My top three rappers are Lil Wayne, Kanye West, and J. Cole. I have seen all three of them perform live, and they all filled the spaces with an electricity on different levels. The one and only time I’ve seen Lil Wayne perform live was almost three years ago at One Music Fest in Atlanta. He was the headlining performer for the final night of the two-day festival. We waited, and we waited, and we waited, and about an hour and 40 minutes after he was set to perform, a small-statured, blonde Wayne staggered on stage holding his microphone with the same assured grip as he held his pants.
The crowd went crazy.
Hook after hook, Lil Wayne jumped effortlessly from each song’s chorus to the next, like muscle memory, but that was about it. Just hooks, the thing that hooks you into the song but is not the reason you decided to continue to listen. There was some slight disappointment at not being able to crush each lyric like it had been tattooed inside each ear because his magic is indeed in his lyrics, but somehow that did not matter to the sky, to the ground, and to the air that he filled with fire. When it was time to leave, a dream was still fulfilled, but I had to know that I was taking Lil Wayne at his best, a man who had been outpaced by his fast lifestyle, a man whose cup was full but was no longer running over.
No one is living under a rock these days because rent is too high for such prime real estate, but just in case you are clueless, Kendrick Lamar was chosen to perform at the Super Bowl in New Orleans next year. The internet was in an uproar, and by internet, I mean that pink rap lady and Birdman, citing racism and Ms. Gladys as the reason that Lil Weezyana was not chosen to perform next February. Lil Wayne himself has put out a statement about how not being chosen to perform in his city has left him hurt.
Though his disappointment is understandable, Nicki Minaj citing racism as the reason he was not chosen—when he himself stated that he does not encounter racism—is hypocritical at best.
Some of the pushback as to why their complaints are invalid is that camps supporting Lil Wayne are only upset now when the Super Bowl has been in New Orleans 10 times, so why the complaints now? This is true, but Lil Wayne has only been alive for six of them and an artist for three. Additionally, while he is not the first rapper to hit the halftime stage, Kendrick Lamar is the first rapper to be chosen as headliner. However, no other cities’ headliners have been based on that artist’s contribution to the city, so if there is any viable pushback, it would be that.
Many are also accusing Wayne of not being performance-ready, which is not exactly true.
Lil Wayne was just on a very successful tour this year. Logically, if he can perform for over an hour in multiple cities, giving a stellar 15-minute performance is not unachievable for Wayne. However, he is not at the height of his career anymore, and if just singing the hooks is doable, then he would be fine but, the truth of the matter is, that night at One Music Fest, Wayne did not rap his verses because well, the audience knows them better than he does. His constant seizures from drug use have done a number on his memory but, ironically, not on his artistry. He is still putting out great music, but that’s the conundrum of his genius. He is still creatively a monster, but there is something missing, something that he leaned too far into and never came back from. While his appearance may be fodder for laughter, it is indicative of a man troubled by the expansiveness of his own thoughts, and art is the only thing that seems to be keeping him alive.
Lil Wayne Vs Kendrick
— Folu 🚀 (@FoluShaw) September 11, 2024
The difference is clear.
P.S –
1 – SuperBowl is nobody’s birthright.
2 – Don’t do drugs. 🙏🏾❤️ pic.twitter.com/O6fuhiOaPP
“Last year they had the Grammy’s and left me in Miami, sleeping on a n*gga like I’m rapping in my jammies,” is a lyric from one of Lil Wayne’s greatest songs, “I’m Me,” but is also telling of a man who is hurt when he’s left out of the conversation concerning rap greatness, because well, who else has music that you listen to years later and hear a bar you’ve never previously heard.
Wayne’s hurt is bigger than not being chosen. Somewhere deep inside Lil Wayne lives that little boy who tried to commit suicide; the greatest accomplishment Wayne could ever achieve is to heal himself and that little Lil Wayne first.
At some point in his career Lil Wayne was absolutely deserving of a Super Bowl moment, but that may be a version of Lil Wayne we may never see again.
