Lil Wayne fans hoping to one day see him at the Super Bowl will be sad to learn the rapper is officially over it. After dreaming of headlining Super Bowl LIX in his hometown of New Orleans, the opportunity went to Kendrick Lamar.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, the 42-year-old said the NFL "stole that feeling." While there will be more halftime shows in the future, he vowed, “I don’t want to do it. It was perfect.”
The "Lollipop" rapper had reason to believe it would perform at it. He claims that last fall, the NFL nudged him to get more visible: "To perform, it’s a bunch of things they’re going to tell you to do and not do, asses to kiss and not kiss," he said.
"If you notice, I was a part of things I’ve never been a part of. Like [Michael] Rubin’s all-white parties. I’m doing s**t with Tom Brady. That was all for that," Tunechi continued. "You ain’t never seen me in them types of venues. I ain’t Drake. I ain’t out there smiling like that everywhere. I’m in the stu’, smokin’ and recording."
But when Apple Music, Roc Nation, and the league tapped Kendrick Lamar instead, Wayne says he got a late apology—“We ain’t in charge,” someone told him—and “all of a sudden, according to them, they got curved.”
And yes, he skipped the show. "Every time I looked, it was nothing that made me want to go inside and see what was going on," Wayne said.
When news broke that Lamar was headlining, many people made their voices heard on social media, like rapper Master P, who called for Lamar to include Lil Wayne in his show, "As Ambassador of Entertainment in the City of New Orleans, I have to agree with the fans that @liltunechi #LilWayne should be a part of this celebration as well,” Master P continued.
“He’s one of the greatest Hip Hop artists alive, still relevant, and he’s a New Orleans native. Let’s not miss this cultural moment in the South. Life is too short! We have to give our legends their flowers while they are here," he added.
Lil Wayne's emotional video
Lil Wayne also expressed his disappointment online, thanking fans and friends for their support in an emotional video, holding back tears. "Your words turned into arms and held me up when I tried to fall back," he said. "And when I felt like sh-t, you guys reminded me that I ain't sh-t without y'all. And that's an amazing reality. It broke me, and I'm just trying to put me back together."