Lil Wayne Explains How He Let Drake & Nicki Minaj Shine

Li Wayne's hit rate on his Young Money artists was pretty good

Sure, Hoodybaby never really took off.

But for a mid-sized label to bring both Drake and Nicki Minaj into the game is impressive.

During a chat with the I Am Athlete podcast, Wayne discussed how he stays on top -- and how he helped Nicki and Drake to the top.  Jump to 9 minutes.

“First of all, you have to be embracing,” he explained addressing his success as a rapper and a label boss. “You can’t be the guy that’s saying I don’t like the new music. You can't say you don't like it.  You gotta love it. Learn it, like it and love it because you better understand that’s music. That’s not a certain type of music, that’s music. You go to Apple Music and top 100s and them folks right there.  That's music.

Therefore you have to embrace that. You can't be like, nah, that's my flow.  You gotta go get you a vocal coach. Rest in peace, Ms. Betty Wright. Then you got a Drake. He’s music."

He then spoke on discovering the talent in Nicki and Drake.

“It was just about I seen potential,” Weezy continued. “You can see potential in people.  That’s when I saw way more than just potential. When Drake’s music was brought to me from the homie Jas my bro, it was about rap. I was like, ‘This dude sound different.’ What I loved about him, he was sounding just as dope as we were. When I say we, I’m talking about the streets and what we came from and what we doing.  But I told him you could make working in the cubicle — you know how to make that the dopest thing in the world to do. Don’t stop, don't change."

When asked how he specifically steered his star charges, Tunechi gave a frank answer. 

"They drive.  The got their own cars.  My past experience is they learn from experience."