Lil Wayne has not historically struck you as a guy who plays the PR game. He is more "studio smoke and bars" than red carpet smiles and press rounds. But according to the rap legend himself, that's precisely the lane the NFL attempted to encourage him into, only to leave him then high and dry when it truly counted.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Weezy said he received a behind-the-scenes "nudge" from the NFL to keep his name in the mix in hopes of being an act for the 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Show. (Spoiler alert: Kendrick Lamar got the gig, and Wayne was left with a phone call and an apology.
"To perform, it's a lot of expletive they are going to tell you to do and not do, a#### to kiss and not kiss," Wayne said with his signature honesty. "That was all for that. You saw me in those types of places. I ain't Drake. I'm not out here; I'm just smiling like that everywhere. I'm in the stud, smokin', and recording.
He began showing up at places you typically wouldn't find him: high-profile parties, such as Michael Rubin's all-white bashes, and even socializing with NFL royalty like Tom Brady. In his view, all of it was grooming for that big Super Bowl stage.
But then the halftime headliner was announced: Lamar. Things went left. Wayne said he heard from someone at the NFL, who hit him with the old corporate shrug: "We ain't in charge."
That's when the apology arrived, in Wayne's view, as a revelation that he'd been played by people who ached him and who, in the end, had no say in the outcome.
The Super Bowl Halftime Show is produced by Roc Nation, which is headed by Jay-Z, with whom Wayne said he's still tight. There are no hard feelings there, apparently, but in the NFL? That may be another story.
Wayne doesn't strike me as a bitter man, but it's clear that he's not pleased with the way things went down. And can you blame him? He's been around the game for over two decades now, with a record that runs deeper than most and fans who would've been all lit up to see him prancing around the halftime stage.
But, as usual, Lil Wayne is not complaining about the call that never came. He's only lifting the veil, letting fans know that even legends get left on read occasionally. Wayne still has that fire. Halftime show or not, he's in the studio, keeping it real and Weezy.
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