S. Samuel
Grammy-winning rapper Lil Wayne is proving his love for skateboarding is no joke by dishing out his appreciation for the sport and how he survived an over publicized summertime crash in the new GQ Magazine.
Asked about his embrace of the culture, Weezy said he has a firm grip on skateboarding.
“I’ve researched, and I know everything about the culture. I know everything about who’s who, what’s what, who won what, and who’s better than who, and who skates for what team, and I’m into it. I’m into it. And you know what, they respect me a whole lot. Everywhere we go, every city or state we go, we have a skate park booked for after the show. I go there, I skate till about sun-up, and seven times outta ten, there’s usually a pro there. Or they’re usually connected to some pro or on some pro team. And, you know, we take pictures, we skate, we session together. They respect me so much just musically, without skating, period. A guy told me the other day, he was like, “You know what’s so crazy is like, a lot of artists say they skate, or a lotta artists say they pick a skateboard. But, you know, for the best to do it, it makes you a person that skates, it refreshes you, to remember why you picked up a skateboard.” (GQ)
He also used the opportunity to explain a late summer skateboarding crash.
“It wasn’t that bad. It wasn’t. It was real quick. Happened, and I was stitched up and went about my way. I told everybody. Everybody was like, “Oh, my God. You got nine stitches. You busted your head?” I was like, honestly, I fell so much harder in other places. Like, I wish you were there to see me really bust it. I busted my ass before, like, literally, this is nothing. These stitches are like–this is the first time I have seen blood shed, but I’ve fallen much harder than that.” (GQ)
A few days ago, rap star 50 Cent explained his issues with Weezy taking on skateboarding.
“Yeah, yeah, but you know what’s interesting, I was just in Las Vegas, I was performing with this thing with Mountain Dew — I did write the Lil Wayne line on the actual [‘Love, Hate, Love’] song but you know, when I got an issue, it’s clarity in it,” 50 told Angie Martinez. “I never, I don’t really do subliminals. [Did I say his name on the song?] No, I didn’t. I’m making references to his actions because I see, within hip-hop culture, I’m watching the artists attempting to be like the audience in order to gain the audience instead of just letting them come to us. That’s even why the urban apparrel business is going away. They dress like the skateboarders. If you’re wearing skinny jeans, that’s ‘their’ culture. That is like clothes the skateboarders would wear. You see what I’m saying? [Maybe he likes to skateboard?] Yeah, I just don’t know gangsters from New Orleans that skateboard. It’s gonna get interesting. If you look at it, like, I ran into [rapper] Machine Gun Kelly in Las Vegas while I was out there and — he’s really like a part of that culture. I don’t have a problem with Weezy.” (“The Angie Martinez Show”)
In late August, Wayne made headlines for his skating mishap.
Lil Wayne needed 9 stitches to close a bloody wound over his left eye last night … after crashing HARD at a skateboard park in St. Louis. Weezy was treated at a local hospital — and one witness told a local TV station the rapper was accompanied by several members of his entourage. According to the hospital, Wayne was treated and released. (TMZ)
Check out Lil Wayne talking about skateboarding below:
