Devastated Lil Wayne Releases Emotional Video After Losing Super Bowl Halftime Show to Kendrick Lamar

An emotional Lil Waye took to Instagram to record a video telling fans how devastated he was when he learned that he was not selected to perform at the Super Bowl Halftime Show at the big game ending the NFL’s season this February, having lost the gig to red hot rapper Kendrick Lamar.

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On Sunday, the NFL, Roe Nation and Apple Music announced that Lamar was selected to perform at the Super Bowl Halftime Show, which is set for Feb. 9 at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. That the game is being played in the Big Easy, his hometown, made the sting that much harsher for Lil Wayne, as he indicated on Instagram. He began the video by saying it took strength to speak on the news and his utter disappointment “without breaking.”

“I blame myself for not being mentally prepared for a letdown and for just automatically, mentally putting myself in that position,” the rapper told his fans. “So I blame myself for that, but I thought there was nothing better than that — that spot, on that stage, and that platform, in my city.”

The rapper never mentions the Super Bowl during the video, but it’s clear that this is the subject. Earlier this year, he acknowledged that the NFL had not yet called him about performing but said, “We’re praying, we’re keeping our fingers crossed, and working hard … I just wanna make it hard for them not to highlight the boy,” Rolling Stone reported .

Lil Wayne, whose real name is Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., has recorded 13 albums that have all been certified Gold or above by the RIAA. He is one of the most influential and lauded rappers of his generation; since his recording career began in 1999, he has sold over 120 million records worldwide and launched Cash Money Records, which released early albums from Drake and Nicki Minaj.

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Wayne has also had multiple brushes with the law. In 2020, he was arrested for transporting a loaded handgun on his private jet to Miami from California; as a felon, he was not allowed to own this type of weapon. In a surprise move, President Donald Trump pardoned Wayne for the federal crime on his final day in office. This matter came up in the video he posted on Friday.

“It made me feel like shit, not getting this, this opportunity. And when I felt like shit, you guys reminded me that I ain’t shit without Trump, and that’s an amazing reality,” he said. “So like I said, it broke me, and I’m just trying to put me back together. But my God, have you all helped me? Thanks to all my peers, my friends, my family, my homies on sports television, everybody repping me. I really appreciate that. I really do. I feel like I let all of y’all down [by] not getting that opportunity.”

Lamar is at the top of his game after recording four lauded albums — the third of which led to him being the first rapper to receive an award from the Pulitzer committee; creating the Grammy-winning Black Panther soundtrack, and essentially winning a diss track battle with Drake this year with his kiss-off hit track “Not Like Us.” He is also no stranger to the Super Bowl stage, as he appeared with Dr. Dre during his halftime performance in 2022.

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