Lil Wayne Among TIME's Most Influential

Lil Wayne has traded in his street cred for a new title: World’s Most Influential Person.

Weezy ranked at No. 12 on TIME magazine’s third annual TIME 100 poll. This is the first time the 26-year-old rapper has made the prestigious list. He was voted for 939,993 times.

Lil Wayne’s I Am Music tourmate T-Pain also made the cut at No. 34 with 790,554 votes. M.I.A. (No. 105) and Kanye West (No. 144) placed outside the top 100.

“His Grammy-winning, multiplatinum album, Tha Carter III, was the perfect showcase for Wayne’s raw, hilarious, and often outer-planetary rap style,” TIME says of Wayne. “And his Southern-gentleman act is legit, as evidenced by his slightly flirty interview with Katie Couric.”

Lil Wayne and T-Pain landed above such notables as Barack Obama (No. 37) and Oprah Winfrey (No. 98).

The TIME 100 poll was determined by votes and influence ratings on TIME.com. Click here to see the full list.