In the music world, beefs between rappers are nothing new, in fact they’re practically part of the business model.
Having Eli Manning and Lil Wayne involved in one is definitely new, however.
Via Tom Rock of Newsday, the Giants quarterback has found himself in the crosshairs of the New Orleans rapper, in a story that only needs a Donald Trump tweet to make it the most 2018 thing ever.
Things started innocently enough, with Weezy was sitting next to Giants wideout Odell Beckham Jr. during his interview with ESPN. When Manning was asked about his receiver’s comments, he tried to sidestep the issue by saying he didn’t follow Lil Wayne.
So Tuesday, the rapper posted a video on Instagram which defended Beckham, and seemed hurt that Manning wasn’t a fan.
Citing their shared New Orleans background, Lil Wayne said he was a longtime defender of Manning, who was able to win two Super Bowls long before his big brother did.
“I’m the first one to back you up and be like ‘He got two rings before his brother,’” he said. “Here you are talking about how you don’t watch Lil Wayne much. That’s fine. I’m cool with you. I don’t care what you watch or what you listen to or nothing like that. But hometown love, . . . You don’t have to do me like that.
“I didn’t say anything bad about you, man. Dang! So I ain’t going to say anything bad about you now. You still hometown love. I still [expletive] with you Eli. It’s all good.””
Lil Wayne was smoking something while recording the video (there is no substance abuse testing in rap), and offered Manning a suggestion: “You probably need to bang some ‘Carter V’ before a game. Just a consideration.”
“Carter V” is the name of his new album (which we just effectively promoted), and it’s probably not a coincidence that there were songs from it playing when the Giants take the practice field this morning.
And I’ve got to be honest, I now want to know if Birdman has any thoughts on Peyton Manning, just to bring this thing full circle.