Credit: Alamy

Since the turn of the 2010s, Rapsody has solidified herself as one of the most talented MCs through her albums and collaborations with other rappers. The North Carolina lyricist has released acclaimed albums like Laila’s Wisdom, Eve, and Please Don’t Cry on Jay-Z’s Roc Nation label, while delivering masterful features on songs like ‘Complexion (A Zulu Love)’ by Kendrick Lamar. One of her most impressive verses to date was inspired by Lil Wayne.

Her skills are no secret to fans and legends alike, with Weezy being one of those who acknowledge just how much she’s moving the genre forward. The pair collaborated in 2024 on ‘Raw’, a song that appears on her Please Don’t Cry album. Produced by S1, Terrace Martin, Robert Glasper and WU10, the track finds the duo rapping about both unprotected sex and how they’re unapologetically themselves.

Rapsody sent the beat to Weezy and was so impressed with his bars that she rewrote her verse over two dozen times. As someone she looks up to, it was important for her to try to match the quality of his lyrics, setting a high standard for herself.

“I just wanna say what I say and make it fun,” she told HipHopDX. “But then, he sent his verse, and I was like, ‘I gotta match the level of artistry.’ Like, it’s Wayne! And I ain’t scared to say it, because he’s one of the GOATs. It is what it is. A lot of artists won’t say it. But I’ll say it: I probably wrote my verse like 27 times.”

In the first verse of the song, Wayne raps, “Raw and uncut, pay my attention, no pay cuts/ Might hit it raw wit’ no Plan B ‘causе you A+/ You a queen to me like ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’/ It’s Weezy and Rapsody—we runnin’ this shit, baby/ These n*ggas flat-footed, these n*ggas ants to me/ It’s too raw—they can’t cook it; I’m eatin’ this track, p*ssy, raw.”

Then, after the name-drop, Rapsody follows up in the second verse, “R is for Rapsody and R is for raw/ Sometimes, the panties don’t match the bra/ Broke phone like Lamar—ooh, baby, I like it raw/ Had me eight weeks a baby, mornin’ sick and all, too raw/ No makeup, Hermès luxury scarf/ Adorn my head shoppin’ like thorns without the cross.”

During an interview with Billboard, Rapsody opened up about being a fan of Wayne’s when she was a teenager and studying his rhymes to better her craft. “One of my favourite lyricists ever,” she said. “I’ve been listening to him since I was 13 years old. I studied him as I developed as an artist, about his cadences.”

She added, “He’s elite at what he does, so I’ve always wanted to create with him. It was a big check off my list… really easy to work with and fast too.” ‘Raw’ was released in May last year and has over 2.6 million Spotify streams. It was part of an album on which Rapsody attempted to introduce herself as a person rather than just an artist.