Lil Wayne Talks Being An Innovator

by Slava Kuperstein

Weezy gets really real and talks syrup, tattoos, cars, skating, and - of course - realness.

A seemingly inspired Lil Wayne recently took to video to discuss his role as an innovator in a number of contexts, not just music.
"We was reminiscing on the life of Steve Jobs," began Wayne. "An..innovator of many things. A very influential man. Most of our lives...I don't know a person that hasn't been influenced in some sort of way by this man. We lost that man...I think a lot too soon. Obviously too soon because I'm quite sure that there's a bunch of people who don't know who I'm talking about. And that's when you've lost someone too soon."
"The old cliche: you never know what you had until it's gone. So we were speaking on it. 'Man, what if I skate off my roof and just end it all? Or what if...I Sean Kingston the fuck out of myself? I wonder if motherfuckers would...REALLY remember me for the innovator I am. And I was thinking how saturated things get these days, and how easy it is to forget the greatness of something and someone. Today, I plan to take ten minutes or fifteen minutes out of your day and my day to elaborate on the subject."
Lil Wayne continued, pointing first to the fact that now "everyone" drinks syrup. Giving credit to UGK - particularly Pimp C - Wayne explained that initially his fans didn't know what it was. "I wasn't doing it to be cool. ...I can't blame the kids. I blame you adults. See, it's okay for a kid to look at somebody and see something and want to be just like it. It's only right; it's only human nature. But for an adult to fabricate something for some dumb reason, it messes up our youth, and it messes up the future. So I ask you: what is your reason? Why are you drinking syrup? Why?"
Wayne explained he doesn't want to be the innovator of syrup - and that he drank it for health reasons - but that he wanted people to know where the culture originated from.
Other topics broached included tattoos, cars ("I was the the first African American rapper with a Bugatti"), and skating - all within the scintillating context of Wayne's realness.
Watch the video below: