Lil Wayne has a vast discography from which to curate a set list, but he declines to perform one song that fans have begged him to sing.
The rationale behind this choice was made evident at a recent performance, when Weezy responded to requests from the crowd to perform “Mona Lisa,” his song from Tha Carter V (2018) with Kendrick Lamar.
K. Dot clarified that it’s just because the song is too difficult to recall, dispelling rumors that his recent spat with Wayne’s former protégé Drake had anything to do with it.
“In the last three concerts, I’ve seen this twice already. “Mona Lisa” was written on a sign that someone had [..] You real Lil Wayne fans know that I don’t know the words to my own song.
“You know how hard that fucking song is, girl?” he said. [Hustles the song’s lyrics]. Do you understand what I mean? I’m going to learn that shit even though I don’t like to rap the words. I will acquire it. I understand you.
Lil Wayne has acknowledged on previous occasions that he struggles to remember his lyrics.
The “A Milli” hitmaker disclosed that, when writing songs, he has to Google his own lyrics to make sure he hasn’t already sung them. This was during a 2020 episode of his Young Money Radio show featuring special guest Eminem.
“If you look in my phone history, with Google history, and you press the letter L, it comes up ‘Lil Wayne Lyrics.’ I literally have to Google my own lyrics to make sure I didn’t say certain stuff before,” he said.
Em admitted to doing the same thing, replying: “Oh my God! I swear to God I do that too! I just did that shit last night. Man, that’s funny as hell. I been doing that for the past five years! You be like, ‘Oh, I knew I flipped this before.’
“It’s crazy because when you’re really into the craft you gotta come up with a new pocket, a new cadence, melodies. You can’t do the same flows, none of that.”
This method isn’t exclusive to the studio as a video emerged two years later of Lil Wayne Googling the lyrics to “Shooter” while performing the song with Robin Thicke.
Last year, the 41-year-old rapper shed more light on his songwriting fatigue and said he no longer writes down rhymes because he’s “too old and too tired” to read from a piece of paper in the booth.
“Thank God for the iPhone. Before, I would have to remind myself all day because I don’t write nothing down. They always be thinking that it’s some type of achievement,” he told co-hosts Michael Irvin and Skip Bayless on FOX Sports’ Undisputed.
“No, I don’t write because I’m too old and too tired to be trying to read. You know, they got the iPhone now so I go ahead and record the voice memo.”