Hi everyone, Anthony Fantano here, the Internet's busiest music nerd. I hope you're doing well.

Let's talk about the new Kendrick Lamar album, GNX — or rather some drama that is surrounding the album itself. Because as of right now, a lot of people are having a lot of feelings about the record and in reaction to it.

"As you can see, fully intact. Mind, body and soul, in case you were wondering. Mind, body and soul. You need facts to take me out. Fairy tales won't do it." - Drake

But yeah. This is not about Sir Champagne Papi. It's about somebody else who is catching some feelings over this record. That would be the one and only, the legend himself, Lil Wayne. He recently took to Twitter to seemingly respond to a bar on this new Kendrick Lamar GNX album. On the opening track, "wacced our murals".

Man wtf I do?!
I just be chillin & dey still kome 4 my head. Let’s not take kindness for weakness. Let this giant sleep. I beg u all. No one really wants destruction,not even me but I shall destroy if disturbed. On me. Love

— Lil Wayne WEEZY F (@LilTunechi) November 23, 2024

Yeah, Lil Wayne does not seem super happy right now, referring to himself as a giant, one that will bring destruction if disturbed. The thing is, I don't know if I would go as far as to call the Lil Wayne mention on this new Kendrick Lamar album a straight up disturbance. It's really an acknowledgement of something that was already made public.

It was very recently that Kendrick Lamar was announced to be the main halftime performer of the forthcoming Super Bowl, which is currently scheduled to happen next year in New Orleans. Now, because of that, there are many people, Lil Wayne included, who feel very strongly about the idea of Lil Wayne performing there or being that main guy, because it's New Orleans and it's Lil Wayne. And in the last 10 years, the NFL has been increasingly open to inviting more hip hop performers to the halftime show.

In fact, some of the biggest and most talked about Super Bowl halftime performances in recent years have been hip hop based. And considering Lil Wayne's catalog of hits and the fact that he's from New Orleans, yeah, I don't think it's necessarily wrong to presume that he would have been a possible shoe in for masterminding the show, being the lead guy.

But the fact of the matter is that he was not chosen. And Kendrick Lamar just so happened to be having a very, very, very big year. And Lil Wayne was not happy about being passed over.

"For Kendrick to perform that halftime show. That hurt a lot. You know what I'm talking about? It hurt a whole lot. I blame myself for not being mentally prepared for a letdown. I thought that was nothing, you know, I thought that was nothing better than that spot in that stage and that platform in my city. And so it hurt. I heard a whole lot. It broke me. And I'm just trying to put me back together, but my God, have you all helped me." - Lil Wayne

Now look, at the end of the day, Lil Wayne is certainly entitled to feel any type of way that he wants about whether or not he deserves to play the Super Bowl. But, like, this comment still comes across as jealousy on some level. And on top of it, Kendrick is just having a very hot year. He is a generational artist, a unique and standout talent who is and continues to do very big things for hip hop, frankly. And at the very least, you weren't passed over for an artist who sucks ass.

I guess I would be more open to Lil Wayne feeling pissed off about this if instead of him, we were getting somebody who was just straight-up garbage. But you know what? Again, instead of Lil Wayne seeing the silver lining here and seeing the greater benefit of Kendrick Lamar playing, he essentially took this personally and just seemed very upset and very hurt.

And to state it in black and white for anybody who hasn't already heard it, Kendrick said, "I used to bump Tha Carter 3, I held my Rollie chain proud." Which, if you're a Kendrick fan and you've heard his artistic progression up until this point, the Lil Wayne influence is very much obvious on numerous, numerous tracks.

Clearly, the guy loves Wayne as a rapper and appreciates his style and his pen. I don't think Kendrick is saying here, 'Yeah, I used to listen to Lil Wayne. Not anymore.' He's just acknowledging an influence and something that brought him to this point. And then he follows it up with irony. I think my hard work let Lil Wayne down. Which, like, yeah, in that video response to this news, Lil Wayne sounded let down. He sounded upset.

And given that this "wacced out murals" track in a broader sense is about people hating Kendrick and being jealous of him and so on and so forth, honestly, artistically speaking, it would be kind of dishonest or it would definitely be a lie by omission to write a song on exactly this topic and not acknowledge the fact that one of the greatest rappers of the past 20 years essentially came out to voice disappointment at you getting such a big opportunity instead of him, considering you're somebody who he obviously has looked up to in terms of influencing his style directly. Yeah, on some level, that would hurt.

And, you know, Kendrick is not the only artist to voice such a sentiment in the past 10 years or so. It was also J. Cole with his "Let Nas Down" track. Ironically, though, Kendrick boasts on the same song about Nas congratulating him on the opportunity. I digress, though.

But to answer Lil Wayne's question, look, what the fuck did you do? I don't think you did anything horrible. I don't think you did anything nefarious. I don't think you did anything to hurt Kendrick directly. I don't think you did anything to the man. I don't think anybody did anything per se to anybody. I mean, if you, in fact, did do anything, I think Kendrick would have gone a lot harder considering how merciless he was with Drake in the past several months. With that being said, you just so happen to voice an incredible amount of dissatisfaction when instead I think you could have gone more down the high road and just been happy for the guy. Congratulated the guy. Personally, when I looked at this situation as an outsider, I very much saw this as an opportunity for Kendrick to incorporate Lil Wayne into the performance in some way, shape, or form. I mean, you guys have literally made music together in the past, after all.

But unfortunately, with the way things are going right now, that sort of seems like less and less of a probability. Sadly, I feel like we have to acknowledge the reality that we currently exist in, and that is one in which Lil Wayne, as great and as talented and as influential as he is, his star has not been shining as bright in recent years as it has in the past. Some of that has to do with the fact that he has very much slowed his career down and slowed down his output. Some of that also has to do with the fact that many of his records in recent years have not really been hitting all that hard. And thirdly, let's not also forget about the fact that Birdman played such a massive role in basically putting out this man's fire and basically blocking any attempt he was making to get more of his music out there and keep the momentum of his career going.

And look, all of those things are tragic. All of those things suck. Those are not things that I, as a music fan, want to see or hope for. These are not things that I want to happen to any artist. But simultaneously, none of these things are Kendrick's problem. And it's not his fault that these shortcomings have allowed him an opportunity to where he is the lyricist of the current day, that people look up to or hold up high on a pedestal. At one time when it comes to mainstream stuff, you know, that was more Lil Wayne. But the tectonic plates have shifted now, and we're in a new paradigm.

And in this paradigm, Kendrick is kind of that guy, especially after winning such a massive beef. And now with this new, very big, very beloved GNX album out, it seems like he's going to have a lot of material to play live at this show. And that is essentially everything I have to say about this situation as of right now. Let me know your thoughts down in the comments. I'm sure you will.

Anthony Fantano. Kendrick Lama. Lil Wayne. GNX. Super Bowl. Forever.