Lil Wayne has no hard feelings toward Kendrick Lamar as far as the Super Bowl halftime show is concerned.
“I’ve spoken to him, and I wish him all the best and I told him he better kill it,” Lil Wayne, 42, said while appearing on “The Skip Bayless Show” on Monday, December 16. During the interview, the rapper was reacting to lyrics about him on “Wacced Out Murals,” which was included on Lamar’s GNX album released last month.
“Used to bump Tha Carter III, I held my Rollie chain proud,” Lamar, 37, raps on the song. “Irony, I think my hard work let Lil Wayne down.”
Lil Wayne said during Monday’s interview that it was the first time he had heard the song lyrics. (Lamar’s lyrics appear to reference Lil Wayne’s reaction to not getting the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show gig.)
“I think [Lamar’s] a fan like I’m a fan of his music … he saw what everybody else [saw] and he saw how much it meant to me,” the “A Milli” artist explained. “I think that’s all he meant … obviously he can’t control that. He didn’t let me down. It ain’t like he can control it.”
Lil Wayne added, “He knew he didn’t have to do anything. There was no explanation that was needed.”
It was announced in September that Lamar will headline the Super Bowl LIX halftime show next year, set to take place in New Orleans. Lil Wayne was previously vying for the gig because the game is happening in his hometown.
At the time, Lil Wayne posted an Instagram video and noted that he wasn’t “mentally prepared for a letdown” of not performing.
“I had to get strength enough to do this without breaking. I’mma say thank you to every voice, every opinion, all the care, all love and support out there,” he said. “Your words turned into arms and held me up when I tried to fall back.”
Getting turned down to perform “hurt a lot,” Lil Wayne told his followers.
“You know what I’m talking about. It hurt a whole lot,” he continued. “For automatically mentally putting myself in that position like somebody told me that was my position. So, I blame myself for that. But I thought that was nothing better than that spot and that stage and that platform in my city, so it hurt. It hurt a whole lot.”
During Monday’s podcast appearance, Lil Wayne said he’s started to spin the apparent snub as a driving force for his career.
“I straight look at it like, ‘You ain’t there, you gotta get there,’” he said. “I want to get to the point where I’m undeniable. I want them to walk in there and have 10 other choices and whoever’s in charge says, ‘No, you have to go with him!’”
