Author Topic: New Lil Wayne Interview (Read 170 times)

Mr. Humonculous · « **on:** April 06, 2005, 07:11:26 PM »

Lil Wayne All Grown Up
written by Pam Smith
Thursday - April 7, 2005

Less than a year after releasing The Carter, Lil’ Wayne is already prepping its follow-up. In this exclusive SOHH.com interview, Weezie speaks on being the best, school, Jay-Z and Def Jam.

On last year’s “Bring It Back,” Wayne boldly declared being “the best rapper alive since the best rapper retired.” While purists quickly dismissed his claim as borderline blasphemy, Weezie feels he has yet to hear a rapper that can rival his skills.

“To tell you the truth, I ain’t never heard anybody say I was bugging. If I am bugging, put the pressure on me then. It’s gonna let me know I’m bugging. You ain’t got a rapper alive that can f#@$ with me homie,” Wayne told SOHH.com in regards to last year’s declaration. “I ain’t no punchline rapper. I rap about when they punch me in my face, real life rap. I know ain’t nobody f#@$ing with me. I wouldn’t even do it if I knew somebody was f#@$ing with me. It don’t make no sense to do it. I like to take control of everything I do and the day I can’t take control of it, is the day I’ll leave it alone.”

Interestingly, Jay-Z, who first claimed the “best rapper alive” title, took a liking to Wayne’s confident attitude and recruited him to feature on Destiny’s Child’s “Soldier” last fall. Since then, critics say Wayne’s flows now bare striking similarities to Hov’s cadences.

“Honestly on that song [“Soldier”], he [Jay-Z] called me and told me how I gotta start my verse off and everything,” Weezie revealed. “As far as personal, I don’t know the God. But you know, as far as an influence, yeah, there’s a 100% influence on my rap game. I feel like that’s the only person, him and Big I ever see as great with lyrics.”

With “Soldier” becoming a smash hit and Jiggaman becoming Def Jam president shortly after, rumors began spreading that Wayne was defecting Cash Money for Island/Def Jam. While Cash Money CEO Baby downplayed the rumors as small negotiations in The Source Magazine’s April issue, Wayne admitted that he was a step away from signing with the God emcee.

“I was on Hot 97, but I never said I was with Def Jam. I just said that that’s who I was talking to and there was a lot of negotiations,” Wayne explained. “To tell you the truth, it was 85% sure. As a matter of fact I flew out there. I met with the God. We talked and I was down, but I came back and sat down at the round table with pops and pops had more food on the plate.”

Weezie eventually resigned with Cash Money and also inked his own Young Money Entertainment to the label. These days, he’s juggling studio sessions, concert dates and classes at the University of Houston where he majors in Sports Psychology and hits the campus two days a week.

“I have a sports agency and plus I’m about to try to buy a piece of the Hornets. And sooner or later, if I get a degree in that, I feel it’ll help me one way or another with owning a team,” Wayne said of his reasons for picking the major. “It’s a real big school. I’m just as regular as anybody in there; that’s what I like about it. I really haven’t had one person come to me in school yet. My class probably got like two or three other Black people in there. I mean people know me, they speak. I might have heard people say stuff like, ‘I heard you was in here. I didn’t know you really go here.’ But other than that, that’s about it.

Being in the lab hasn’t stopped Weezie from promptly completing his next album, The Carter 2. Still, the Cash Money soldier is presently awaiting beats from Eminem and Kanye West. He recently received a beat from Havoc to add to the LP.

“[Those are] people that the world listens to when that person says, ‘This person is the best rapper.’ [If I] get me on the tracks that the so-called greats rap on; if you hear how I can vibe on those same tracks -I wanna see who can come up against that. And when they meet that person that can, then I’ll be waiting,” Wayne stated. “That’s why I never spit at nobody. I can go at a lot of people, but it’s really not worth it. The only way I’d consider [going at] somebody is if my daughter became a rapper; cause she’ll probably be as talented as me. Nobody can f#@$ with me. I’ve been doing this since I was 8 years old. I signed my deal at 11, put out my first album at 12, my first solo at 14, made my first million at 19. ni99as can’t f#@$ with me. I don’t get on a record and preach, none of that. I just talk about how fly I am and that’s why they don’t like me.”

Lil Wayne’s The Carter 2, featuring production from Mannie Fresh, is slated to hit stores July 2.