Lil Wayne Talks Seeing Drake & Nicki Minaj’s Potential Early On

Lil Wayne has been in the rap industry for over two decades and has released numerous songs during that time. However, in a recent interview, Lil Wayne talked about the potential in a young Drake and other evolving artists.

Weezy appeared on the I Am Athlete podcast on Monday and discussed his capacity to grow within the music industry and remain at the forefront of Hip Hop as new generations and styles enter the genre.

Lil Wayne explained:

“You have to be, first of all, you have to be embracing. You can’t be the person that’s saying I don’t like the new music. You gotta love it. Learn it, like it and love it because you better understand that’s music. That’s not a certain type of music, that’s music. You got to Apple Music and top 100s and them folks right there.

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Therefore you have to embrace that. You gotta go get you a vocal coach. Rest in peace, Ms. Betty Wright. Then you got a Drake. He’s music. My goal now, if you want to be the ultimate artist, that’s what I want to be. In sports, we like to call them the Swiss Army Knife.”

The Young Money legend then discussed signing Nicki Minaj and Drake to his label, as well as what drew him to the 6 God when he first heard his music. “It was just about I seen potential,” Weezy continued. “That’s when I saw way more than just potential. When Drake’s music was brought to me from the homie Jas, it was about rap. I was like, ‘This dude sound different.’ What I loved about him, he was sounding just as dope as we were. When I say we, I’m talking about the streets and what we came from.”

“I told him, ‘You could make working in the cubicle — you know how to make that the dopest thing in the world. Don’t stop.’ Then one day I heard, ‘[singing voice].’ Like, ‘What the fuck was that?’ I remember asking Mack [Maine] who that is [singing] on the hook? … You gotta be the ultimate artist. My homie could do two nights when he hits your city.”

Nicki Minaj revealed over the weekend that she wants to re-team with her “Seeing Green” collaborators for a massive Young Money world tour. She even hinted that Drake would be serving as executive producer on her upcoming album.

Check out the interview below.

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