Although Lil Wayne has developed a semi-notorious reputation for not keeping up with modern musical trends, it turns out there is one other up-and-coming rapper that he listens to besides himself. During his new interview with NBA stars Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson’s podcast, All The Smoke, Wayne revealed the one other rapper who has become his current favorite: Quality Control Music’s Lil Baby.
As Wayne explains in the clip, “I was in a session with him before. He heard a beat come on out of the blue that I was working on. It was an uptempo beat. It was probably a feature for somebody. Baby was like ‘I couldn’t even begin to rap on no sh*t like that.’ After that session, I done heard two or three songs like that come out that he done did. I was like, ‘See, he went right back and figured it out.'” He doesn’t say what they did in that session, but it may have been the one that led to Baby’s My Turn standout, “Forever.”
That dedication to improvement is likely something that Wayne is drawn to; we saw it over the course of his career, from 400 Degrees to The Funeral, and in his admiration of NBA legend Kobe Bryant, who he also spent some time discussing with Barnes and Jackson — both of whom played against Bryant at various times throughout their careers.
“[Kobe] worded a few words from a verse and I was like ‘You really really know me?'” Wayne reminisces. “He was like, ‘Man, I been on you since Hot Boys.’ For a competitive guy like that, I figure whatever he was admiring it had to be my competitive nature.”
Watch Lil Wayne’s full interview with All The Smoke podcast above.
