.

However, the decline from his first to the second phase is significant. The complete absence of any storytelling coupled with his reliance on auto-tune transformed Wayne from one of hip-hop’s most promising acts to any run-of-the-mill rapper, while he still maintained a larger-than-life personality.

The final stage ranges from 2012 to the present. This stage contains nearly bottomless lows that have pushed Lil Wayne’s career closer and closer to irrelevance with every passing song and feature verse.

Unfortunately, during this period, Lil Wayne is known more for his falling out with Cash Money Records’ cofounder, Birdman, than any music he’s released.