The greatest artists in the world can be as inspired by their favorite artists as the rest of us mortals, especially early into their careers. While things have changed a lot for him since then, that was once the case for Lil Wayne- or, at least, Birdman thought so. Moreover, Weezy recently revealed to Rolling Stone that Stunna once chastised him for sounding too much like Jay-Z, a weird comparison with today's context in mind. Still, as two of the greatest rappers still walking across the planet today, maybe it shouldn't be so surprising. Furthermore, the New Orleans legend told the publication the story when asked whether he listens to any hip-hop these days.
"When it comes to rap, I don’t listen to no one," Lil Wayne revealed. "I just don’t have time to, because I’m trying to get better every day. I tell my own artist that, too. When you find a favorite artist, you’re going to start sounding like them. It took Birdman and them to pull my a** aside and be like, 'Bro, I’m tired of every song you doing sounding like damn Jay-Z. You’re not Jay-Z.'"
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Then, the interviewer asked Tunechi how that made him feel in the moment. "Yeah, I was glad it was working," he responded with a laugh. "That’s like, 'Oh, good, it’s working.'" And it worked all the way to one of the most legendary, acclaimed, and commercially successful careers in the genre. Elsewhere during their conversation, Lil Wayne shared a lot of gems, interesting takes, and surprising revelations. For example, he explained not really being able to tell Tha Carters apart.
"I’m going to be so honest with you: I don’t know Tha Carter III, Tha Carter II, Tha Carter One from Tha Carter IV. And that’s just my God’s honest truth. You could lie, you could ask me [about] such and such song, I wouldn’t even know what we talking about. So it holds no significance to me at all. I don’t even know if [2008 is] when Tha Carter III came out. That’s how much I don’t know, I work every day, bro- every single day. I always look at it as the curse part of the gift and the curse. I believe that [God] blessed me with this amazing mind, but would not give [me] an amazing memory to remember this amazing s**t." For the latest news and updates on Lil Wayne, come back to HNHH.