Lil Wayne was among the many rap artists invited to Vice President Kamala Harris’ home for a Hip-Hop 50 celebration on Saturday (September 9). While it’s not exactly the White House, it’s the next best thing—at least for the 400 people invited. Lil Wayne pulled up alongside fellow rappers Jeezy, MC Lyte, Common, Fat Joe, Roxanne Shanté, Too $hort, Remy Ma, Slick rick and Doug E. Fresh.
Weezy’s visit comes nearly 15 years after he released “Swag Surf” off No Ceilings (2009) in which he raps, “Quarterback shot gun, you don’t get any sack yards/B###h, I ball hard, breakin’ all the backboards/Pretty boy Floyd step up I will crack yours/And even at the White House we pull up at the back doors.”
MSNBC’s resident Hip-Hop connoisseur, Ari Melber, was quick to make the connection on the latest episode of “The Beat.” On Monday night (September 11), Melber pointed out how Lil Wayne’s visit was a case of life imitating art. He shared a clip of the episode to his Instagram account, adding in the caption, “How does Lil Wayne pull up in Washington?” The post included a clip of Wayne posing with Harris for a photo-op and Melber explaining that Weezy did, in fact, enter the Harris compound through a “special entrance.”
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In January 2021, Lil Wayne was famously pardoned by Donald Trump as one of his final acts as president. Wayne, who had pleaded guilty to a federal weapons charge in December 2020, was initially facing up to 10 years in prison. A year prior, federal authorities received an anonymous tip the Cash Money OG was transporting drugs on his private jet.
Once the aircraft landed at Miami-Opa Locak Executive Airport, they performed a search of the plane and discovered a gold-plated Remington 1911, .45-caliber handgun loaded with six rounds of ammunition and a bag containing small amounts of cocaine, ecstasy and oxycodone. U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida charged Wayne, who was convicted of a felony gun charge in 2009, with one count of possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon.
BREAKING: President Trump has pardoned Steve Bannon, his former chief strategist, in a flurry of acts during the last hours of his administration.
Among those also granted clemency:
• Lil Wayne
• Kodak Black
• Michael "Harry O" Harris
• Elliott Broidyhttps://t.co/rtQPXcDqdd— NPR (@NPR) January 20, 2021
For awhile, Lil Wayne was all about Trump. In 2020, he seemingly endorsed Trump by meeting with him at the White House and posing for a photo. As Wayne tweeted at the time, “Just had a great meeting with @realdonaldtrump @potus. besides what he’s done so far with criminal reform, the platinum plan is going to give the community real ownership. He listened to what we had to say today and assured he will and can get it done.”
But with Trump out and now vying for a comeback—despite all of his legal troubles—how will Lil Wayne move around the 2024 election? Only time will tell. As Melber told AllHipHop.com, “Lil Wayne’s appearance shows either some general bipartisanship—he can go left and right—or the possibility that once he got his pardon from Trump, Weezy now has less use for him.”
Meanwhile, Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, stayed for the entire Hip-Hop 50 event, which was curated by the Recording Academy’s Black Music Collective and Live Nation Urban. Harris delivered a few words speaking to the importance of Hip-Hop culture.
“Hip-Hop now shapes nearly every aspect of American popular culture, and it reflects the incredible diversity and ingenuity of the American people,” Harris said. “I truly believe Hip-Hop is one of America’s greatest exports.”