Lil Wayne has reached that upper echelon of emcees in hip-hop’s power-driven kingdom. And although most emcees would be wary about challenging his throne, Wayne and fellow hip-hop giant Jay-Z have thrown barbs each other’s way. But in the cover feature of the Oct./Nov. issue of VIBE, Wayne explains why there is no feud with Jay-Z and why he has no competition in the game.
“There’s no competition [with any artists]. Music isn’t about competition no more,” said Wayne about his alleged beef with Jay-Z. “All the gangster rappers are happy, all the skateboard rappers are happy, all the white rappers are happy … Everybody just happy to do music these days. There are no problems. That s–t died a long time ago with them old-a– rappers. We are just making music, making money and having fun feeding our families. Competition is for the old guys.”
Although secure with his current spot in hip-hop, Wayne did acknowledge the rising success of his own platinum protégé Drake, and while many would assume that the Take Care emcee’s growing fame would be reason for Wayne to stay one step ahead of his Young Money spitter, Wayne explains that it’s just not the case.
“I don’t look at it like that,” said Wayne. “Drake is my artist. If he wasn’t my artist, then yeah, maybe. But that’s my artist. He’s not [just] a friend. We’re more than friends. It’s business. It would be impossible for it to be a competition. I mean, I’m the guy’s boss.” –nicholas robinson
