In an interview on The Skip Bayless Show, Lil Wayne shared that he and Kendrick Lamar have spoken since Lamar announced he would be headlining the Super Bowl LIX halftime show in February. With the Super Bowl taking place in Lil Wayne’s hometown of New Orleans, he had previously expressed his disappointment with not being chosen to perform, saying it “broke me, and I’m just trying to put me back together.”
In the new interview, the rapper told Bayless that he’s given Lamar his blessing and even understands where Lamar was coming from in a verse referencing Wayne’s dismay on the GNX opener, “Wacced Out Murals.”
“I’ve spoken to him and I wished him all the best and told him he better kill it,” Wayne said of Lamar. “He gotta kill it.” When Bayless asked if Wayne might make an appearance, he said he’s “not going to even be in the country,” during the Super Bowl.
After Lamar was named the Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show headliner, other musicians expressed their dismay that Lil Wayne was not selected as well, including Nicki Minaj, Birdman, Master P, Cam’ron, and Mase. Lamar took these critiques head-on with “Wacced Out Murals,” rapping that only Nas congratulated him and that he “Used to bump Tha Carter III, I held my Rollie chain proud/Irony, I think my hard work let Lil Wayne down.”
Lil Wayne added that he hadn’t heard the verse before their interview, but understood where Lamar was coming from. “That was my first time hearing it,” Wayne said after Bayless read the lyrics to him. “I think he’s a fan like I’m a fan of his music. I think he meant he saw what everyone else saw, he saw how much it meant to me.” He added that Lamar, “Didn’t let me down.”
He also seemed to see the bars as rather reverential in the face of his own disappointment. “That’s actually him expressing… showing that he has, you know, a heart and showing he actually… he care about the situation.” However, in November, Shortly after GNX dropped, Lil Wayne wrote on X, “Man wtf I do?! “I just be chillin & dey still kome 4 my head. Let’s not take kindness for weakness. Let this giant sleep. I beg u all,” he continued in his post. “No one really wants destruction, not even me but I shall destroy if disturbed. On me. Love.”
When Bayless asked Lil Wayne if he was handling not being selected for the halftime show better now than when he first learned the news, he responded, “No.” However, he said he has processed it with people close to him in an effort to embrace it and move forward. Wayne said he told his managers, “I want to get to the point where I’m undeniable. I want [the halftime show organizers] to walk in there and have 10 other choices and whoever’s in charge say ‘No… you have to go him.’”
