Lil Wayne is bringing "Young Money Radio" to Apple TV beginning this Friday. As plenty of people around the world continue to look for new ways to keep themselves occupied, tons of celebrities have taken to launching their own special projects from home. Lucky for Weezy fans, their fave rapper is among these stars who are doing what they can to bring entertainment and joy to the world during this difficult time.

Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images

The first episode of the broadcast, which initially debuted back in 2017 on Dash Radio, will be hosted by the Young Money founder himself on Friday at 7:00pm EST/4:00pm PST. The show will begin streaming on Instagram live each time, before switching over to Apple TV for the remainder of its duration. Wayne made the announcement Twitter on Tuesday, indicating that he'll "have heavyweights calling in discussing sports, music, comedy," and more on Young Money Radio.

Before Nicki Minaj made her name as one of the greatest female rappers in history, she was struggling to come up in New York. What ended up getting her noticed by so many around the city were The Come Up DVDs, which eventually led to her signing to Young Money. Working with her former manager Big Fendi at the time, the two had a serious falling out before everything popped off, and they’re discussing it all on Fendi’s new podcast episode.

For the first time in many years, Nicki Minaj and Big Fendi are in the same room, speaking about what caused their fall-out and their past animosity for one another.

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

Big Fendi just launched his new podcast and, in the first episode, he invited Nicki Minaj to come hash out their differences. It takes a while for them to get caught up, joking about the rapper’s former stage name Nicki Maraj and arguing over who decided to change it. 

When they get to speaking about their beef, Big Fendi explains that he feels as though he never got the credit he deserves, as Nicki regularly cites Lil Wayne as the man who discovered her. Minaj retorted that she has always shouted out Fendi, realizing that she may have been a little petty at times but that’s only because they downright didn’t like each other for some time.

The entire thirty-minute episode is worth your time. Watch it below.

[]

“It’s written all over my face

It’s tattooed, it can’t be erased

One of a kind, I can’t be replaced” 

It’s usually easy to trace an artist’s lineage. On the whole, there’s usually a trait or two that’s derivative of someone that came before, or a contemporary that spearheaded the wave. Yet from the moment that he seceded from The Hot Boyz and placed Cash Money’s rickety future on his shoulders as a solo performer, seeking parallels to understand Dwayne Carter quickly became a futile pursuit. A singular entity that implanted his New Orleans drawl into the commercial and critical foreground, Weezy made the vast majority of his contemporaries seem mundane by comparison. In response, he began to identify as something otherworldly.

“I’m different from y’all. So instead of saying, ‘I’m different,’ I have a cool way of saying, ‘I’m a martian’,” he informed XXL in 2008. “I’m so glad I’ve developed into that type of artist. Cause I never could see that shit from the Hot Boys days, to become a n***a that’s just lyrically out there. And make a muthafucka love it.”

Based not only on his own prolific catalogue of mixtapes, albums and even his dishearteningly underexposed TIDAL exclusive album project, the barriers that Wayne levelled have given today’s hungry young artists a set of flexible guidelines to follow if they hope to attain a similar status of greatness.

Approaching the traditional “legacy act” age-range, conventional wisdom would dictate that Wayne wouldn’t be able to sustain his status as an innovative force in music. However, the Young Money mogul has overcame expectations at every interval in his career. Yet with the announcement of his Las Vegas residency and the hit-filled, career retrospective that he’s likely to deliver each night at DRAIS, it naturally leads to speculation over who, if anyone, has the attributes to follow in Weezy’s trailblazing footsteps.

In order to have any hope of entering the same stratosphere as Wayne, there are 3 key characteristics that they must have or be capable of manifesting as the years tick by– 1) work ethic, 2) raw talent that can be converted into star power and, 3) longevity. Although it’s not an entry requirement as such, it’s perhaps telling that each artist that may take up Wayne’s mantle also harbours a deep-seated appreciation for the rapper.

Joseph Okpako/WireImage/Getty Images

The most natural recipient of the title and one that he’s been grooming himself for since the embryonic stages of his career, the obvious answer to the question would be Young Thug. Described by Jeffery himself as his “idol for life”, everything from Thugger’s aesthetic to his bewildering flow and Birdman’s eagerness to align with him made it clear that he’s cut from the same cloth as Wayne. Coupled with the steadily mounting eccentricity that’s became one of Thugger’s calling cards, his commitment to transforming mixtapes from throwaway to something more enduring and artful has been evident since the days of I Came From Nothing, and feels indebted to the revolution that Weezy oversaw. Having claimed that he’d “get in the studio with Wayne before Michael Jackson” in 2014, the overt hero-worship may have tapered off as Thugger found his own, often-imitated artistic voice but the connection is alive to this day.

For all that animosity between the two of them has festered ever since he was embroiled in Birdman’s longstanding feud with Tunechi, Wayne saw Thugger’s homage to Tha Carter series with The Barter 6 as something that was made with “total respect.” Cited as an inspiration in his own right for a new breed of rappers, Thug has put in the necessary hours to be considered with his hero and did so while continually pushing the boundaries of his sound. To his credit, when a BBC article that discussed the most influential artists of the decade proclaimed him to be number one, Thugger went out of his way to endorse Wayne’s protests of “me, that’s who” with a simple “facts.”

Boasting his own famed mixtape series with Slime Season and showing no signs of slowing down as we barrel towards his upcoming album Punk, he’s certainly doing his best to emulate the productivity levels of his hero but only time will tell if the cultural relevance can be upheld.

Jerod Harris/Getty Images

From his overt rock influences to his garish, individualistic style, there’s certainly grounds to point the finger at Philadelphia’sLil Uzi Vert as a clear descendent of Weezy F. Once derogatorily described by Fat Joe as “a bad version of Lil Wayne,” the Terror Squad don also assessed that Uzi would never been seen among the elite of the game. Well, in the midst of Eternal Atake and its deluxe expansion pack arriving to a frenzied response from the world, Uzi officially entered the ranks of hip-hop’s winner’s circle by repeating Weezy’s feat of having three songs inside the top ten of the Billboard chart simultaneously.

After saluting Weezy on EA’s “No Auto” by retooling the boisterous Tha Carter classic “BM JR,” Uzi inspires a similar level of fanaticism from his fans as Tunechi does. Not to mention, he’s all too acquainted with making his adoring public wait for a project due to a spate of label drama.

Although he’s not known for his efficiency, reports from inside his camp suggest that producers such as Supah Mario sent Uzi upwards of “300 beats” and implies that he’s as eager to churn out content as Wayne. So, if the charismatic artist can establish a run of momentum, there’s no telling where his ceiling lies in comparison to that of Weezy.

On the subject of keeping yourself in fighting condition, two modern artists that have set the wheels in motion for long, illustrious careers by staying active are Lil Baby & Gunna. Both hailing from Atlanta, GA, the two platinum-selling “Close Friends” keep themselves in heavy rotation, churning out features and collaborating with artists across the gamut. Both armed with iconic mixtape themes in the shape of their Drip and Hard series, it’s Lil Baby that’s found himself courting overt comparisons to Wayne while Gunna has discussed how the NOLA sound that brought Weezy to the fore was crucial in igniting his creative drive.

Bennett Raglin/Getty Images

In response to the parallels that’d been drawn between the two, the man that was drafted in to feature on Funeral’s lead single “I Do It” was humbled by the suggestion that he was in the same league. “I’m definitely honored! That’s the perfect word for it,” Lil Baby explained. “Even if it’s far-fetched to somebody, but just for more than one person to compare me to somebody like him, I’m definitely honoured and it makes me want to go harder.”

For all that they’re riding high, the real litmus test of this pair’s capabilities to follow in Wayne’s footsteps is whether they can produce a succession of projects that have either the impact or versatility of a classic instalment of Tha Carter, Da Drought or Dedication.

Heading away from the Dirty South, the South Florida region has quietly become a hotbed for musical ingenuity. Rising from an outpost to become synonymous with innovation, the rise of Carol City and the surrounding areas recalls the stream of artists that billowed out of Louisiana to make a worldwide commercial impact in the mid-to-late 90’s.

At the nucleus of the area’s rise, Denzel Curry certainly has a lyrical pedigree to rival a young Wayne as well as a refusal to rest on his laurels before returning to the studio. Among labelling Wayne “the goat” in 2016, Zeltron has actually mirrored Weezy’s journey in a lot of ways. After setting out as a member of The Raider Klan, Zel’s shift away from their ranks enabled him to refine his style and in turn, usher in the SoundCloud rap era just as Wayne took 50’s lead and challenged music’s traditional format with his string of iconic, DJ Drama-hosted mixtapes in the mid 2000s.

Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

As Wayne did before him, Denzel has been vocal about setting the pen aside in favour of the spontaneity that rhyming off the dome provides. Concerned that writing may result in material that sounds “too stiff and rigid,” the organic feel that imbued 2019’s mostly freestyled Zuu record had that same fascinating spark of ingenuity that made post-“10000 Bars” Weezy such a uniquely unpredictable MC to behold.

While Carol City offers a worthy, lyrically gifted candidate to follow Weezy’s lead, there’s a fair amount of speculation over whether the true heir to Wayne’s throne could emanate from closer to home. Hailing from nearby Baton Rouge, Louisiana, NBA Youngboy, much like Wayne in the Hot Boyz days, has been making a name for himself from a prodigious age. Carrying himself with a simmering bravado that invokes the spirit of a young Weezy, the enterprising artist has been plying his trade since charging out of the gate with his first mixtape at the tender age of 15. 2019 aside, Youngboy has averaged a minimum of two tapes a year since 2015 and has displayed a willingness to lend his distinct vocal style to anyone that wishes to enlist his services.

Rick Kern/WireImage/Getty Images

Much like the young Weezy, the 20-year-old MC is no stranger to a run-in with the law but he’s refused to let it halt his progress. Along the way, he’s been sure to express his pronounced respect for the elder statesman. Stated most explicitly on the swaggering “Diamond Teeth Samurai”, its use of the refrain from “The Block Is Hot” recalls Wayne’s youthful exuberance and desire to prove himself. In line with today’s supply-and-demand dynamic, NBA has flooded the market and, in particular, made YouTube his domain with visual after visual in a way that a younger Tunechi likely would have, had he came up in this era.

In addition to guesting on a litany of tracks with Weezy’s former “daddy,” Birdman has been forthcoming with his praise for Louisiana’s new leading light. “I think NBA YoungBoy gon’ be one of the biggest artists that we done ever seen,” said the rap mogul. “I think he gon’ be real big.” Granted, NBA is still in his relative infancy as an artist. If he can keep chipping away and place an emphasis on creating his own sound, there’s no reason why he can’t become the Bayou state’s next great artist.

While no one can ever usurp Weezy, this eclectic bunch of MCs look to be among the prime candidates to forge his path onwards in 2020.

Who do you think has the potential to be the next Lil Wayne? Sound off in the comments. 

Nicki Minaj is universally known as one of the most skilled women to ever pick up a microphone, especially in the rap world. These days, she has more competition than ever before but, for the last decade, Minaj has ruled as the Queen of hip-hop. She still holds a firm grasp of the throne, despite stars like Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion challenging for her spot. One thing that she can boast that they cannot though is the fact that she's officially worth $100 million.

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

According to the verified Young Money page on Twitter, Nicki Minaj has just made history as the first female rapper to ever surpass a $100 million net worth. The star has not yet commented on the major financial achievement but we're sure she's elated about the news.

In recent weeks, Nicki Minaj has found herself back in gossip magazines as her husband, the controversial Kenneth Petty, was arrested after failing to register as a sex offender. She has remained silent since the latest drama involving her man broke out, but we wouldn't be surprised to eventually hear a clever bar from the rapper about her major money moves.

Do you think this is the start of even larger things for the Queen? Is she on her way to a billion?

The year is 2010. Drake and Nicki Minaj both release their debut albums through Young Money Entertainment and Cash Money Records. The game is shifting and we don't know exactly what it's going to look like, but we know it's exciting and we have Lil Wayne to thank. In a historic move, Weezy introduced two artists to the world that went on to become household names and continuously grow bigger over the following decade. Their music crossed over into mainstream, producing countless hits and breaking countless records in the process. 

Actually, you can count their hits and this quantification just resulted in another clenched title for the rappers. Nicki Minaj's new promotional single "Yikes" has just entered Billboard's Hot 100 at #23, placing her in the company of Drake and Lil Wayne as the rappers with the most charting singles in history. 

The title Funeral has a few meanings that parallel to Wayne’s career. It could represent the end of an era, the beginning of a new one, fueling speculation that Wayne might put the microphone down once and for all. But there’s also an eerie feeling that lingers behind the title in wake of Kobe Bryant’s death. The “Mamba Mentality” is reflected in Wayne’s work ethic — he’s known for long studio sessions where he banks in several songs per night. Wayne, however, is 5’5” (5’6” with them Balencis) and wouldn’t be able to make it in the NBA. There’s an argument to be made that Wayne embodied the same work ethic in the studio that Kobe Bryant applied to everything he did, whether it’s basketball, writing, or even his short-lived rap career. Perhaps that’s what makes the numerous tributes so effective, be it the twenty-four second moment of silence on track eight or the album’s strategic length of twenty-four tracks.  

Though many critiques can be made about Wayne on Funeral, I promise you it’s incredibly nice to hear Wayne back on his bullshit without dropping cringeworthy, lazy bars about his sex life. Funeral brings back elements of Mixtape Weezy — maybe not peak mixtape Weezy but he’s free-flowing, scrapping the concept of song structure and going head-first on every beat. Ever since the Cash Money movement sparked in the late nineties, Mannie Fresh is the one producer whose track record with Wayne remains near flawless. Once again, they reunite with Mannie flipping vocals from Eryn Allen Kane’s “Bass Song” into a smooth, soulful, Southern banger that brings out one of Wayne’s most spirited performances. Followed by “Mama Mia,” Funeral kicks off on a high-note, flexing his prowess as one of the best technical rappers to grace a microphone. 

Wayne’s strongest moments happen without the assistance of outside parties. “I Do It” with Big Sean and Lil Baby was a safe choice for a single but that doesn’t really mean much when the concept of that collaboration sounds better on paper than in execution. The same can be said for “Bing James” with Jay Rock, especially considering the last time they worked together was on “All My Life (In The Ghetto).” Luckily Jay Rock still strikes at a high caliber, easily outshining Wayne on the song, despite the production sounding like a throwaway from I Am Not A Human Being. This doesn’t mean that all of the collaborations have gone to waste. “Know You Know” ft. 2 Chainz is a high point in the project with the “Rich As F*ck” duo linking back up to deliver another banger. “I Don’t Sleep” simultaneously has Wayne and Takeoff showcasing their chemistry on a song that can easily soundtrack this summer’s next pool party. 

Despite the abundance of guests appearances, Wayne’s still in Wayne’s World — that’s as evident as ever. But it appears that Wayne’s World has finally allowed external influences to seep in. “The new era — they’re the change. They’re the upgrade for me because I have to implicate it now. I gotta implicate to what I’m doin’,” Wayne told Elliot Wilson on the latest episode of Car Test. “Maybe that’s the answer to ‘how do you stay when different eras change.’” Again, Wayne’s still stuck in a world of his own but he isn’t necessarily stuck in his ways. “Since I don’t listen to nothing’ else but my damn self because I was working so damn hard, I believe what does seep into my ear from the new world was worthy. However you got into my ear, it’s working.’”

Maybe that’s why we’re on the third XXXTENTACION and Lil Wayne collaboration that no one asked for. Or why some of his production choices have remnants of the Soundcloud era of rap that he ultimately birthed. Even an artist like Young Thug, whose ear for production is unlike anyone else, has appeared to influence Wayne to a degree. If not a direct influence, at least he inspired Wayne to further push boundaries. But even as Weezy expands into unfamiliar turf, his sheer aptitude for the art of rap still brings it home — sometimes literally. Working with Mannie Fresh is one aspect of his tribute to NOLA but “Clap For Em” has Wayne going back to the regional sounds of New Orleans Bounce. 

There’s a simple beauty behind Funeral. How it served as a reawakening of sorts, a validation of Wayne’s key thesis: rap is his lifeblood and he does it better than most. Consider that he hit a steep decline following his release from prison which lingered throughout the 2010s amid his ongoing legal battle with Cash Money. The man once heralded the “Greatest Rapper Alive” wasn’t living up to that title for a long time. Now, Wayne is rapping with a passion once again, and he’s back to being the free-flowing, idiosyncratic, conversational rapper hitting you with non-sequiturs for punchlines and sometimes more information than one asked. True, as much as Lil Wayne has fathered an entire generation, there are moments where it feels like he’s taken a page or two from some of his offspring. But as the 37-year-old vet in this rap shit, who will always maintain his place as your favorite rapper’s rapper, he reminds us exactly why that is. Give Wayne his flowers while he’s here to smell them.

Lil Wayne's Funeral has arrived, and with it comes an extensive new episode of REVOLT's DRINK CHAMPS. We've already highlighted a few moments for your enjoyment -- including Lil Wayne vowing to decapitate track on tracks till the end of time-- but given the runtime and sheer amount of content packed into the episode, there's still plenty of gems to unpack. 

Around the seventeen minute mark, N.O.R.E pulls out an exclusive quote from Jay-Z, admitting that Wayne's "Show Me What U Got" freestyle left him reevaluating his own position in the game. "When he rapped on 'Show Me What U Got,' I had to take a long walk and look at myself in the mirror, and I said 'are you sure you still got this?'" reads N.O.R.E. Wayne laughs, clearly honored by the praise. "Did he ever tell you this?" asks N.O.R.E. Wayne nods, confirming that Jay did in fact praise the freestyle. "He let me know 'you comin' for me boy!' It's just a privilege, I can't get on that and play with it, man." His giddiness emerges in the following moments. "You don't understand, I'ma about to walk out of here like the Packers won!" he laughs. 

Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

"I've never been paid for none of my mixtapes," confesses Wayne. "I refuse. It's always been an outlet for me to get an outlet for the music I wanted. Being in Hot Boys was perfect, but I looked at it like school. That's a test, I'ma go pass the test when I get to that studio. My verse gon' be the hardest. And with Baby, it was always about who he wanted to go first...That always let us know he liked your verse the most. Now go back and listen to how I start off on all them songs." He laughs, his competitive spirit alive and well. 

He also opens up about working with Eminem, and Nore points out that Weezy is among the few that Em didn't body. "I did a few joints with Em, that's my man," says Wayne. "I can humbly say I expected that. When you get on that joint its like a championship game, and you win it, and they ask you how does it feel. I came in with my game plan and I expected my game plan to work. When you send a song to Em you attack it like that, like naaah you not going to do me like this. Either we gon' be right here with it, and we're going to make a beautiful great song, but you ain't gon' do me that...I just made sure that he didn't body me, cause that boy is a monster." 

Despite having gone through a few rocky moments in recent years, it's clear that Lil Wayne still owes a lot to the teachings of Birdman. After N.O.R.E and EFN praise Weezy's ability to put ego aside and let his Young Money artists thrive, Wayne explains that it wouldn't have been possible without Birdman's influence. "I let them know how much confidence I have in [them]," he says. "You don't none of my credentials, none of my accolades, ya'll just need ya'll. That instills so much confidence in them, and they are where they are today because of it...People I set in the room and said to they face, you a muthafucka and once you come out they gon' understand that you are who you are. You're gone from there and I'll watch you fly."

"I would have to say that I learned a lot of that from Baby," admits Wayne. "We from the streets, and we were looking at the same person with the accolades of his street. We knew who Baby was, and he was a millionaire from the streets. In New Orleans, way before rap, before Cash Money, that name held weight...He would strip himself of all that, and be like you n***as. I believe in ya'll." 

Check out the full episode of Drink Champs  TIDAL, with the full YouTube release hitting shortly.

While funerals are undesirable as a general rule, the gathering hits different when Lil Wayne is handling the eulogy. With his upcoming Funeral album set to drop tonight, many have their sights set on the generational talent. For some, there’s a matter of resetting the course where Carter V slightly veered. For others, it’s Lil Wayne and that’s all that matters. For those seized by rapturous Weezy fever, keep an eye out for Wayne’s first appearance on REVOLT’s Drink Champs, an anticipated episode NORE has already started teasing. 

Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images

“Even though Drake is your artist, he sends you a record, you still taking his head off?” asks Nore. Completely stonefaced, Wayne nods. “Yeah.” This of course spawns guffaws from the Drink Champs host, while Wayne doesn’t so much as smirk. “All day,” continues Weezy. “I’m letting him know when he send it like, make sure your mom and them don’t be listening to this.” Sadly, the preview ends there — leaving us speculating on whether Drake will indeed be appearing on Funeral tonight. Or more importantly, whether he’ll be leaving with his head intact. 

Sometimes, it be your own labelmates. When Tunechi and Drizzy link up, who gets the last laugh by your estimation? In our own poll, fans named Weezy the winner in seven out of eleven tracks, with one being an exact tie. Stay tuned for both Funeral and Wayne’s full Drink Champs episode arriving tonight. Safe to say this will be one to remember. 

Dating back to his tenure as a “Hot Boy,” Dwayne Carter went from Cash Money’s resident prodigy in 1996 to claiming to be the “Best Rapper Alive” within a dizzying ten-year period. From there, he resuscitated the genre at a time where many believed it to be DOA and even dramatized those life-preserving maneuvers on “Dr. Carter.” Undeterred, even as his own label seemed hellbent on derailing him. Closing in on his 25th year in the game, Tunechi aims to deliver a new project album Funeral this February. And if a September 2019 interview with Vibe is to be believed, he’s approaching the art form he’s long since perfected with a renewed zeal.

“It’s different now,” he explained. “I can’t wait to get in the studio now every night, just to see what I can come up with. [Before] it was just me going to the studio and saying, let me kill ten more songs and then I’m going to go home or do whatever I was doing. Now, it’s let me see what I come up with. Self-discovery, rebirth – call it whatever you want to call it but it feels awesome, I swear to God.” Creating with a clear-cut sense of purpose, Weezy F’s unwavering focus adds fuel to speculation over whether or not this album could serve as the perfect opportunity for the NOLA veteran’s fond farewell.

It wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume that Funeral has a symbolic meaning based on the title alone. But when you take both the stop-start nature of his past five years and the contradictory reports of impending retirement, it becomes not only a plausible but a potentially wise course of action. For Weezy, retirement is a subject on which he’s voiced some strong, albeit oxymoronic, feelings. Beginning a decade deep into his career, Wayne attempted to reconcile with the concept of eventually riding off into the sunset during a skit on 2006’s Dedication 2. In that era, he believed little would be gained from quitting when he’s always going to need a vehicle to express himself. “You retire out when you die out straight up, cause you never retire out what you do,” he explained. “Meaning, if you put so much into– if what you do is your life, like mine. You know what I mean like, my career is my life.”

Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images

Incapable of fathoming a world without hip-hop, this stands at odds with a 2011 interview with GQ in which he formally flipped the hourglass towards his 35th year.“I have been doing this for eighteen years,” he reflects. “That’s reason number one. I have accomplished all that I have set out to accomplish and more. Also, I have a label, and I’ve only put out two artists [Drake and Nicki Minaj]. I have a lot more work to do, and it’d be selfish to not focus on being the boss and focus on their projects.” Supplemented by wishing to spend more time with his kids, Weezy would double down on these sweeping claims during an appearance on Katie Couric’s talk show, claiming that “I know I’ll be ready to retire at thirty-five because I am so ready to retire now!”

As the prospect of The Carter V began to circulate in 2014, Wayne believed that the album, in its original incarnation, would represent his last standalone project (though he’d still pitch in when required by his labelmates). Pledging to “leave gracefully” on Twitter in 2016  amid the ensuing war with Cash Money, the constraints he was under made it possible that would Wayne end his career on an embittered note. Actively attacking his label, the eventual release of C5 was cathartic for both artist and his loyal fans. As such, the elation that he felt might have contributed to Weezy rescinding those previous remarks to Billboard in 2018, as he claimed, “I do think about retirement. I think about how I don’t think I ever will.”

Granted a new wave of enthusiasm at 37, it raises the question of whether his thoughts of bowing out were a by-product of the internal friction with Birdman. Now, he’s back to the heady days of “mixtape Wayne” where metaphors and exquisite wordplay rolled off the tongue at high volume. But no matter who you are, the law of diminishing returns is important to be mindful of. Among the elite-level wordsmiths that operate without pen or pad since he purged everything he’d written on “10,000 Bars”, Weezy’s skills have remained indisputable. Dropping 77 songs and two projects in 2018 alone, Wayne has always kept his nose to the grindstone and how this sets him apart is something he’s been cognizant of since The Carter 3. “I used to tell Cortez [Bryant, manager], ‘my work ethic is going to sell me,'” he told Rolling Stone in 2009. “Nobody ain’t doing what I’ve done. People will have to recognize that.”

Christopher Polk/Getty Images

This has remained true to this day. Compounded by years of anticipation, The Carter V skyrocketed to the top of the charts upon arrival, racking up first-week sales of 480,000. Yet artistically, the record wasn’t without its sticking points. Which, aside from its oppressive length, centralized around the feeling that both he and audience had been there and done that. Save for a few moments of self-reflection on “Famous” or “Let It All Work Out” and the plaintive narration from his mother Jacinda, C5 is overrun with punchlines or puerile bars that fall on the wrong side of familiarity. Trapped between a rock and a hard place, it seems that the forthcoming Funeral will be a fork in the road for Wayne’s career. Either he sticks to his guns and potentially teeters towards stagnancy, or he overhauls his style and potentially faces the wrath of critics and fans. 

Infamously slaughtered for his attempt at reinvention on the rock-indebted Rebirth, any fretfulness he’d feel about switching up would be understandable. But that doesn’t make it any less of a necessity. As he’s proved at irregular intervals of his career, Weezy heading into a more demure, less youthfully brazen direction a la latter-day Jay-Z, could yield greatness. Case in point, his verse on Solange’s “Mad” from 2016’s A Seat At The Table. Not only rappelling him into the view of snobbier audiences that had likely expelled him from consideration years earlier, but the introspective look at his previous attempt at suicide also demonstrated an aptitude for soul-baring lyricism:

“Are you mad ’cause the judge ain’t give me more time?
And when I attempted suicide, I didn’t die
I remember how mad I was on that day
Man, you gotta let it go before it get up in the way”

Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

Similar to the Hurricane Katrina-inspired “Tie My Hands,” his feature on Nas & Damien Marley’s “My Generation Will Make The Change” or the touching ode to his father that is “Everything” from 2000’s Lights Out, Wayne has always been capable of appealing to the heart. Yet beyond emulating the change in tact that his own GOAT pick pulled off on 4:44, Weezy should perhaps consider a line uttered during Hov’s own retirement phase: “they say they never really miss you till you’re dead or you gone, so on that note I’m leaving after this song.”

These lines from The Black Album’s “December 4th” allude to something that’s been inapplicable to Weezy’s career. Between mixtapes, EPs, compilation projects, a collaborative album, his own solo studio album discography and his time with The Hot Boys, Dwayne Carter has released a grand total of 41 bodies of work. As a result, Wayne has been an omnipresence and aside from 1998 and 2001, has released something every single year that he’s been an artist. Therefore, there’s every chance that these prolific levels of productivity haven’t given us a chance to properly digest the scope of his influence.

Alongside 2 Chainz’ remarks that he wouldn’t be here “if it wasn’t for Wayne,” 2013 saw ASAP Rocky rally against what he saw as a culture of negligence towards Tunechi’s contributions. “Are we forgetting that Wayne made everybody switch their flow up and start using the E’s and R’s, and “I’m ir-regul-ar, seg-ular”? he told Complex. “Are we forgetting that Wayne changed hip-hop, too? Are we forgetting that he made all these motherfuckers want to have tattoos? Are we forgetting that? It wasn’t Wiz, it was Wayne… This is a guy who went from being the youngest underdog in his crew to saving his company, and saving his “Daddy.” I’m not a fucking Lil Wayne dickrider, I’m just speaking facts.”

Noam Galai/Getty Images

Although Wayne has retained this status as a top-tier MC, there is something to Rocky’s suggestion that his tangible impact on the game has been overlooked on account of his continued presence. Consequently, this state of affairs takes us all the way back to his comments on Dedication 2. Ever the deep thinker, Wayne unknowingly foretold his own future on the skit and made the case as to why Funeral could be an appropriate time for him to call it a career: “Y’all gonna remember that that was a rapper. But hopefully, I’ll go down known for something different. Not different, but known for something else also, you know what I mean.”

Both gifted and afflicted with one of hip-hop’s greatest drives, Wayne’s influence— whether that be style or the careers of Young Money artists—often falls to the wayside as the hip-hop consumer focuses on what’s coming down the pipeline from “The Martian” himself. And by the looks of things, this can’t be righted while he’s still an active participant. With the world’s collective attention still in the palm of his hand, there’s a lot to be said for Funeral acting as Wayne’s offramp to the same high road that The Game and Fat Joe have recently claimed to be travelling on. Having given us more music than many record labels have ever produced, Lil Wayne deciding to draw a line under his career while at the top may be bittersweet, but no one would feel short-changed.

When he was putting together his Young Money roster years ago, Lil Wayne seriously didn't pull any punches. Keeping himself at the forefront of his "big three," Weezy F Baby recruited Nicki Minaj and Drake to fill out his superstar team of talent. At their height, Young Money Entertainment was a serious force to be reckoned with. The versatility that Drake presented mixed with the raw bars that Nicki and Weezy could spit earned them a bunch of hit records, shooting both Minaj and Drizzy to superstar levels of fame. The two have enjoyed sustained careers and, although Minaj is no longer releasing much new music, she remains one of the biggest musicians in the entire world. According to Spotify, she currently occupies the eighteenth spot on a list of their most-streamed artists, clocking in 43 million listeners on a monthly basis. Drake is only ahead of her by a mere million listeners and, at the rate Minaj's fanbase continues to grow on the platform, people believe she's about to surpass him. With both of them striving at this stage of their careers, Drake decided to bounce back to the glory days of Young Money, showing off a photo of them from years ago.