If rap were more like one of Lil Wayne’s favorite sports, football, the iconic MC would be similar to Tom Brady when he joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the age of 43. At this point in the 42-year-old rapper’s career, Wayne, like Brady, has soared high enough in his profession to be considered one of the greatest of all-time. Still, he’s not satisfied and wants — or needs — to compete.
On Saturday night, Wayne gave his hometown of New Orleans the latest installment of his annual extravaganza, the Lil WeezyAna Festival (it started in 2015), with not one but two major reunions: Birdman and Mannie Fresh reprising the Big Tymers — and one of the greatest rap groups of all time, Wayne’s teenage outfit the Hot Boys.
It would be the first time in over two decades the popular collective comprised of Wayne, Juvenile, Turk and B.G. would perform live together, after many rumored and officially advertised attempts — the four could never get together, due to conflicting schedules, dissension in the ranks or major prison bids by B.G. and Turk between 2012 and 2023.
“It’s like Christmas Eve,” Juvenile told Variety on Friday about the reunion. “The wait, the wanting — wondering what it will be like. I’m excited for the moment. I’m at almost at a loss for words because it’s something I envisioned, and I’m happy it’s happening. People are gonna remember the trends we set, with the T-shirts and Gibaud jeans, our whole dress code, our talk, our style. When we first came out, we took the world by storm.”
B.G. added, “The time for this is now and everybody is on board: It was unified ‘let’s make it happen.’”
For his part, Mannie Fresh, who’s on tour with Juvenile, said of his reunion with Birdman, “We always felt like we was gonna come back, but the timing now was right because the fans stood up and was like, ‘Stop bullshittin’! They would tell us just like that. They pretty much said, ‘Stop with y’all stupid asses and get it together,’” he laughed. “We may have had our little beefs here and there, but we all stayed in touch. The reality of it was, the world ain’t gonna wait for this forever.”
Wayne began making calls to his musical brethren in January of this year to bring it back together for the fest.
“I was shocked and excited to see that Lil Wayne — [considering] the caliber of artist he is and where he’s at — wanted to share that stage with us, because he didn’t have to,” Turk marveled. “I remember doing a prior Weezyana Fest and how it felt not having Birdman there, not having B.G. there. It wasn’t complete. So to put everybody on that stage, it ain’t nothin but God — I’m grateful.”
The Hot Boys, Birdman and Mannie Fresh all got together for the first time to rehearse on Halloween and practiced the show Friday and early Saturday as well. However, Wayne knew it wouldn’t take long for the magic to take place.
“He was like, ‘Just give us some mics and a stage, and everything else is going to work itself out,’” B.G. said. “The chemistry has always been there and we will never lose that because we pretty much all grew up together. Wayne is a perfectionist, but he’s always ready to get onstage and make it do what it do.”
The hordes of fans who filed into the Smoothie King Center Saturday night were on the Hot Boys G-Code, rocking all varieties of army-fatigues patterns: T-shirts, sweatshirts, dresses, skirts, headbands, one woman even sported cut-off shorts with matching leg warmers that partially covered her army fatigue boots.
They were impatient, too. “OK Wayne, you’re two hours in now — time to come out,” said one woman who had been waiting since the advertised 7 p.m. start time as the clock struck 9 p.m.
But at 9:14, the house lights went down, and so did any fan lamenting. Wayne strutted onstage with a guitar strapped on and was introduced as “The Best Rapper Alive,” “Tunechi” and “Lil Wayne” before he tore into the opener, “3Peat,” wearing a black suit jacket, an untucked white button-up shirt and jeans.
“Get on my level? You can’t get on my level,” he rapped. “You would need a space shuttle or a ladder that’s forever.”
But just as he was gaining momentum, his mic cut out. He kept going, and the next segment was explosive: “Hustler Musik,” “I’m Single,” “Love Me,” “Lollipop” and “Mrs. Officer” were all met with resounding cheers.
“Wayne caught a body in here!,” one man in the audience yelled, while his friend replied, “He’s killing it by himself!”
After a barrage of solo hits, Wayne announced he was transitioning to the “Features” segment of his show.
First was New Orleans-born rapper and Louisiana State basketball star Flau’Jae, who performed her collabo with Wayne “Came Out A Beast.” Minutes later, the house lights went dark and Birdman’s voice was heard saying, “What’s up Fresh? It’s our turn.”
When the lights turned up, Bird and Fresh came to the front of stage with their classic “Still Fly” and followed with a thunderous “Get Your Roll on.”
From there, Turk, B.G. and Juvie all came out individually for their various solo hits before the big four assembled for their signature song, “We on Fire.”
As the group tore through a myriad of records from their catalog, the joy of the reunion was obvious as they interacted with one another and ad-libbed raps for each other, on songs that came out nearly 30 years ago. There were smiles all around and Wayne even let out a triumphant laugh listening to his brothers’ rhymes. The whole crew came together when Birdman and Fresh joined in with the Hot Boys on “Hot Girl.”
It was a full-circle moment for the extended family as well: Cash Money Records, the foundational label for all of these artists, celebrated its 30th anniversary this year. The reunion set concluded with Juvenile’s “Back That Azz Up,” which was a hit when it came out in the late ‘90s and has had a major resurgence thanks to TikTok.
But there was a lot more show to go.
Wayne was rocking more solo hits when someone alerted him that New Orleans LaToya Cantrell was onstage. She read a proclamation touting him and some of the city’s greatest sons, and presented Wayne with a key to the city.
“On behalf of your city, the entire city of New Orleans, I’m so proud to present you with this key that is a token of appreciation of who you are,” she said. “This is your city saying to you, ‘You matter for generations to come — for what you have done, what you are doing and what you will continue to do.”
The mayor was followed by the city’s official entertainment ambassador, rapper, filmmaker and entrepreneur Master P. He called Wayne “the greatest rapper alive” and announced that February 7 will be Lil Wayne Day in the city and the rapper will be the first inductee of the NOLA Walk of Fame. The news seemed to surprise Wayne and he seemed to be holding back tears.
“I’m usually real, real good with words,” he told the crowd. “I think y’all know that sometime coming, there will be a Super Bowl in this city. When the first Super Bowl was here, I made sure I bought tickets at the beginning of the season. And I did the same when I moved to Miami. I was hoping my team made it and guess who made it? The muthafuckin Saints.”
He continued, saying plainly his disappointment that Kendrick Lamar was chosen to headline the halftime show when the Super Bowl returns to Wayne’s hometown on Feb. 9.
“I was able to give my mama that suite [in the stadium] and she was able to bring the family and other people from New Orleans and they had a fuckin’ ball,” he continued. “I said to myself, ‘I want to be onstage for the Super Bowl one day, in front of my mom.’ And I worked my ass off to get that fuckin’ position. It was ripped away from me.
“But this moment right here —they can’t take that away from me.”
It’s a message that was cosigned by thousands in the stadium, as well as his old friends.
“Wayne is the greatest of all time,” Juvenile declared. “I’m a little biased because that’s my little brother. But let’s talk numbers, lyrics, influence, any category you want to talk about — he’s the greatest in my book.”
B.G. championed, “To see him reach the level of success that he’s been able to reach, words can’t explain the feeling. Coming from where we come from, first and foremost, it’s a blessing. But at the end of the day, he’s a workhorse. He put the work in.”
The talk from all involved is that there will be more Hot Boys and Big Tymers concerts, as well as a new Hot Boys album.
“This won’t be the last time,” Mannie Fresh said. “This won’t be like, ‘They did it and that’s it.’ We plan on doing this for a long time.
“When we started this, the mentality was, ‘This is not a game, we are not playing,’” he concluded. “And 30 years later, it’s still showing.”
