Lil Wayne has opened up about his new album Tha Carter 6, the drama surrounding his Super Bowl halftime show snub and a host of other topics in a rare interview.
In a new cover story for Rolling Stone, Weezy confirms a number of high-profile (and in some cases unlikely) guests on his next LP, including Miley Cyrus, U2’s Bono and opera singer Andrea Bocelli.
AD LOADING...
The project, due out June 6, will also feature Machine Gun Kelly, dancehall legend Elephant Man and Wayne’s 15-year-old son Kameron.
Behind the boards, the lineup of producers includes Wyclef Jean, Wheezy and possibly Kanye West.
AD LOADING...
Wyclef appears to be overseeing the album and has even started an “informal” supergroup with Wayne called the Gumbo, which also includes New Orleans musicians Jon Batiste, Ledisi, Trombone Shorty and PJ Morton.
Weezy says of the star-studded supporting cast: “If there’s one thing about this album that’s different, it’s me approaching it like, ‘Man, what would I sound like on something with such and such?’”
Elsewhere in the interview, the Young Money founder says he’s open to recording a sequel to his and Birdman‘s 2006 album Like Father, Like Son but with his teenage sons — Kameron, Dwayne III and Neal — who are all following in his footsteps as rappers.
Wayne also addresses Kendrick Lamar‘s Super Bowl halftime show in New Orleans this past February — a hometown gig he had openly coveted and one which appeared to cause friction between the “Mona Lisa” collaborators.
AD LOADING...
“Wayne tells me things are fine between him and Lamar; Wayne called the L.A. rapper ahead of the Super Bowl to clear the air and to encourage him,” the article reads.
The 42-year-old also claims the NFL gave him the impression they were going to offer him the performance, and he received an apology from someone at the league saying: “We ain’t in charge [of the halftime show]” after Kendrick was announced as the headliner.
Wayne reveals that he has no ill will towards JAY-Z, who plays a key role in organizing the halftime show, but is no longer interested in performing at the Super Bowl: “They stole that feeling. I don’t want to do it. It was perfect.”
Check out more highlights from the interview below.
AD LOADING...
On being unaware of Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s beef and accidentally performing “Not Like Us”:
“I’m going to give you the perfect example. I went onstage and I was singing this song, and they thought I was dissing” […] Wayne burrows his face into the arm of an accent chair while laughing about unknowingly rapping along to a Drake diss track. “I ain’t want my dude to be mad at me,” he says. “I didn’t even know it was Kendrick!”
On not knowing that JAY-Z and Kanye West released Watch the Throne:
Later in the evening, I reference JAY-Z and Kanye West’s Watch the Throne. “What’s that?” he asks, staring at another SportsCenter replay. “Kanye and Jay-Z’s album.” “They did an album?”
The rest of the room spends the next five minutes playing songs from the iconic 2011 album to jog Wayne’s memory. He looks bewildered trying to decipher the opening moments of “Otis,” asking [Lil] Twist if he ever freestyled to it (Twist shakes his head “no”), though he does recall “N-ggas in Paris” and “No Church in the Wild.”
AD LOADING...
On not knowing who Sexyy Red is, despite being on a song with her:
Wayne’s obliviousness pops up again when it comes to rapper Sexyy Red, who features on “Sticky” with him, GloRilla and Tyler, The Creator. “[Tyler] was like, ‘I know you don’t know who that is.’ I was like, ‘I damn sure don’t. Red who? Sexyy what?’” he jokes.
Tyler had to remind him that they were at a Balenciaga show together. But Sexyy imprinted herself in his memory with her bold verse: “I was like, ‘Oh shit, that’s dope.’”
AD LOADING...
On his defiant social media post that was interepreted as a response to Kendrick Lamar namedropping him on “wacced out murals”:
Wayne seems to not quite remember the post when I bring it up. “I sound like I’m talking about the media, because I said ‘they,’” he says.
On the backlash to his photo with Donald Trump in 2020:
“Fuck no, I don’t care about no backlash for nothin’ I do, you know me, man,” he says in a low croak. “My mama woulda been mad if I ain’t smile. That might have been the only backlash I would have worried about.” When I ask if he would’ve joined his rap peer Nelly in performing at the inauguration, he says, “I was asked, but we had something to do.”
When I ask how he feels about the post-photo perception that he’s a Trump supporter, he notes, “I don’t feel about it. I don’t give a fuck about that type of shit. Tell ’em my dick big though.”
