If you somehow find yourself at the gates of Lil Wayne’s fortified Miami Beach palace, a security guard will interrogate you as soon as your car door slams shut. He’ll require that you state your business, and even if said business checks out, you’ll be zealously scrutinized as though you’re trespassing on an arsenal of nuclear warheads. The 15,000-square-foot, $11 million, hyper-modern waterfront compound nests on a banana-palm-ringed island. Wayne’s publicist prefers that the exact location be kept secret, and for good reason. Over the past decade and a half, the 32-year-old from the impoverished Hollygrove section of New Orleans has been worshipped at levels usually reserved for European soccer gods, martyred icons, and Marvel superheroes.

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