I used to hate on Lil’ Wayne. I was wrong. I thought he was – as 15-year-old youngsta – the worst rapper in all of Cash Money, besides Baby. I mean B.G. and Juvenile were the hot cats in the Hot Boyz. Wayne was the lil’ dude getting a free ride on the backs of real rappers. B.G.’s song ‘Bling Bling’ featuring Wayne on the hook, put the word ‘Bling’ in the dictionary. That wasn’t luck. Wayne has that NOLA magic.

Ten years and millions of CD’s sold later—Lil’ Wayne, 26, has that LL Cool J circa 1985 buzz, or Pac in 1991. This New Orleans native is literally carrying Hip Hop on his back in the age of slumping record sales, lackluster product and old (in their 30’s and 40’s) rappers still hanging around. If any rapper is ‘right now’ – especially with the youngstas—it’s him. He recently was named the musical guest on the fall premier of Saturday Night Live airing in September, featuring America’s new golden boy Michael Phelps. Supposedly the King of Beijing—8 gold medals and a handful of world records deep—listened to Lil’ Wayne on his i-pod before he Speedo’d to victory.

Lil’ Wayne’s latest single “Got Money” opens with talk about Katrina and the government not having answers for the people still suffering in NOLA and all over the Gulf Coast.

VIDEO: Lil’ Wayne—Got Money

Now that Gustav is bearing down on Lil’ Weezy’s hometown I’ve come to my latest understanding that God moves through Hip Hop – sending us messages of warning. Lil’ Wayne will be on the biggest stage of his life when he hits SNL just weeks after what looks like another water born disaster for the Gulf coast. Gustav is making George W and Cheney stay away from the GOP convention —and there’s the rub.

Katrina and it’s aftermath—not the war, not Guantanamo, or illegal wire taping, or oppressive immigration policies, not 9/11, not the mortgage crisis or the high gas prices – is the greatest ugly testament to the Bush years and the GOP congress that did his bidding until ’06 when they lost power. Katrina is the albatross around Bush’s neck as he waltz’s into the sunset, leaving parts of America literally in ruins. Of all this administrations fuck up’s Katrina is the one that will live in infamy.

3 years after Katrina and we still don’t know if the levees will hold. Folks are still living in trailers, whole neighborhoods of the city – especially the black neighborhoods, like the 9th Ward – are still devastated.

We are going to have to watch Gustav hit the coast and be reminded that when push came to shove Gdub and the government he controls let America down to the point of losing an entire city.

Who knows what Wayne’s actual politics are – he hasn’t been a saint in his career, but now he is thrust into spotlight at just the right moment in history – representing the forgotten victims of Katrina/Rita/Gustav and embodying the present and future of Hip Hop as his city – the birth place of Jazz, Hip Hop’s great-grandfather—stares at a swirling doom of wind, wave and rain.

Wayne is on BET’s list of rappers/moguls that are making ten’s of millions in the biz, but he will have the opportunity of lifetime worth more than money when he steps on the SNL stage with a mic in his hand. God works in mysterious ways.
—Kevin Weston

VIDEO: Lil’ Wayne—A Milli