Lil Wayne Praises Missy Elliott: "Before I Even Knew A JAY-Z Existed, I Was Into Missy Elliott"

Lil Wayne sat down with Missy Elliott for the season finale of TV One's UNCENSORED, which will air on Sunday night. During the discussion, Wayne admits that he was a fan of Elliott before he had even heard of JAY-Z.

“As a kid before Jay — this before I even knew a Jay-Z existed, I was into Missy Elliott," Wayne remarks, as noted by Bossip. “Oh wow,” Missy responds with a laugh. Afterward, Wayne continues, “Yeah and you know it was because you were able to [sic] you would say things that I would want to say as I’m rapping. You not only made me like—You made me love it. And I became so interested in you. And what happened was I bought the album and did not know that you really was spitting like… You know what I mean. You know I spit that verse to you all the time. So, it was you and Cee-Lo Green was who I would listen to at the time a lot.” He adds that he was also "very much into Noreaga."

Elsewhere in the discussion, Elliott asks Wayne about how the release of his iconic album, Tha Carter III, shaped his career. He answered: “I think that was probably the first time we noticed — you know what i mean for me, I started really getting that praise you know and I started really accept…Lovin’ it and embracing it. I’m seeing…just seeing people in the street or just from hearing from other artists so really the confidence was just strong.”

“I come from the days we as in artists — we as in Juvenile and B.G. we checking the Billboard magazine to see where this and that. That don’t exist now,” Lil Wayne continued. “When we dropped Tha Block Is Hot it sold like 114,000 or 95,000 the first week and that was the equivalent or the impact of selling a million and I remember I was like, ‘I can’t do nothing but thank God.'”

The interview with Lil Wayne comes after the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announced that Missy Elliott is among the artists in the organization's class of 2023. Other inductees include Kate Bush, Rage Against the Machine, Chaka Khan, Sheryl Crow, Willie Nelson, and more.

[Via]