Ever since starting his Young Money Radio podcast, Lil Wayne has gotten accustomed to being the interviewer rather than the subject, but gladly switched chairs for a new interview about the podcast with Variety magazine. While much of the exchange focuses on the podcast itself, Wayne does find a few moments to talk about other things important to him, including his charitable donations, teasing a potential new Carter album, and soul legend Betty Wright, who was a personal friend and inspiration to him.
Wayne goes so far as to call Wright “a mother” to him and describes how he came to know her music and its effect on him. “Ms. Betty was like a mom,” he said. “I became a fan as a kid because my mom would listen to her sh*t loud as f*ck in the crib while she’d be getting dressed. What stuck out was the talking on the records that Ms. B would so famously do. Another interesting and consistent fact about it all is that whoever played her songs knew every word of the talking part! As a kid, you’d have to sit there and have them try to act like Ms. B and talk to you like that. It obviously stuck with me. I met her when I moved to Miami, she was nothing but a mother ever since. Not only to me but my friends and my daughter as well. She’s more than missed by myself and a world of others. I have a lot to thank her for but I thank her most for my musical confidence! I can do anything.”
Of that possible new Carter entry, Wayne responds to a question about his favorite Carter album by hinting, “My favorite Carter album is the next one.”
Read Lil Wayne’s full interview with Variety here.