Lil Wayne is preparing for a co-headlining tour with Drake next month and readying his 12th studio album Tha Carter V for release this year. Now he graces the black-and-white cover of XXL's August/September issue, shirtless and showing off his tattoos while sporting a Trukfit ski cap and diamond grill. The sell line reads, "Nothing Left to Prove."
In his interview with the magazine, he talks about the upcoming album and the Carter series, his reasons for signing Nicki Minaj and Drake to Young Money Entertainment, his thoughts on the state of hip-hop, and his major influences.
Here are some excerpts from what he had to say...
On Tha Carter V:
"I was feeling the success of Tha Carter I. I felt like people wanted to hear me. I was amped to do that, but then Tha Carter III? I don't know what happened. It was amazing. And then Tha Carter IV was just unexplainable, and now this one here, there's no words. ... I'm always feeling like I ain't done sh*t. I'm still nervous about Tha Carter V... I'm confident about what I do, but I'm still nervous about what people think"
On being authentic as a hip-hop artist:
"I know I'm authentic because I'm 35 million years in the game. I don't know where the authenticity is in the game anymore. Today everyone sounds alike, they looking alike, they acting alike, they dressing alike. I came out when everybody was super different. You had an ODB. You had a Busta Rhymes and then you had a 2Pac. You had a Biggie. And everybody was different. Biggie was talking about Mob and Mafia sh*t. 2Pac was wylin', talking about West Coast this and that. You had n***as like Meth and Red talking about how high they got and making people laugh. And then now, you got them, them. You got the categories and then everyone falls under it."
On why Prince is a major influence:
"It was the way he pronounced words and the way he used his voice. It was like if he was playing with a baby. You know if he was playing with a kid. [Imitates a baby cooing] It was the way that he was exploring it. He wasn't doing it because it was funny. He was doing it because he could make it sound good and exceptional. I realized that I could do that too. He wasn't afraid of how he sounded because he knew what he was saying and how he was saying it would always sound good."
On why he signed Drake:
"Call me old-fashioned and country, but with Drake, that was the first time I'd seen someone that knew how to sing and rap. That's all it was. I didn't know nobody who knew how to do that. You had those old school singing n***as, where people would do a little eight-bar verse on their songs. But [Drake] was spitting and singing and killing that too. It took a while though. It wasn't until I heard him spitting on one of my beats when I was like, 'This fool's retarded.' When I hear something that I know I can't do better? That's when I'm like, 'They need to be on the team.'"
On why he signed Nicki Minaj:
"I wanted a female. Every team needs a female to rep your gang. She was annihilating n***as. I mean males. I was like, 'I have to beef my sh*t up on that muthaf**ka.' She just knocked it out the park from day one. She's just Nicki. I don't know whose idea it was, but it was a good idea."
Check out the full interview on newsstands August 12. Let us know what you think in the comments section below!
