A$AP Rocky explains how Lil Wayne changed hip-hop: “Let that man be legendary”
A$AP Rocky was inspired by many hip-hop acts, including Dipset, Mobb Deep, Three 6 Mafia, Wu-Tang Clan and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. One artist the Harlem rapper believed didn’t get his flowers was Lil Wayne, who he considers one of the greatest of all time.
During an interview in 2012, before his debut album Long.Live.A$AP, Rocky was asked to share his thoughts on the changing culture of hip-hop with Wayne skateboarding. He replied that Weezy is in the same category as Kanye West and Jay-Z, inspiring artists with his flows and tattoos.
“I put Wayne in Jay-Z and Kanye’s bracket, in terms of success,” he told Complex. “Wayne is still fun. Are we forgetting that Wayne made everybody switch their flow up and start using the E’s and R’s, and ‘I’m ir-regul-ar, seg-ular’? Like, c’mon, are we forgetting that Wayne changed hip-hop, too?”
He continued, “Are we forgetting that he made all these motherfuckers want to have tattoos? Are we forgetting that? It wasn’t Wiz [Khalifa], it was Wayne. Wiz did it, too, but I’m just stating facts. This is a guy who fucking went from being the youngest underdog in his crew to saving his company, and saving his ‘Daddy.’ I’m not a fucking Lil Wayne dickrider—I’m just speaking facts.”
Rocky admitted that although he disliked Wayne’s dress sense, he respected him for being original and not following what everyone else was wearing. As someone who is also fearless in the way he carries himself, it’s no wonder Rocky respects his individuality.
“People can say what they want about him with the way he dresses,” he said. “I hate the way he dresses. I’m keeping it 100 with you. It’s very tacky at times. But that’s what he chooses to do. Get off his dick! If that’s what he chooses to wear, OK.”
He added, “At least he’s not wearing it ’cause he saw some other lame motherfuckers wearing it. That’s when I don’t respect it. He’s doing him! Maybe it doesn’t work for you, but it works for him. So we need to get off his dick and let that man be legendary.”
Rocky collaborated with Wayne in 2015 on ‘M’$’, the Mike Dean and Da Honorable C.N.O.T.E.-produced song that appeared on his At.Long.Last.A$AP album. Weezy raps in his verse, “Money talk and dogs bark I got a pocket full of stones in my stonewashed/ Lambo, brand new Lambo/ With tiger stripes on it call that bitch a golf cart/ I’m outchea, I’m so outchea, I swear n*ggas have no idea.”
Speaking to HotNewHipHop, Rocky said Wayne tapped into “mixtape Weezy” mode for his appearance on the track while revealing that the late A$AP Yams made the collaboration come to fruition.
“I always wanted him on it,” he said. “That was a Yams thing, Yams made that happen. Yams linked up with his bro Capo, next thing you know Mack Maine reached out, they showed love. It was just straight love, and Yams was adamant, ‘You gotta have Wayne on there.’ I’m like, ‘Aight bro.’ He kept saying it, kept saying it.”