Y’all.
Lil’ Wayne was clearly not in his right mind when he decided to sit down with ABC’s Nightline and give what has already proven to be one disastrous, ill-advised interview. When I watched it, most of my thoughts were relegated to the image of an egg being fried in a black skillet and hearing an older white gentleman saying, “This is your brain on drugs. Any questions?”
You know, allegedly or whatever.
Still, the sight of a Black man on national television dismissing Black Lives Matter is rightfully upsetting even if the notion of a Black celebrity being detached from the realities of us regular Negroes is as common as the color of the sky in less polluted areas. Wayne sounds defensive about the term “Black Lives Matter” as if he never heard the phrase before and then goes into some gibberish about bitches, money, and a white man filming him. Oh, and a shout out to the Bloods, too.
It’s like a rap parody written by Bill O’Reilly.
For the sake of context, though, back in August, Lil’ Wayne performed at a Tidal concert and shouted on the mic, “We are Black America… Black Lives Matter! Clothes don’t matter, cars don’t matter, nothing else matters ‘cuz Black Lives Matter.”
In that clip, he looks as present in that club as he does in the interview. Wayne’s views on Black Lives Matter don’t appear to ever come from a place of information, but rather him being handed a phrase and everyone places their bets on what he’ll say. Last month, Wayne told FS1’s Undisputed that he himself has never experienced racism. Wayne appeared more cognizant there but sounded no less clueless.
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Do you know who really explains Wayne well? His ex-wife, Toya Wright.
In a recent interview with The Breakfast Club, Wright explained that while she found Wayne’s comments about racism to be ignorant, he has no clue about what’s going on. As she explained, Wayne doesn’t watch the news, listen to new music, and is relatively detached from what’s happening. “He lives in his own world,” Wright said.
That doesn’t make Wayne’s comments any less grating to hear, but it should make clear that he’s on another planet and we probably don’t need to orbit it much. Wayne’s thoughts don’t carry much weight given he is an aloof celebrity who gives Rap Rick James teases in the most unsettling of ways.
The Nightline interview is equal parts hilarious and horrifying. It’s somewhat comical because it’s like a “cocaine is a helluva drug” cover, but sad given for all that money Wayne boasts of in the interview, he sounds as nihilistic as any beaten down Black man in America.
Whatever he thinks about Black Lives Matter is moot, and for his sake, I hope he starts valuing his own life more.