Lil Wayne is celebrating his birthday on Monday, September 27, and his closest friends and supporters are paying tribute to him on social media. Nicki Minaj posted the first picture she ever shot with “the man who changed my life” aboard Wayne’s tour bus more than ten years ago in an emotional Instagram Story post.

Nicki, who intends to post further birthday wishes for Tunechi throughout the day, added, “Happy Birthday to my everything @liltunechi.”

Nicki became Young Money’s first female rapper when Lil Wayne signed her in August 2009, and the rest is history.

At the time, Nicki told XXL, “There are a lot of people who kind of shut you down as a female before you even get your foot in the door.” Therefore, you feel like, “Yes, finally,” when you have times like these.

First working together on Nicki’s 2007 debut mixtape Playtime Is Over, the two most recently released a song together called “Seeing Green” from her reissued album Beam Me Up Scotty.

Over the years, Nicki has consistently shown her devotion to Wayne by referring to him as the “greatest rapper alive.” She remarked on Young Money Radio last year, “Shout out to you Wayne for giving me my start, for always believing in me.”