LL Cool J Says Lil Wayne's Super Bowl Halftime Show 'Will Come:' 'Let Kendrick Get That'
Rappers of all generations have given their input on whether Lil Wayne should've gotten the Super Bowl LIX halftime slot over Kendrick Lamar .
New Orleans rapper Juvenile defended his fellow Hot Boys member. Master P agreed that Lil Wayne should hold down NOLA for the February 5, 2025 game. Baton Rouge, Louisiana native Boosie Badazz called the decision a "smack in the face to every hip-hop legend from Louisiana."
But rap pioneer LL Cool J sees it differently, and during a Fat Joe Talks sit-down with the "Lean Back" artist, he said that Weezy could perform a future halftime show.
"Yo, Lil Wayne is one of the most talented dudes on the planet. Period. He’s one of our great artists. He’s an unbelievable writer," LL Cool J told Joe in the video above. "He’ll have his day. Let Kendrick get that. Let’s keep it moving."
"First of all, the people of New Orleans are amazing, and Wayne comes from a very proud state, Louisiana, and a very proud city, New Orleans, so we’ve got to put some respect on that."
"Your time will come. You’ll have your day. You will. You were a little kid — 14 years old — you became one of the great rappers in the culture. One of the most influencial...you put things in the dictionary. You’ll have your time. You can’t let that break you," LL continued. "And the only reason it makes me laugh is because I know how blessed he is. I know how successful he is."
The 56-year-old added that Wayne doesn't "need to worry about that moment," and compared it to the times he's been overlooked for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, just to be inducted in 2021.
"To put it in perspective, I’m in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame," he said. "They voted on me, it felt like 999,000 times before I got in. It didn’t break me, bro. I didn’t even make a comment. As a matter of fact, I laughed just like I just laughed just now. Because these are champagne problems. There's guys who can't get their demo listened to!"
LL added that "sometimes unintentionally, we get a little bit spoiled." "It's like, yo, you a bad boy," he concluded, referring to the "A Milli" artist. "Wayne is crème de la crème.
But Wayne appeared to move on from the situation after speaking his piece in a video posted to Instagram in September, saying that he was "hurt" about missing the Super Bowl LIX halftime slot.
"First of all, I wanna say forgive me for the delay," Weezy said in the video. "I wanna say, first of all, I had to get strength. I had to get strength enough to do this without breaking. I wanna say thank you. I wanna say thank you to every voice, every opinion, all the care, all the love and the support out there. Your words turned into arms and held me up when I tried to fall back. That hurt. Hurt a lot. You know what I’m talking about. It hurt a whole lot."