LL Cool J has offered Lil Wayne some words of wisdom after he was left devastated by not being selected to perform at next year’s Super Bowl in New Orleans.
Kendrick Lamar was recently announced as the musical act for Super Bowl LIX, but the decision has proven to be polarizing, with even Wayne himself expressing disappointment over it.
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Sitting down for an interview with Fat Joe for his new talk show on STARZ, LL attempted to uplift Weezy’s spirits while gently reminding him that this is Kendrick’s moment.
“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,” he said. “He’ll have his day — let Kendrick get that. Let’s keep it moving. I never did the Super Bowl!”
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He then urged the Young Money legend to not let the setback get him down: “Wayne comes from a very proud state, Louisiana, and a very proud city, New Orleans. But this is the thing: your time will come, you’ll have your day […] You can’t let that break you.
“The only reason it makes me laugh is because I know how blessed he is, I know how successful he is. So he don’t need to worry about that moment. It’s just a moment, bro. It’s just one moment. It happens.
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“Let me put it into perspective: I’m in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. I got not put in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame it felt like 999,000 times before I got in. It didn’t break me. I didn’t even make a comment. As a matter of fact, I laughed.”
LL concluded by suggesting that Wayne had let a sense of entitlement, stemming from his enormous success, get the better of him: “These are champagne problems. There are guys who can’t get their demo listened to! I think we get a little bit kind of, unintentionally, spoiled. It’s like, ‘Yo, man. You a bad boy.’ Wayne is crème de la crème.”
In a somber video uploaded to Instagram last month, Lil Wayne detailed his devastation after he found out that he wouldn’t be performing at the 2025 Super Bowl in his hometown — a gig he had openly coveted.
“First of all, I want to say forgive me for the delay. I had to get strength enough to do this without breaking. I’ma say thank you to every voice, every opinion, all the care, love and support out there. Your words turned into arms and held me up when I tried to fall back,” he began.
“That hurt. It hurt a lot. You know what I’m talking about. It hurt a whole lot,” he continued. “I blame myself for not being mentally prepared for a letdown, and for automatically mentally putting myself in that position like somebody told me that was my position. So I blame myself for that.
“But I thought there was nothing better than that spot and that stage and that platform in my city, so it hurt. It hurt a whole lot. But y’all are fucking amazing. It made me feel like shit not getting this opportunity and when I felt like shit, you guys reminded me that I ain’t shit without y’all… and that’s an amazing reality.”
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Wayne was referencing comments made by fans and fellow artists alike, with Nicki Minaj, Birdman, Juvenile, Cam’ron and Master P all expressing disappointment at his perceived snub.
Some of this anger was directed at JAY-Z, who has helped organize the Super Bowl halftime show since partnering with the NFL in 2019.
