Lil Wayne is one of the best talent scouts in the history of hip-hop, solely based on his work with Drake and Nicki Minaj alone. He signed them to Young Money early on, and the rest was history. Those two artists are now considered to be legends of hip-hop, and firmly within most people's Top 10s, alongside Wayne.
It is certainly rare that someone is able to sign two future legends at the exact same time. However, Wayne was able to make it happen. He even got them to be frequent collaborators as they went on to make a plethora of hits together.
On an episode of Friends Keep Secrets with Benny Blanco and Lil Dicky, Wayne was asked about how he signed Drake and Nicki. When it came to Drake, he knew he had to sign the artist when he heard him singing on hooks. In fact, if Wayne had it his way, Drake would have been doing a lot more singing back in the day.
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Lil Wayne On Drake & Nicki Minaj
"When I heard [Drake], it was all rap. Then, one of those hooks came in and I was like, 'Who's on the hook?' And they was like, 'That's him.' And I was like, 'That's the guy? That's him singing? Why he ain't do more of this?,'" Wayne asked. "It was instant. Like, come on, man."
As for Nicki, he signed her during a trip to New York. At the time, he wanted to sign New York artists to Young Money, and that is where he got introduced to Nicki Minaj. The rest was history after that.
Drake and Nicki signing to Wayne is one of the great butterfly effect moments in rap. You have to wonder what would have happened had Wayne not been able to make it work.
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