With Tha Carter V around the corner, Billboard has shared an extensive feature on Lil Wayne. While the feature covers fruitful ground to be sure, one of the more poignant moments arises when Weezy reflects on previous brushes with suicidal thoughts. To be sure, the rapper has already expressed such themes on the cult classic "I Feel Like Dying" among other selections, yet hearing him address mental health head-on should be powerful words from the Young Money legend.
The author cites a moment when Wayne was twelve, and accidentally shot himself in the chest with his mother's gun; now, Weezy looks back on the incident as a suicide attempt, as revealed on a new Carter V verse. Apparently, the violent moment of self-harm arose when his mother forbade him from rapping. As it happens, the rapper is set to address the moment over a sample of Sampha's "Indecision," and at the time, the single was positioned to be the project's outro. Apparently, Wayne updated the track with new lyrics in the wake of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain's deaths.
Mack Maine opens up about Weezy's decision to open up, stating "He just told me one day that he was ready to address it now. Just being an adult, reaching a level of maturity and comfort where it’s like, ‘I want to talk about this because I know a lot of people out here might be going through that.”
We can also glean something interesting from this tidbit, as many were curious about whether Weezy might be re-recording the album in entirety. The Billboard feature seems to imply that Tha Carter V was kept largely as is, albeit with updates wherever Wayne saw fit. In any case, hearing it is set to be an imminent reality. In the meantime, peep Wayne murdering Swizz Beatz banger on "Pistol On My Side."
