Days after suspicion of DatPiff’s demise, DJ Drama confirmed one of Lil Wayne’s most iconic mixtapes to arrive on the platform will soon be available on DSPs. As projects like No Ceilings recently landed on Spotify and Apple Music, the Gangsta Grillz founder confirmed Dedication 2 will follow suit. During his interview with Rap Radar, he also said that he had no music with Lil Wayne in the cut that will see the light of day before the year comes to an end. “We are dropping Dedication 2 on streaming services this year, along with new music,” he told B. Dot and Elliott Wilson.
Dedication 2 arrived in May 2006 on mixtape services, though it managed to crack the Billboard charts. Despite using unlicensed music, such as the instrumentals to Drama’s “Cannon” ft. T.I. and Busta Rhymes and “Player’s Ball (Reprise)” by Outkast,” Dedication 2 wound up on platforms like iTunes and Best Buy for commercial sale. As a result, this second installment in the Dedication series peaked at #69 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. Hopefully, the DSP version of Dedication 2 includes all of the original music without having to trim the tracklist due to sample clearance issues.
DJ Drama & Lil Wayne’s History
The Dedication series was integral to Lil Wayne’s “best rapper alive” era. As the frontrunner of Cash Money, Wayne used these mixtapes to prove that his work ethic, consistency, and quality were unmatched. On Dedication 2, Wayne took on the most popular beats of the time and turned each record into his own. In a lot of cases, Weezy’s remixes became even more popular than the original songs themselves. Hopefully, the return of Dedication 2 on DSPs will provide new fans insight into why Lil Wayne is the GOAT.
While Lil Wayne and DJ Drama plan to bring the mixtape to streaming services, hopefully, they haven’t forgotten about the next installment in the Dedication series. The two released Dedication 6 in 2017 before unveiling a reloaded edition a month later. However, the two previously announced D7 in September 2020 with a release date set for the following year. The project still hasn’t dropped yet and it looks like we’ll probably get Tha Carter VI before then. Check out Drama’s interview above.
