Lil Wayne Named His Five Favorite Rappers And One Artist Was ‘Humbled’ They Made The Cut

Aside from his Funeral album and a few music videos and guest features, Lil Wayne’s 2020 has predominantly been spent on his Young Money radio show where he’s invited artists like Eminem, YBN Cordae, 50 Cent and Lil Baby to sit down and chat with him.

Jumping back into the interviewee chair for the first time in a while, Lil Wayne stopped by DJ Khaled’s new podcast The First One to speak with the famed Miami producer. Among the topics they discussed over the 45-minute interview, Lil Wayne revealed his top five favorite rappers.

He began his list with two expected names, Jay-Z and The Notorious B.I.G., before going on to mention Noreaga, aka N.O.R.E., as the third member in his list.

“I was the hugest N.O.R.E. fan,” Wayne said. “He had this thing about him where he could be from anywhere and you f*cked with him.” Next on his list, Wayne named another New York-based rapper, this time Cam’ron, as another one of his top five favorite rappers. “I was the biggest Cam fan,” he said after mentioning Cam’ron. Lastly, Wayne concluded his list with Missy Elliott and made sure to deliver her flowers in the process.

“That was my favorite because that would be why I was making so many sounds,” said Wayne while referencing her early work. “But you know Missy was into the whole ‘brrrt,’ you know what I meant? She about to make the ‘hehehehe ha.’” Wayne later revealed that his longtime producer Mannie Fresh was the one who encouraged him to include to add the “ha ha” ad libs. “I was like, ‘Man, he want me to do a sound for every damn line!’ And so the ‘Block Burner’ song was my best favorite song because my favorite artist was Missy Elliott.”

Missy caught wind of Wayne’s comments and shared her response to them on Twitter. “You never know who you may inspire in life or in what way,” she said in a tweet. “This is a list of those who must of impacted Lil Wayne in some way for different reasons Creating his own Masterpieces & becoming LEGENDARY,” adding, “I’m so HUMBLED.”

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.