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Between 2006 and 2008, there was no MC hotter than Lil Wayne.
After being written off as little more than a footnote to the late-’90s Southern rap scene, Dwayne “Lil
Wayne” Michael Carter, Jr., had emerged from the smoldering ruins of
Cash Money Records and its once-explosive Hot Boys crew as not just a
resurgent bright spot, but as a straight flamethrower. And for that
two-to-three-year stretch, he burned brighter by the day.
The streets were on fire, riding the white-hot waves of his relentless flood of
mixtapes, while radio and retail crackled with the fury of his guest
verses. By 2007, Lil Wayne had seized control of the South and, in his
“best rapper alive, since the best rapper retired” claims, he was making
a legitimate push for control of the whole game.But despite the unprecedented productivity and with demand at an all time high, his highly anticipated solo album, Tha Carter III,
failed to materialize.
Projected release dates came and went even as
more and more songs hit the streets. Speculation around the project ran
rampant: Wayne couldn’t make a radio hit to match his mixtape burn; Cash
Money couldn’t keep the records they wanted for the album out of
bootleggers’ hands; Wayne, who had made his heavy drug use well-known
both in songs and otherwise, was too high and too unstable to deliver
the project.
By the time early 2008 rolled around, there was a general sense that the album may never come
out and that Wayne was burning so bright, and using so heavily, that he
might flame out in spectacular fashion before he could cement his legacy
with a classic retail release.
I was working at VIBE at the
time and we were once again facing a dilemma: Wayne was the hottest MC
on the planet and it was in our interest, and our readers’, that we
cover him, but without a solid release date on the schedule, how should
we plan our coverage? Then, the unbelievable happened. Word started
coming out of the Universal building that the release of the Tha Carter III was imminent. There was music to hear. There was an interview to be done.
There was a cover story to produce.And
so it was that in mid-February 2008, I headed to New Orleans to catch
up with Lil Wayne while he was in his hometown for NBA All-Star Weekend.
He had one or two media appearances to make—one was at an Adidas pop-up
shop—and a couple of paid appearances and parties on deck, including a
Myspace Secret Show, a short set at a party being thrown by Shaquille
O’Neal and a party on a boat where he kicked it with Juelz Santana.
I spent most of the weekend standing around outside, smoking cigarettes
and waiting for details on the events. I ran into Bun B outside of the
Secret Show, watched Bill Walton jump off a parade float to order a beer
in the French Quarter, met Wayne’s childhood
friend-turned-DJ-turned-manager Cortez Bryant for the first time in a
massive parking lot behind the convention center, smoked about a pack
and a half of Camels while waiting to be invited onto one of the three
tour buses the crew was using to slice through the narrow streets of
downtown N.O. (one for Wayne and one each for Cash Money Records
co-CEOs, brothers Bryan “Birdman” and Ronald “Slim” Williams).
I got to know his security guard, Big John, who makes a cameo shadowing Wayne in
the “A Milli” video. At one event, we squeezed into a club thanks to
some strategically parked cars that provided a barrier of glass and
steel between us and a rabid crowd of some hundreds if not a thousand
fans. Upstairs, I watched Wayne smoke blunt after blunt as a string of
artists—including Juelz and Rick Ross—stopped by to kick it. Through it
all, Wayne always kept a Styrofoam double cup well within reach.
I talked to Birdman on his bus one afternoon in the parking lot of a
motel in the outskirts of New Orleans. And as the weekend wound to a
close, I finally got on Wayne’s bus to talk to him a bit about
everything going on in his world. The interview that night was brief,
cut short by a question about his childhood that set him off and
immediately killed the conversation’s vibe. Less than a week later,
though, I caught up with him in New Jersey, the day after a show in
Newark. Once again, we were on his bus, parked in an empty lot at the
Meadowlands. Despite the tension that had arisen between us in New
Orleans, the conversation that day flowed fluidly and covered a range of
topics. He was in good spirits, and he played some new music, including
“A Milli,” which blew me away. He talked about having a photo of him as
a child on the album cover. I left that second interview confident that
Tha Carter III was coming and that he had heat.
While I was working on the story, “Lollipop” arrived and started what almost
immediately felt like its inevitable march to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot
100. On June 10, 2008, Tha Carter III (Young Money/Cash
Money/Universal) finally arrived. With a hit single dominating the
airwaves and a pent up demand in the streets, the album jumped off the
shelves. A week later, Tha Carter III was No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with one million copies sold, becoming the first album since 50 Cent’s The Massacre
(Shady/Aftermath/Interscope) in 2005. Lil Wayne was no longer a rap
star, he was a pop star. And, despite a few health scares and a one-year
jail stint, he still is today.
INTERVIEW I
(February 18, 2008; New Orleans)How was All-Star Weekend?
I
ain’t really do too much. I’ve had better All-Star weekends. It was at
home for me, so you kinda don’t wanna go out too much. Feel like you
know everyone, no one new.
I was surprised you didn’t make it more of the actual NBA events.
I wasn’t invited. I mean, I ain’t gonna buy no tickets or shit like that. So I stayed my ass home.
At the Myspace show, you asked people if they’ve ever been in love. Was that showmanship?
I do it every show. In my life man, I’m always in love dude. Always.
Seems like it.
[laughs] Fortunately, yeah.
You enjoy it?
I mean, that lets me know that I have a heart. A lot of people don’t have
a heart like that. It takes a lot for a person to fall in love. I’m
glad to know that it really don’t take that much for me ’cause love is a
beautiful place to be, to know that I don’t need all those first-class
tickets to get there.
You seem generally happy and surprised that it happened. You mentioned that you had pushed her away.
Happy and surprised, yeah. It’s been a minute man. It’s been a long time.
Love is wonderful, man. My heart big as fuck. I’m like a leaf, I feel
everything.
You’ve been in a lot of high-profile relationships over the last few years. Do you see something sticking?
I’m stuck. You ain’t gotta worry bout nothing. I’m through. Throw in the towel, it’s over.
Can you tell me who she is?
Nah,
nah. I ain’t allowed to do all that. She just a friend. I’m just glad I
got to talk to her again, I haven’t seen her or I ain’t talked to her
in so long. You ever ain’t talk to somebody in so fucking long? It
started to be so long that I was like, if I could just talk to her again
it would be beautiful. And I did. And it was fireworks, man.
Do you think you push people away?
Sometimes,
when I want to. You know, my lifestyle, my job. Well, about my life
being my job, that comes into play a lot of times. That kinda pushes
people away because they start to see that this nigga’s mega-focused on
what I’m doing. But you know, it takes a strong-minded ass willed woman
to overcome all of that.
How do you feel about commitment?
I love commitment. Anybody will tell you that. I like to test myself with that type of shit, all day.It’s my way of life.
So once someone is in with you, you’re pretty much down to roll?
Yeah, see I ain’t that easy, but yeah. Once I’m with her, I’m with her.
And that goes across the board with friends?
Exactamundo.
What kind of feeling do you get as you perform or as you record?
I
don’t know. There is no feeling. I just do me. In the booth it’s just,
“Here we go again.” Onstage it’s, “Here we go again.” You gotta keep
going, repetition is the ‘cause of enlightenment. You keep doing
anything you gon’ be good at it. If you keep doing it you gonna get
great at it.
Are you sick of interviews?
Yeah, I ain’t a people person. I was an only child a lot of my life. I was in
my own room by my fucking self, chillin’. So yeah, I ain’t too fond of
the interviews and all that type of stuff, but it ain’t bother me or
nothin’ like that. It ain’t no pet peeve, but if I had a choice or an
option I’d probably choose no. But it ain’t no problem, I do them all. I
make sure I’m chillin’. Like right now, you ain’t doing me no harm. I’d
be a lazy motherfucker not to.
Do you ever wake up one day and want do some other shit? Like, climb a mountain or something?
Uh-uh. Gangsters stick to the script.
Yet it seems like you’re rewriting it everyday.
Yeah. Up in here is totally different from here.
What does that mean?
My mind thinks of a trillion things at once, Me, I ain’t no spontaneous
nigga. But my mind, he is not who you talking to. That’s why when the
music starts and I get on those beats and I’m on the stage, some nigga
come out that I don’t even know. He’s crazy. I mean listen to the songs.
[laughs] This nigga crazy. I just be chillin’ and like, “What the fuck is wrong with this nigga?”
Do you regret not being able to spend more time with your daughter?
Uh-uh.
I’m one of those people who’s optimistic, that believes everything
happens for a reason. So, I believe it’s supposed to be how it’s
supposed to be.
Do you have any regrets?
Yeah, I wouldn’t be human if I didn’t.
What would you say some of your biggest are?
That’s the thing about regrets, you regret it and that’s that. You don’t keep bringing them up.
Do you feel like you deserve this?
If
I didn’t I wouldn’t have it. ’Cause I only got what I deserve. I don’t
take nothing. It ain’t about if I feel like I deserve it, I know I
deserve it.
Are you scared of death?
Fuck
no. Not coming from this motherfucker. And plus I’ve come so close, how
could I be scared? Never been scared ever. You can’t be scared. Shit,
I’m more afraid of life than death. ’Cause life, I already know what’s
poppin round here. It’s scary out here.
There’s a lot of people who are concerned about you in terms of your health. Are you?
No.
’Cause you can’t help it. You gon’ do what you do regardless. People
step out their house and can get hit by a fucking bus. I ain’t worried
about that. I ain’t trying to kill myself of course. Nigga aight. I eat,
sleep and shit like everyone else man. Blood the same color.
With the syrup and everything… Does that concern you?
No. Because, you go when you’re supposed to go. Ain’t no such thing as before your time. What is your time? [laughs]
Who the fuck told you had a time? Ain’t no such thing. You go when you
go. I never let that affect me. If that was the case, motherfuckers
would be dying on buses, eating poison food from restaurants. If that
was the case we would be scared to do any damn thing. Anything that has
happened has happened. I ain’t on that. I’ma drink my shit.
Have
you ever had a moment where you took a look at yourself and your
lifestyle and said, “Man I have to chill the fuck out a little bit and
take it easy?”
Uh-uh. ‘Cause I don’t go that hard to have to
say I need to chill the fuck out and take it easy. That’s what I have
to tell the people that be worrying about my health and that’s the
biggest argument I have with them. You could never be a Lil Wayne and
nobody else gon’ ever be a Lil Wayne, no matter what Lil Wayne drinks,
smokes, whatever I do, you could never be me. And I’ll continue to do
it. My ethic is stupid. I’m in my city for All-Star Weekend and I’m
trying to find a studio and that’s why as soon as you cut this
motherfucker off, this bus is leaving me at the studio. And this is what
I do. I go from the stage to the studio and to the club and I’m only
going to the club if you paying me to come. I smoke, drink, and fuck and
do what, who, and how and I’ma keep doing and I’m die the way I want.
And that’s that.Because that’s me.
That’s all I know. You know people are put here for a reason, that’s why
I’m here. Until you show me something else, this is why I’m here. I
love it, I have a passion for it. I’m me, I can do whatever. I can call
any bitch and tell her to do anything. I call that nigga and tell him to
do anything. I can do anything. This is what I choose to do.
How does that power make you feel?
I love power.
I mean, I can’t do that.
Yes,
you could. It’s all about knowing how to do it. That’s why they made
the word “how.” You just gotta know how to do it. I had to be me to do
it. I ain’t saying nobody else can do that. No, you can do it too, but
it may be harder, it’s gonna be harder, but for me, it’s that easy. This
is what I choose to do. I have no power.
There’s a music industry legend that when people burn as bright as you’re burning right now, they burn out quick.
Yeah, I know. I think about that and then I light another smoke and laugh [laughs]. Then forget what I thought about. But, yeah I know.
You try not to think about it?
I
don’t try not to ‘cause you can’t try not to think about something
that’s not impossible. But that has a lot to do with why I work so hard.
I’m not at that point yet, but wherever I’m at, I know that when you
get there you’re totally different from everybody, every human. You find
that you are one at the top, like Biggie and Pac was. You one now, you
not human, niggas don’t even believe you shit the same. And when you
that one you got a lot of people with you and a whole lot of people
against you. ‘Cause you just one now, it’s just you and everybody. Shit
crazy.
Do you feel like you’re pushing towards that point?
Oh
yeah, that’s what I wanna be. I’m tryna be that one. Fuck it. One
fucking life. That’s how you do it. If you don’t do it to be number one,
nigga get the fuck out the game.
Do you think about a time when you won’t have to go this hard or when you won’t be interested in going this hard?
That
time will come. I know it sounds corny but that’s why I do it—so I
won’t have to. That’s why a nigga work so hard. I got shit for years,
I’m good. And I don’t wanna be in my daughter’s way, nah mean, when it’s
her turn. I want it to be about her.
So you want her to record?
I
dunno if she tryna be in it. She ain’t looking for no nine-to-five. She
wanna be in entertainment so whatever she tryna do, I know it’s gonna
be somewhere involved in this. If I’m still getting DUI’s and all that
type shit, that shit gonna affect what she do.
I’m not sure if I would encourage my kid to be a star.
I
encourage my kid to be what she wanna be. If she wanna be a star, I’m
gonna encourage her to be a star. If she call me tomorrow and say she
wanna be a librarian I’ma make sure she the best fucking librarian, nah
mean, so that’s mine and I’ma let her control that destiny like my mom
did me. ’Cause if not you a deadbeat motherfucking parent… I don’t hide
the world from her. She know when Pimp C died and all that, ‘cause the
world ain’t gonna hide itself. I don’t want her to come to a fork in the
road and not know which way to go, nah mean?
Sure. Do you ever think about or feel grateful for what would be considered a risk that your mother took with you?
I’m
grateful for everything and it wasn’t a risk, ‘cause if it was a risk
then… ’cause it’s not a risk. I don’t get what you’re saying? I’m a
human, I was born, I was in her stomach nine months just like you was in
ya mom, I deserve a chance, a shot at life and I deserve the
opportunity to do what the fuck I want ‘cause my fucking ancestors died
for that, nah mean, and my great God son did the same too, died for me
to do these things. And my momma smart. She ain’t risking, nigga, what
the fuck wrong with you? That wasn’t no risk, bitch, that’s just
intelligence. She’s a millionaire now. Great fucking risk, you stupid.
I wasn’t tryna…
I
was telling you you stupid, next question. That ain’t no risk nigga,
that’s a smart fucking mother, “Do what the fuck you want nigga and I’m
with you.” If you got a child, I’m sorry for your fucking child, ‘member
like ol’ boy used to sing about it, ‘I feel sorry for your momma’ [singing], I feel sorry for ya child. He want five lives [laughs].
I apologize.
She
smart, nigga, she saw her son being passionate and had talent and she
let him chase it. She smarter than a lot of motherfuckers. She let me
chase it at a young age, I ain’t gonna wait. Go get it! That’s the way I
look at it. Niggas smoking cigarettes when I smoke the best weed. She
do, too. Put that in there [laughs]. Next question, fool.
When you think about 10 years from now, what do you think about doing?
I live for the moment, never the future. I can’t think that far, I get too high to even see 10 years from now.
After being written off as little more than a footnote to the late-’90s Southern rap scene, Dwayne “Lil
Wayne” Michael Carter, Jr., had emerged from the smoldering ruins of
Cash Money Records and its once-explosive Hot Boys crew as not just a
resurgent bright spot, but as a straight flamethrower. And for that
two-to-three-year stretch, he burned brighter by the day.
The streets were on fire, riding the white-hot waves of his relentless flood of
mixtapes, while radio and retail crackled with the fury of his guest
verses. By 2007, Lil Wayne had seized control of the South and, in his
“best rapper alive, since the best rapper retired” claims, he was making
a legitimate push for control of the whole game.But despite the unprecedented productivity and with demand at an all time high, his highly anticipated solo album, Tha Carter III,
failed to materialize.
Projected release dates came and went even as
more and more songs hit the streets. Speculation around the project ran
rampant: Wayne couldn’t make a radio hit to match his mixtape burn; Cash
Money couldn’t keep the records they wanted for the album out of
bootleggers’ hands; Wayne, who had made his heavy drug use well-known
both in songs and otherwise, was too high and too unstable to deliver
the project.
By the time early 2008 rolled around, there was a general sense that the album may never come
out and that Wayne was burning so bright, and using so heavily, that he
might flame out in spectacular fashion before he could cement his legacy
with a classic retail release.
I was working at VIBE at the
time and we were once again facing a dilemma: Wayne was the hottest MC
on the planet and it was in our interest, and our readers’, that we
cover him, but without a solid release date on the schedule, how should
we plan our coverage? Then, the unbelievable happened. Word started
coming out of the Universal building that the release of the Tha Carter III was imminent. There was music to hear. There was an interview to be done.
There was a cover story to produce.And
so it was that in mid-February 2008, I headed to New Orleans to catch
up with Lil Wayne while he was in his hometown for NBA All-Star Weekend.
He had one or two media appearances to make—one was at an Adidas pop-up
shop—and a couple of paid appearances and parties on deck, including a
Myspace Secret Show, a short set at a party being thrown by Shaquille
O’Neal and a party on a boat where he kicked it with Juelz Santana.
I spent most of the weekend standing around outside, smoking cigarettes
and waiting for details on the events. I ran into Bun B outside of the
Secret Show, watched Bill Walton jump off a parade float to order a beer
in the French Quarter, met Wayne’s childhood
friend-turned-DJ-turned-manager Cortez Bryant for the first time in a
massive parking lot behind the convention center, smoked about a pack
and a half of Camels while waiting to be invited onto one of the three
tour buses the crew was using to slice through the narrow streets of
downtown N.O. (one for Wayne and one each for Cash Money Records
co-CEOs, brothers Bryan “Birdman” and Ronald “Slim” Williams).
I got to know his security guard, Big John, who makes a cameo shadowing Wayne in
the “A Milli” video. At one event, we squeezed into a club thanks to
some strategically parked cars that provided a barrier of glass and
steel between us and a rabid crowd of some hundreds if not a thousand
fans. Upstairs, I watched Wayne smoke blunt after blunt as a string of
artists—including Juelz and Rick Ross—stopped by to kick it. Through it
all, Wayne always kept a Styrofoam double cup well within reach.
I talked to Birdman on his bus one afternoon in the parking lot of a
motel in the outskirts of New Orleans. And as the weekend wound to a
close, I finally got on Wayne’s bus to talk to him a bit about
everything going on in his world. The interview that night was brief,
cut short by a question about his childhood that set him off and
immediately killed the conversation’s vibe. Less than a week later,
though, I caught up with him in New Jersey, the day after a show in
Newark. Once again, we were on his bus, parked in an empty lot at the
Meadowlands. Despite the tension that had arisen between us in New
Orleans, the conversation that day flowed fluidly and covered a range of
topics. He was in good spirits, and he played some new music, including
“A Milli,” which blew me away. He talked about having a photo of him as
a child on the album cover. I left that second interview confident that
Tha Carter III was coming and that he had heat.
While I was working on the story, “Lollipop” arrived and started what almost
immediately felt like its inevitable march to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot
100. On June 10, 2008, Tha Carter III (Young Money/Cash
Money/Universal) finally arrived. With a hit single dominating the
airwaves and a pent up demand in the streets, the album jumped off the
shelves. A week later, Tha Carter III was No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with one million copies sold, becoming the first album since 50 Cent’s The Massacre
(Shady/Aftermath/Interscope) in 2005. Lil Wayne was no longer a rap
star, he was a pop star. And, despite a few health scares and a one-year
jail stint, he still is today.
INTERVIEW I
(February 18, 2008; New Orleans)How was All-Star Weekend?
I
ain’t really do too much. I’ve had better All-Star weekends. It was at
home for me, so you kinda don’t wanna go out too much. Feel like you
know everyone, no one new.
I was surprised you didn’t make it more of the actual NBA events.
I wasn’t invited. I mean, I ain’t gonna buy no tickets or shit like that. So I stayed my ass home.
At the Myspace show, you asked people if they’ve ever been in love. Was that showmanship?
I do it every show. In my life man, I’m always in love dude. Always.
Seems like it.
[laughs] Fortunately, yeah.
You enjoy it?
I mean, that lets me know that I have a heart. A lot of people don’t have
a heart like that. It takes a lot for a person to fall in love. I’m
glad to know that it really don’t take that much for me ’cause love is a
beautiful place to be, to know that I don’t need all those first-class
tickets to get there.
You seem generally happy and surprised that it happened. You mentioned that you had pushed her away.
Happy and surprised, yeah. It’s been a minute man. It’s been a long time.
Love is wonderful, man. My heart big as fuck. I’m like a leaf, I feel
everything.
You’ve been in a lot of high-profile relationships over the last few years. Do you see something sticking?
I’m stuck. You ain’t gotta worry bout nothing. I’m through. Throw in the towel, it’s over.
Can you tell me who she is?
Nah,
nah. I ain’t allowed to do all that. She just a friend. I’m just glad I
got to talk to her again, I haven’t seen her or I ain’t talked to her
in so long. You ever ain’t talk to somebody in so fucking long? It
started to be so long that I was like, if I could just talk to her again
it would be beautiful. And I did. And it was fireworks, man.
Do you think you push people away?
Sometimes,
when I want to. You know, my lifestyle, my job. Well, about my life
being my job, that comes into play a lot of times. That kinda pushes
people away because they start to see that this nigga’s mega-focused on
what I’m doing. But you know, it takes a strong-minded ass willed woman
to overcome all of that.
How do you feel about commitment?
I love commitment. Anybody will tell you that. I like to test myself with that type of shit, all day.It’s my way of life.
So once someone is in with you, you’re pretty much down to roll?
Yeah, see I ain’t that easy, but yeah. Once I’m with her, I’m with her.
And that goes across the board with friends?
Exactamundo.
What kind of feeling do you get as you perform or as you record?
I
don’t know. There is no feeling. I just do me. In the booth it’s just,
“Here we go again.” Onstage it’s, “Here we go again.” You gotta keep
going, repetition is the ‘cause of enlightenment. You keep doing
anything you gon’ be good at it. If you keep doing it you gonna get
great at it.
Are you sick of interviews?
Yeah, I ain’t a people person. I was an only child a lot of my life. I was in
my own room by my fucking self, chillin’. So yeah, I ain’t too fond of
the interviews and all that type of stuff, but it ain’t bother me or
nothin’ like that. It ain’t no pet peeve, but if I had a choice or an
option I’d probably choose no. But it ain’t no problem, I do them all. I
make sure I’m chillin’. Like right now, you ain’t doing me no harm. I’d
be a lazy motherfucker not to.
Do you ever wake up one day and want do some other shit? Like, climb a mountain or something?
Uh-uh. Gangsters stick to the script.
Yet it seems like you’re rewriting it everyday.
Yeah. Up in here is totally different from here.
What does that mean?
My mind thinks of a trillion things at once, Me, I ain’t no spontaneous
nigga. But my mind, he is not who you talking to. That’s why when the
music starts and I get on those beats and I’m on the stage, some nigga
come out that I don’t even know. He’s crazy. I mean listen to the songs.
[laughs] This nigga crazy. I just be chillin’ and like, “What the fuck is wrong with this nigga?”
Do you regret not being able to spend more time with your daughter?
Uh-uh.
I’m one of those people who’s optimistic, that believes everything
happens for a reason. So, I believe it’s supposed to be how it’s
supposed to be.
Do you have any regrets?
Yeah, I wouldn’t be human if I didn’t.
What would you say some of your biggest are?
That’s the thing about regrets, you regret it and that’s that. You don’t keep bringing them up.
Do you feel like you deserve this?
If
I didn’t I wouldn’t have it. ’Cause I only got what I deserve. I don’t
take nothing. It ain’t about if I feel like I deserve it, I know I
deserve it.
Are you scared of death?
Fuck
no. Not coming from this motherfucker. And plus I’ve come so close, how
could I be scared? Never been scared ever. You can’t be scared. Shit,
I’m more afraid of life than death. ’Cause life, I already know what’s
poppin round here. It’s scary out here.
There’s a lot of people who are concerned about you in terms of your health. Are you?
No.
’Cause you can’t help it. You gon’ do what you do regardless. People
step out their house and can get hit by a fucking bus. I ain’t worried
about that. I ain’t trying to kill myself of course. Nigga aight. I eat,
sleep and shit like everyone else man. Blood the same color.
With the syrup and everything… Does that concern you?
No. Because, you go when you’re supposed to go. Ain’t no such thing as before your time. What is your time? [laughs]
Who the fuck told you had a time? Ain’t no such thing. You go when you
go. I never let that affect me. If that was the case, motherfuckers
would be dying on buses, eating poison food from restaurants. If that
was the case we would be scared to do any damn thing. Anything that has
happened has happened. I ain’t on that. I’ma drink my shit.
Have
you ever had a moment where you took a look at yourself and your
lifestyle and said, “Man I have to chill the fuck out a little bit and
take it easy?”
Uh-uh. ‘Cause I don’t go that hard to have to
say I need to chill the fuck out and take it easy. That’s what I have
to tell the people that be worrying about my health and that’s the
biggest argument I have with them. You could never be a Lil Wayne and
nobody else gon’ ever be a Lil Wayne, no matter what Lil Wayne drinks,
smokes, whatever I do, you could never be me. And I’ll continue to do
it. My ethic is stupid. I’m in my city for All-Star Weekend and I’m
trying to find a studio and that’s why as soon as you cut this
motherfucker off, this bus is leaving me at the studio. And this is what
I do. I go from the stage to the studio and to the club and I’m only
going to the club if you paying me to come. I smoke, drink, and fuck and
do what, who, and how and I’ma keep doing and I’m die the way I want.
And that’s that.Because that’s me.
That’s all I know. You know people are put here for a reason, that’s why
I’m here. Until you show me something else, this is why I’m here. I
love it, I have a passion for it. I’m me, I can do whatever. I can call
any bitch and tell her to do anything. I call that nigga and tell him to
do anything. I can do anything. This is what I choose to do.
How does that power make you feel?
I love power.
I mean, I can’t do that.
Yes,
you could. It’s all about knowing how to do it. That’s why they made
the word “how.” You just gotta know how to do it. I had to be me to do
it. I ain’t saying nobody else can do that. No, you can do it too, but
it may be harder, it’s gonna be harder, but for me, it’s that easy. This
is what I choose to do. I have no power.
There’s a music industry legend that when people burn as bright as you’re burning right now, they burn out quick.
Yeah, I know. I think about that and then I light another smoke and laugh [laughs]. Then forget what I thought about. But, yeah I know.
You try not to think about it?
I
don’t try not to ‘cause you can’t try not to think about something
that’s not impossible. But that has a lot to do with why I work so hard.
I’m not at that point yet, but wherever I’m at, I know that when you
get there you’re totally different from everybody, every human. You find
that you are one at the top, like Biggie and Pac was. You one now, you
not human, niggas don’t even believe you shit the same. And when you
that one you got a lot of people with you and a whole lot of people
against you. ‘Cause you just one now, it’s just you and everybody. Shit
crazy.
Do you feel like you’re pushing towards that point?
Oh
yeah, that’s what I wanna be. I’m tryna be that one. Fuck it. One
fucking life. That’s how you do it. If you don’t do it to be number one,
nigga get the fuck out the game.
Do you think about a time when you won’t have to go this hard or when you won’t be interested in going this hard?
That
time will come. I know it sounds corny but that’s why I do it—so I
won’t have to. That’s why a nigga work so hard. I got shit for years,
I’m good. And I don’t wanna be in my daughter’s way, nah mean, when it’s
her turn. I want it to be about her.
So you want her to record?
I
dunno if she tryna be in it. She ain’t looking for no nine-to-five. She
wanna be in entertainment so whatever she tryna do, I know it’s gonna
be somewhere involved in this. If I’m still getting DUI’s and all that
type shit, that shit gonna affect what she do.
I’m not sure if I would encourage my kid to be a star.
I
encourage my kid to be what she wanna be. If she wanna be a star, I’m
gonna encourage her to be a star. If she call me tomorrow and say she
wanna be a librarian I’ma make sure she the best fucking librarian, nah
mean, so that’s mine and I’ma let her control that destiny like my mom
did me. ’Cause if not you a deadbeat motherfucking parent… I don’t hide
the world from her. She know when Pimp C died and all that, ‘cause the
world ain’t gonna hide itself. I don’t want her to come to a fork in the
road and not know which way to go, nah mean?
Sure. Do you ever think about or feel grateful for what would be considered a risk that your mother took with you?
I’m
grateful for everything and it wasn’t a risk, ‘cause if it was a risk
then… ’cause it’s not a risk. I don’t get what you’re saying? I’m a
human, I was born, I was in her stomach nine months just like you was in
ya mom, I deserve a chance, a shot at life and I deserve the
opportunity to do what the fuck I want ‘cause my fucking ancestors died
for that, nah mean, and my great God son did the same too, died for me
to do these things. And my momma smart. She ain’t risking, nigga, what
the fuck wrong with you? That wasn’t no risk, bitch, that’s just
intelligence. She’s a millionaire now. Great fucking risk, you stupid.
I wasn’t tryna…
I
was telling you you stupid, next question. That ain’t no risk nigga,
that’s a smart fucking mother, “Do what the fuck you want nigga and I’m
with you.” If you got a child, I’m sorry for your fucking child, ‘member
like ol’ boy used to sing about it, ‘I feel sorry for your momma’ [singing], I feel sorry for ya child. He want five lives [laughs].
I apologize.
She
smart, nigga, she saw her son being passionate and had talent and she
let him chase it. She smarter than a lot of motherfuckers. She let me
chase it at a young age, I ain’t gonna wait. Go get it! That’s the way I
look at it. Niggas smoking cigarettes when I smoke the best weed. She
do, too. Put that in there [laughs]. Next question, fool.
When you think about 10 years from now, what do you think about doing?
I live for the moment, never the future. I can’t think that far, I get too high to even see 10 years from now.
Soucre: https://myspace.com/discover/trendin...tha-carter-iii
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