LIGHTS OUT! 

Double clap, lights on, Lil’ Wayne and his new album officially titled The Carter will set cities afire higher than 500 Degreez, for real.  The Cash Money Millionaires’ veteran is not just back brighter and bigger, but better than ever to spit the same slick lyrics he’s been spitting over-and-over on every hot track produced by the bling-bling ballers in the flesh, the Birdman, Baby and Mannie Fresh.

On The Carter, Lil’ Wayne’s fourth solo record, he re-events himself and his identity by walking out of his childhood shadows into the silhouette of manhood.  He takes the score of his music to higher grounds including new energy, his crew from his new label Young Money Records.  

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In a one-on-one with SixShot.com, Lil’ Wayne discussed what he explains as his new albums’ strength in a game that appears to be haunted by a fear of growth. 

However, for those nervous with the new change of guard, don’t be scared.  Lil’ Wayne hasn’t switched up his southern lingo that fans embrace him for.  Actually he’s still as descriptive in his rhymes as his other featured works.  As a matter of fact check his first single and video Get Something off The Carter album, actively climbing the charts.  

Trust me, his position is still the same, he’s just re-creating the rap game at a pace where pioneers of the music can spot the boys from the men in the building.

SixShot:

Now that you’ve broken bread in the rap game, how do you feel about your present position now verses when you first jumped in with Cash Money?

Lil’ Wayne:

Well when I first jumped into the game, I was just Lil’ Wayne with my own raps and my own rap book.  Now I’m Lil’ Wayne with my own rap title, my own rap history, my own rap album collection, and my own company.

SixShot:

Originally you’re from New Orleans, Louisiana… 

Lil’ Wayne:

Yes.

SixShot:

How do you feel about the south breaking through with the East and Mid (West) Coasts?  You guys are getting so much respect out there in the game.  Did you see it coming?

Lil’ Wayne:

I really ain’t even gonna say I saw it coming.  All those guys that are out….they been out, you know what I’m saying?  They’ve been doing things in the south, just like we (Cash Money) been doing things before we got the deal.  So I didn’t see it coming.  I didn’t know the world was gonna jump on like that, like that, because it’s us.

SixShot:

New look, you got a new attitude.  Tell me about the things going on with this new album.  What does this album (The Carter) consist of?  What energy are you bringing to it?

Lil’ Wayne:

Just grown up, grown man energy!  I still got my kid fans, because I guess I still look like a little kid or something like that.  Back then when I would make a song on my other albums, if I made a song for the clubs, I would still be talking to young girls, like directly to them. But now I make grown up songs and it ain’t because I’m trying, that’s just how it comes out now.

SixShot.com:

So on this album (The Carter) are you touching on any specific topics?  Are you still talking to the streets?  Are you talking to the females?  Are you giving us more party cuts?  What are you doing differently with this album (The Carter) verses 500 Degreez or Lights Out?

Lil’ Wayne:

The other albums were basically (talking about) one thing or basically two or three things, this one (The Carter) I’m doing everything.  I’m talking to females and I’m talking like a man to a female.  And I’m always talking to the streets.  I ain’t talking to the streets I’m talking for the streets.

SixShot:

Other than Baby and Mannie, what other producers do you have on this album or guest features?

Lil’ Wayne:

The only guest features are those guys (Cash Money) and the people from my company. The only other producer is a dude who gets down with my company, his name is Raj Smoove.

SixShot:

So tell me a little bit about your company Young Money Records? What can we expect?

Lil’ Wayne:

The main thing they can expect is being real.  We are gonna keep it all the way real…and it’s just like we’re fly.  I wouldn’t say nothing like that if I didn’t think it or feel it.  And I could just be promoting, but I really feel that we’re a fly bunch of little dudes.  You know people like that.  People like when people move together and connect on some kind of level, and the level is a higher ranking.  I feel we do that.

SixShot:

Are any of the guys from your company featured on this new album (The Carter)?

Lil’ Wayne:

Yes.

SixShot:

Now tell me a little bit about the single (Get Something) you dropped, I was peeping the video.  Fire of course!

Lil’ Wayne:

That’s just a little something so ya’ll could see that I’m coming back, it’s back my turn again, it’s just something so I could be in the video selection on video shows, (something) you can hear me on the radio.  But it (The Carter, album) don’t really show off what my album is.  It’s a great song!

SixShot:

What reaction do you think the fans are gonna get when they open up this new album? Are they gonna expect the traditional (Cash Money)? What’s gonna be the feelings from the fans?

Lil’ Wayne:

They’re gonna be like got damn!  From the intro, because I’m cutting it up every time he throws a beat on, I’m cutting it up.  And it’s like I don’t write no more so it ain’t rehearsed or planned.  It’s just me venting from the top of my dome.

SixShot:

Now what other prospects after this album drops are you planning?  Are you planning on touring or are you gonna get into the acting circuit?  What’s next?

Lil’ Wayne:

Most likely touring, I ain’t trying to be no actor because I’m too real.  I really can’t get into scripts like that, that’s always been my problem.  People say I’m animated and I would be good for movies, but I’m too stuck in my ways.  I don’t really like to act like nobody else.  So really I’m gonna probably be just touring and getting some more money.

SixShot:

Let’s clarify some issues.  What’s going on with the infrastructure of Cash Money?  What is their future plan in relation to you?  Where do you position yourself with Cash Money for today, for tomorrow, and for the future?

Lil’ Wayne:

For today, I position myself with Cash Money as a veteran, as a veteran on a record label, and as a man in a family. That’s the difference because I was just a boy in the family.  There’s a big difference between a man and a boy.  Tomorrow, I’m a have artists, everybody knows that.

SixShot:

You’re saying on this album you’ve grown a lot into a man.  Did you have complete creative control or were their parts that were kind of shaky with this album?  Did you feel confident that all the songs on the album were a reflection of you, the beats were a reflection of you?

Lil’ Wayne:

Yeah, it’s like I continued my pattern, but from a different angle.  I never made Fresh, Mannie do no beat to what I was saying.  I always go in there after he finishes doing a beat and I rap to what he was saying on that beat, so I did that, but this time I didn’t write to the beat I just felt it.  That was a whole different feeling from going in there and just feeling it to just writing to it.  Because when you’re writing to it, you could write anything that sounds good because you’re writing to the beat, but when you’re feeling it, it’s like free-styling.

SixShot:

From this album and from all other work that you guys have done over the years, do you feel like you are the best representation for Louisiana right now?

Lil’ Wayne:

(Confident) Hell yeah, I’m the best representation for the south period.  But, but, but I live for my city, because gangsters live for their city, so put me down as the best for New Orleans, Louisiana.  I ain’t no braggy nigga like that.  I ain’t gonna step on nobody’s toes.

SixShot:

Naw, that’s confidence in yourself and confidence in your actions.  It’s positive to think like that.  It shows confidence in your work and your ethics.  Actually, it shows you’re confident in your work ethic. 

Lil’ Wayne:

Yeah.

SixShot:

Lastly, what is your perception of the rap game right now and where it’s headed?  I know that you’re not caught up in the whole beef back and forth, but how do you think from an outsider looking in or stepping outside about the game now?

Lil’ Wayne:

The rap game right now, I don’t see it getting nothing but bigger and better.  I personally know people that are good.  I personally know people that are great.  And I listen to people that are good, and I listen to people that are great.  Music is different now period from 5 years ago and you got hip-hop to thank for that.  So I see it getting bigger and better.

SixShot:

So you think all the beefs and the industry quarrels have to do with the art and structure of (hip-hop).

Lil’ Wayne:

The beef and all that adds colors to it, that makes it bright.  That makes folks want to look at it.  It’s just like if you got a car and you put rims on it, that’s the beef right there.

SixShot:

I didn’t look at it like that!

Lil’ Wayne:

If you think about it 5 years or 10 years ago, music (hip-hop) wasn’t as big.  I’m not gonna say because, but you remember at that time, every artist was cool with each other.  People that even dissed each other would appear on magazines hugging each other. 

When you get people who really, really don’t like each other and don’t like what another person is saying, because they feel their music that deeply and that seriously…

I mean people died over their words.  Hip-hop got way bigger and way better.  Now you see that we mean what we are saying. 

You give a person life when they’re talking over those beats.

SixShot:

So the emotions on your album (The Carter) are what you feel?

Lil’ Wayne:

Yeah, I just vent man.  Whatever the beat makes me feel like, I vent to it, and I just come-ff on it.  My music is very, very, very personal now.

*Disclaimer: Exclusive Lil’ Wayne/Cash Money Millionaire’s interview and text was conducted by Kay Konnect of SixShot.com.  No part of this interview may be duplicated without written permission from SixShot.com.  The interview content or text layout may not be altered in any shape or form.