In an unlikely pairing, rapper Lil Wayne and Katie Couric discuss Syrup and marijuana use-and the artist's penchant for bowling-in an exclusive interview for CBS.
Lil' Wayne: "I am gangster, Miss Katie." Katie Couric: "What does that mean, when you say 'I'm a gangster'?" Wayne: I don't take nothin' from no one. I do what I wanna do. And I'm gonna do that until the day I die. And if I can't do that, then I'll just die."
The tough-talking rapper, only 26, insists that what you see is not necessarily what you get. "I have 'misunderstood' [tattooed] on my face because I do feel that a lot of times I'm very misunderstood." Understood or misunderstood, rapper Wayne's doing just fine: the rapper's album "Tha Carter III" sold nearly 3 million copies, the Number 1 selling album of 2008, his sixth solo rap album.
Fans of rapper Lil Wayne include fellow artist and singer Justin Timberlake, who admires Lil Wayne's fierce independence. In an age of highly-packaged stars, Wayne exemplifies an outlaw. Unfortunately the law is catching up with the rapper, as police have lately targeted the artistt, now serving at least 8 months in prison at Rikers. "I believe that music is another form of news," Lil Wayne told CBS News anchor Katie Couric. "Music is another form of journalism to me so I have to cover all the areas with my album."
A secondary passion for Lil Wayne, which few could guess: bowling. The rapper's has been bowling since he was 16, owning four custom-made bowling balls. "It’s not a fancy ball, but it’s designed for your hand and your hand only, your strength. I bowl with the curve and so it makes it curve," he explains. "I am not a professional bowler," says Wayne, "I repeat, I am not a professional bowler." During a trip to the bowling alley with Couric, for the interview, Wayne humored the news anchor by using a house ball and showing off his curve. "If you talk to a professional bowler, he would explain or she’ll explain how your own ball and your own shoes and perfect lanes are important," Wayne said.
Rapper Lil Wayne says he started writing songs when he was just a kid, growing up in New Orleans and living in one of the area's poorest wards. "In New Orleans, reality is handed to you very, very early. That’s the difference between New Orleans and everywhere else." After Hurricane Katrina hit, Wayne donated $200,000 to rebuild a neighborhood park where he played as a kid. "For me, it was always a way of showing someone my intelligence, a way of showing someone who I really am," says the 26-year-old star, who made straight A's in school.
Wayne shares his real first name, Dwayne, with his father, saying that the rapper dropped the D because, "I’m a junior and my father is livin' ...he's never been in my life, so I don't wanna be Dwayne." Asked if his father knows this, Wayne says, "He knows now." As a kid, Wayne talked his way into a record company where he did all kinds of odd jobs. Then one day a producer took him into the studio. Wayne: "So I’m in the studio and they put on a beat and I would rap and they kept it. And I put out my first album when I was 12.
Couric: Why do you think your music is really sort of hitting its stride [now]? Wayne: "Well, I worked very, very hard Miss Katie. I love to work. We don’t approach things like, 'we’re good.' We just approach things like, 'we gonna work and we’re gonna work hard' and hard work pays off. If you work that hard, you’re gonna get good. And good turns to great. And hopefully, I’m the definition of that."
Couric: How’s the process work? You say, "I’m gonna write a song about..." Wayne: Oh, no. I like the music first. Have to hear the music first and the music makes me feel a certain way. I have to pick the music first. Couric: And then you write the words. Wayne: I don’t write anything down. I just record it. Couric: How do you remember it? Wayne: That’s the best part about it. When anybody asks me that, I always tell them "it’s because I really am it.
Lil Wayne’s current tour is called "I Am Music." The words are even tattooed over his right eye. He travels from city to city with two personal buses: one for sleeping and one outfitted with a full recording studio. The private bus gives Lil Wayne privacy to indulge in some habits questioned by the media, like his penchant for the drink deemed "syrup", aka cough syrup. Wayne: It's what you take when you have a very bad cough or flu or something. Couric: You were pretty addicted to it for a while. Wayne: It’s bad because it messes up your stomach; your stomach hurt real, real bad. It’s an excruciating pain, but I got through it. Couric: So you’re not drinking it [syrup] anymore? Wayne: Not addicted to it.
Wayne also has an appreciation for marijuana, the rapper says he uses it medicinally to help with severe migraines or headaches that he says "make me wanna kill myself." "I will stand up for marijuana any day... I'm a rapper. That’s who I am, Miss Katie, and I am a gangster and I do what I want. And I love to smoke [marijuana]. And I smoke."
Marijuana may help Wayne’s headaches, but it’s done nothing for his peace of mind in terms of police and his current legal status; the rapper's been arrested twice on drug possession charges, in just the past three years. But those are the least of Lil Wayne's troubles: the rapper is currently serving a one-year prison sentence at Riker's Island (New York) related to weapons charges; the rapper will serve at least 8 months of the term. Lil Wayne began serving the sentence in early March, and is slated for release as early as November 2010.
Father of a 10-year-old daughter and a 2-month-old son, Wayne says: "I’m not an example for how people should live their lives," he says. "Never in my life would I ever set out to be an example for people on how to live their lives. If you need an example for how to live, then you just shouldn’t have been born. Straight up. I am a great role model, because I’m only a role model for two, and that’s all. That’s what matters to me - those two [children]. So why don’t you worry about yours, and let them worry about theirs? I got mine."