Image via Complex Original
After over a decade of superstardom, Lil Wayne is unveiling Weezyana Fest, his first all-day music festival, on Friday at Bold Sphere Music at Champions Square in his hometown of New Orleans. The name on the marquee is enough to make the concert an event, but little has been announced about who else will be on the lineup. Will there be full sets from opening acts? Will Wayne’s set feature lots of guest appearances? We just don’t know. But there are a few people we’d like to see show up. Some are pretty plausible, and a few are very interesting long shots. These are the Five Guests We Hope Lil Wayne Brings Out at Weezyana Fest.
The Hot Boys
It all started with the Hot Boys—the quartet of young New Orleans rappers that helped skyrocket Cash Money Records to fame and fortune in the late ’90s, with hit albums as a group, followed by successful solo albums of their own. It has been over a decade since Lil Wayne, Juvenile, B.G., and Turk have all performed together, and a full reunion may not come anytime soon, with B.G. serving a 14-year federal prison sentence that started in 2012. But Weezy, Juvie, and Turk have been friendly in recent years, showing up together in the 2 Chainz video “Used 2” in 2013, and then all rapping together on the recent remix to Bankroll Fresh’s hit, “Hot Boy.” Wayne promised a Hot Boys reunion at Weezyana Fest when he announced the concert back in July, so let’s watch as he brings these confirmed guests out for the show.
Young Thug
For years, Atlanta rapper Young Thug has been a vocal fan of Lil Wayne. So much so that he floated around the idea of releasing an album called Carter 6, presumably after Wayne dropped Tha Carter V, which he said would be the final installment in the his hit album series. And in 2014, as Birdman brought Young Thug into the fold via Rich Gang, it seemed that Thugger would become good friends with his hero. Wayne and Thug collaborated on the Rich Gang single “Take Kare” last fall, but soon after, relations between Weezy and the Cash Money camp started to become strained. There’s no reason to think Birdman or Young Thug have resolved their issues enough to show up at Weezyana Fest, but we can dream.
T-Pain
A decade ago, T-Pain’s Rappa Ternt Sanga revolutionized the sound of R&B and hip-hop when the Florida vocalist used Antares Auto-Tune technology to twist his voice into funky new shapes. Lil Wayne was just one of the many rappers who fell in love with auto-tune over the next few years, but he was one of the few who always paid homage to T-Pain for setting the trend. They collaborated on hits including Wayne’s “Got Money” and Pain’s “Can’t Believe It” in 2008, and began promising a duo album under the name T-Wayne. All these years later, that album will probably never happen (and there’s oddly a solo rapper making hits under the name T-Wayne). But we’d still love to see them put those “He Raps, He Sings” shirts on and run through their hits.
Jeezy
The artist formerly known as Young Jeezy has, along with T.I. and Lil Wayne, been one of the leading rappers from the South for over a decade. But, unlike with T.I., Jeezy and Wayne have only occasionally crossed paths, most notably co-headlining 2006’s The Street Dream Tour and collaborating on Jeezy’s 2011 hit, “Ballin’.” But Jeezy made a standout appearance on Free Weezy Album’s “White Girl,” and also had his own Tidal webcast concert to celebrate the 10th anniversary of his debut Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101. So we’d love to see him show up and support Wayne, perhaps perform their verses from the classic remix to Shawty Lo’s “Dey Know.”
Chance The Rapper
Shortly after Chance The Rapper’s 2013 Acid Rap mixtape made the Chicago upstart a national phenomenon, Lil Wayne became the first of many superstars to reach out to Chance for a verse. The result, “You Song,” was a highlight of Wayne’s Dedication 5 mixtape. And as Chance continues to ascend and become a concert draw in his own right, we’d love to see him represent the next generation of hip-hop stars at Weezyana Fest, and finally give us the live performance of “You Song” we’ve been waiting almost two years for.