“Our kids can’t all aspire to be LeBron or Li’l Wayne.” So spoke President Obama in a speech to the NAACP in 2009.
But a lot more local kids may aspire to be Li’l Wayne if his festival this summer turns out as splashy as planned.
Never known for understatement, Li’l Wayne is proclaiming that his Li’l Weezyana Festival, to be held on Champions Square during Katrina’s anniversary week, will be nothing less than “the greatest concert ever” (as he said in a Q93.3 FM interview last month). And frankly, that’s about all we’ve got from the local hip-hop potentate, who’s keeping the details of his big event under wraps at press time.
But you can expect Wayne to pull out the heavy artillery—metaphorically, of course—for the show, which could provide a needed boost to the city’s spirits and a new peak in the rapper’s career.
What we do know is that the show will include a reunion of the Hot Boys, the group that Wayne co-founded in 1997 and last performed with a decade later. Along with charter members Wayne, Juvenile and Turk, the group will be joined by Mannie Fresh, a godfather of local rap and the producer who shaped the Dirty South sound. (The fourth original member, B.G.
is serving a 14-year prison term for gun possession and witness tampering).
Many other special guests are promised; for possibilities one might check the guest list on Wayne’s just-released mixtape the Free Weezy Album: Wiz Khalifa, Young Jeezy, Cory Gunz, Jim “CAPO” Jones and reggae legend Junior Reid of Black Uhuru.
Li’l Wayne, whose vivid history includes a seven-month jail stint and a 2013 epilepsy episode that put him in intensive care for a week, has lately returned home in style. Back in April he pulled a surprise late-night show at the Hyatt Regency, where he reunited with Mannie Fresh and Juvenile.
Meanwhile he’s been waging a public battle with Cash Money, the label that launched his career. Wayne promises that part of the festival’s proceeds will go back to the city—and while those details remain sketchy, this will be a space to watch in the coming weeks.
Li’l Weezyana Festival featuring Li’l Wayne, Mannie Fresh, Juvenile and more guests to be announced at Champions Square 7 p.m. Friday, August 28.
Tickets $55-$95, available at ticketmaster.com.
