Lil Wayne Reached Out to Kendrick Lamar Over ‘GNX’ Bars & Compton Rapper Didn’t Respond, Says Joe Budden
Budden claims the alleged cold shoulder led Weezy to get in the booth.
Lil Wayne and Kendrick Lamar
Following Kendrick Lamar’s name-dropping of Lil Wayne on GNX opener “Wacced Out Murals,” Weezy allegedly attempted to check in with Lamar and take his temperature on what he meant exactly, according to Joe Budden.
On the latest episode of his eponymous podcast, Budden claimed on Wednesday (Nov. 27) that Wayne called Kendrick, and the Compton native didn’t respond.
“I’m hearing that somebody picked up the phone and tried to call and see what the energy was,” Budden stated. “I’m hearing that Kendrick didn’t answer. If I’m calling you rapper to rapper and you don’t answer.”
Joe went on to say that he heard Wayne went in the booth after Kendrick allegedly deaded his olive branch, and presumably recorded something to send in the Compton rapper’s direction.
“Now I’m going in the booth,” he continued. “You have until I get in that booth to hit me back. I’m hearing that Wayne went in the booth.”
Billboard has reached out to reps for Lil Wayne and Kendrick Lamar.
Kendrick raps on the album’s opening track: “Used to bump Tha Carter III, I held my Rollie chain proud/ Irony, I think my hard work let Lil Wayne down.”
Word travels fast and Weezy got wind of Kendrick’s bars not long after GNX‘s arrival. “Man wtf I do?!” he tweeted on Saturday (Nov. 23). “I just be chillin & dey still kome 4 my head. Let’s not take kindness for weakness. Let this giant sleep. I beg u all. No one really wants destruction,not even me but I shall destroy if disturbed. On me. Love.”
Wayne admitted he was hurt by the NFL’s decision to have Kendrick headline the Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show next year with the big game in his hometown of New Orleans, which has seemingly caused static between the two.
“That hurt. It hurt a lot. You know what I’m talking about. It hurt a whole lot,” he said at the time. “I blame myself for not being mentally prepared for a letdown. And for automatically mentally putting myself in that position like somebody told me that was my position. So I blame myself for that. But I thought that was nothing better than that spot and that stage and that platform in my city, so it hurt. It hurt a whole lot.”
Watch Joe Budden’s explanation below.
