Lil Wayne is one of the most successful and popular rappers of all time. He’s known as one of the most exceptional lyricists in the game, but Weezy has to reckon with age like everyone else. On a recent episode of Fox Sports’ Undisputed, the Grammy winner told hosts Skip Bayless, Michael Irvin and Keyshawn Johnson that age has caught up with him, so he doesn’t write down his rhymes anymore.
“Thank God for the iPhone. Before, I would have to remind myself all day because I don’t write nothing down,” he said. “They always be thinking that it’s some type of achievement. No, I don’t write because I’m too old and too tired to be trying to read. You know, they got the iPhone now so I go ahead and record the voice memo.”
As they say, “Father time is undefeated.” At some point, age catches up with us all. Suddenly you don’t stay out as late, the songs and movies you grew up with are considered classics and you have no idea who these artists are the kids are talking about. After a while, normal tasks just feel exhausting, so it’s completely understandable that the “A Milli” star would want a an easier way.
Wayne is actually only 41-years-old, so he’s not exactly over the hill. But when you write rhymes at the level that he does, you really don’t want to spend all your time writing them down. Back in July, during an appearance on The Pivot Podcast, the “Mrs. Officer” rapper explained that it was Jay-Z who inspired him to stop writing his raps down.
“Like Biggie, love Biggie, love Jadakiss—I love all that shit, but Jay. The moment I heard it I stopped. You could ask my boy. ‘I heard that nigga JAY-Z don’t write no more,’” Wayne said. “We went in the studio and we did ‘10,000 Bars’ and that was the last time I rapped anything off of a paper.”
With the superstar citing his age, I’m picturing a scenario where Wayne’s kids had to teach him how to record on his iPhone the same way we all had to teach our parents how to use Zoom. Were there a bunch of recordings of him trying to turn the app off and on? Were there pocket recordings because he forgot to close the app? I need a TikTok series of Old Man Wayne learning to record music on new technology.
Until that happens, Lil Wayne’s new collaboration with 2 Chainz, Welcome 2 ColleGrove, is set for release Nov. 17.