The greatest rapper alive?
When Lil Wayne proclaimed himself the best rapper alive two years ago, no one accused him of being delusional because he’s one of only a handful of emcees with a resume for that discussion. (You all can decide who the others are.)
Born Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., hip-hop fans have had a front-row seat for Wayne’s entire career. The New Orleans native went from a teenage standout member of the Hot Boys (with B.G., Juvenile, and Turk) in the mid-’90s to certified rap god after the release of his sixth studio album Tha Carter III in 2008.
Wayne (who gets called Weezy more than Louise Jefferson ever did) has nine platinum-plus albums out of 14 studio releases, five Grammy Awards (27 nominations), and had one of the greatest mixtape runs in the history of hip-hop. But more importantly he’s a “rapper’s rapper.” A quick Google search of Wayne’s best bars and verses will take you to articles from Vibe, Complex, and several Reddit threads.
Tyga was the perfect table setter.
Lil Wayne brought all of that and more to Little Caesars Arena Saturday night for his latest tour in support of Tha Carter VI, released earlier this year. Compton, California rapper Tyga popped things off first with solid performances of his hit songs, “Loyal,” “Rack City,” and “Taste.” Tyga’s verses from his two biggest hits with singer Chris Brown, “Ayo” and “Deuces,” were the two biggest crowd favorites.
Weezy hits the stage.
After a one-hour intermission between acts, Lil Wayne hit the stage at 9:50 p.m. playing “King Carter” and “Welcome to Tha Carter” on a white guitar with a blunt held in the corner of his mouth. He was dressed in a brown mink coat, ankle-length beige shorts, and sunglasses. The entrance set a tone for the night that the “greatest rapper alive” was also going to be a guitar hero whether you liked it or not.
Lil Wayne used the one-verse format throughout the night in which he rapped the first verse of many of his most popular songs in order to cover a large portion of his massive catalog. It felt like the entire crowd knew every word to songs “Every Girl In The World,” “Go DJ,” “Uproar,” “John,” “6 Foot 7 Foot,” “Surf Swag,” and “Lillipop.” Before Wayne took off his mink jacket he told the crowd he wore it because he knows how fashionable Detroit is.
Something was missing.
It felt awkward that there was no mention of the Cash Money record label or previous labelmates Mannie Fresh, Juvenile, and B.G. Wayne and Cash Money’s CEO Birdman have had an on-again and off-again feud over money and music that goes back over 10 years. During Cash Money’s 30th anniversary tour at LCA on July 31, 2025, Mannie Fresh told the crowd, “We all know who’s supposed to be here” and then played Lil Wayne’s hit “Mrs. Officer.”
During the middle of the show Lil Wayne brought out the new artists on his Young Money imprint: Lil Novi (his son), singer Domiio, and rapper Jay Jones. They all made strong performances, but Wayne and heavy metal singer Lucifena’s performances of “TYRANT” was more Black Sabbath than fans expected it to be. Wayne did a few deep cuts from his mixtape years and finished the show with “Bedrock” (bringing out Tyga and Gudda Gudda, who appear on the song) and closed the night out with “A Milli.”
A great show that had potential to be an epic show.
Throughout the entirety of the night Lil Wayne was charismatic and humble. The show had all the pyrotechnics, smoke, and special effects you would expect along with a live drummer and DJ on a platform above the stage. Wayne praised Detroit’s fans multiple times, and he was completely dialed into every song he performed. He sounded great, he never missed a bar, and was downright polished. But the show suffered from trying to do too much in a 90-minute set as he was still breaking in the newer songs from Tha Carter VI, introducing new artists, while giving a 30-year retrospective. Many fans sat down during the songs they didn’t know, and his Young Money artists performed their full songs even though Wayne only rapped the first verse of most of his songs. Overall, Lil Wayne showed the fans the many reasons why he calls himself the greatest rapper alive but there was so much more of that discography he could have given to the fans.
