Lil Wayne shared some personal and painful information in an interview with Katie Couric. He said that he became “Wayne” instead of his given name, Dwayne, because he’s estranged from his father and doesn’t want to be associated with him in any way.

On why he’s “Wayne,” not “Dwayne”
“I dropped the D because I’m a junior, and my father is living, and he’s not in my life, and he’s never been in my life, so I don’t want to be Dwayne. I’d rather be Wayne.”

When Katie asked if Lil Wayne’s dad knew about that, he answered “He knows now.”

Lil Wayne, 26, talked about his young start in the music industry, in which he hung around a record company in his hometown of New Orleans and recorded his first rap at the age of 12. He said that he attributes his success to hard work and that “If you work hard you’re going to get good, and good turns to great.”

Half admits he still drinks “syrup,” claims it’s no longer a problem
Wayne also opened up about his issues with addiction. He said he used to take so much “syrup,” a prescription codeine cough syrup he was often seen drinking during performances and interviews, that his stomach was messed up from it, but that he’s “not addicted to it” now. This is not just your average cough syrup and at least three known members of the hip hop community have died from overdoses of the stuff. Wayne has defended his use of the powerful narcotic in the past.

Smokes pot for terrible migraines
When Katie asked him about weed, he said “I will stand up for marijuana every day.”

He claimed it was medicinal and was very serious and earnest looking about it. “I have migraines, right? They are migraines that make me just want to kill myself.”

A lot of people suffer from terrible migraines, and I’m lucky to have only had maybe one or two in my life, but some of my friends have them regularly and need to turn off the lights and lay down their migraines are so bad. Pot should be legal for medical problems as it is in California and maybe it gives him some relief. You wonder, though, if Lil Wayne’s addiction to “syrup” is at all related to his bad migraines. One of the side effects of of extended codeine use is something called “medication overuse headaches” in which headaches can recur when you try to cut down on the medication. If Wayne is drinking that codeine syrup every day this could be part of the reason why his headaches are bothering him so much.

He told Couric that he’s not going to stop smoking pot because “I’m a rapper. That’s who I am, Miss Katie, and I am a gangster. I do what I want, and I love to smoke.”