A video of Lil Wayne expressing his desire to headline at an NFL Super Bowl Halftime show has re-surfaced after the news that Kendrick Lamar will be playing next year.
On Sunday (September 8), it was announced that Lamar would be headlining the 2025 NFL Super Bowl LIX Halftime show – which will be held in New Orleans. This decision has rattled many in the hip-hop world, with arguing that Wayne – who was born in New Orleans – should take centre stage in his hometown.
A clip has now resurfaced from LA rapper YG‘s 4HUNNID podcast back in February, where Wayne was asked if he’d want to headline the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show.
At the time he told them that he had “not got a call” from Jay-Z or anyone at Roc Nation – the NFL’s live music entertainment strategists. “But we all praying, we keeping our fingers crossed,” he said. “I’m working hard. I’m going to make sure this next album and everything I do is killer, so I’m going make it very hard for them not to holler at the boy.”
Lil Wayne had hopes of performing in the 2025 Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show that was awarded to Kendrick Lamar in New Orleans
“We praying, we keeping our fingers crossed. I’m working hard. …I want to make it hard for them not to holler at the boy.”pic.twitter.com/83kGyF9IBn— Kollege Kidd (@KollegeKidd) September 9, 2024
Wayne said, although he enjoyed how Dr. Dre’s 2022 Super Bowl Halftime performance showcased hip-hop and had 50 Cent, Eminem and more join him on stage, he would have “done it like RiRi” – referring to how Rihanna just did a medley of her own pop hits in her headline slot back in 2023.
Now that Lamar has been chosen over Wayne, many pivotal figures in the hip-hop world have argued that the former Hot Boy should have taken the Californian’s place.
Wayne’s protegée, Nicki Minaj, recently took to X/Twitter to air her thoughts on the matter: “Denying a young black man what he rightfully put into this game for no other reason but your ego. Your hatred for BIRDMAN, Drake [and] Nicki got you punishing Lil Wayne?!?!!! LIL WAYNE!!!!!!!!!! THE GOAT?!!!!!!!!!!! NOLA, what’s good?!!!!!! Eminem stood firm on having 50 Cent come out.”
Juvenile – who started his career in the seminal Southern hip-hop group Hot Boys with Wayne – also called out the NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, saying he “needs to get it right” and “should [have] stepped in”.
He continued: “Ya’ll booked 11 Super Bowls in New Orleans. Y’all have yet to put a hip-hop act from New Orleans on the damn Super Bowl […] How the fuck y’all don’t have Lil Wayne doing the halftime show?”
Wayne’s mentor and Cash Money Records co-founder Birdman initially reacted by retweeting the news with the simple caption, “Smfh [Shaking my motherfucking head]”.
NOLA sports and hip-hop legend Master P publicly called for the NFL to include Lil Wayne in the 2025 Super Bowl Halftime show.
“I have to agree with the fans that [Lil Wayne] should be a part of this celebration as well. He’s one of the greatest Hip Hop artists alive, still relevant and he’s a New Orleans native,” he said in an Instagram post
After it was announced that Lamar was next year’s Super Bowl Halftime headliner, Jay-Z shared his support for the ‘Not Like Us’ rapper: “Lamar is truly a once-in-a-generation artist and performer. His deep love for hip-hop and culture informs his artistic vision. He has an unparalleled ability to define and influence culture globally. Kendrick’s work transcends music, and his impact will be felt for years to come.”
There is a conspiracy circulating that Lamar got the headliner spot because he recently got into a feud with Drake, another one of Wayne’s protegés. DJ Akademiks shared a theory that Jay-Z has held a grudge against Drake since he refused to join the launch of the music streaming platform Tidal.
Dj akademiks exposes how jay z has been hating on drake ever since he refused to sign to tidal that was owned by hov at the time . Instead drake signed an exclusive deal with Apple pic.twitter.com/HdaeMB5gq6
— joebuddenclips (@Chatnigga101) September 9, 2024
The 2025 NFL Super Bowl will be taking place next year on February 9 at the Caesar Superdome – marking the 11th time the major sporting event will be held in the Big Easy.
In other news, Lil Wayne confirmed that the Hot Boys will finally reunite at this year’s Lil’ Weezyana festival in New Orleans this November.
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