lil wayne, 1998
juvenile’s “Ha” video shoot at magnolia projects (new orleans, la) photo by king yella
Six years ago, in May 2002 [when OZONE was founded], I was probably just going on that Cash Money tour or the Ruff Ryder tour, one of those tours. The tour captivated my life at that point. [My daughter] Reginae was three [years old], and I got a spot in Houston during that time. My daughter is nine now, so since then, she’s had to go through a lot of changes by switching cities and states and stuff like that. That’s big for her. For me, during that time, I’ve moved. I’ve been to school. I re-enrolled in school in Houston and then switched to Phoenix online. I was living in Houston and then I moved to the beautiful city of Miami, and now I’m spending a whole lot of fucking time in Atlanta. Career-wise, I’ve gotten better [in the last six years]. I work a whole lot harder now. My work ethic is crazy because now I know where I want to be later, so I know how hard I have to work now. The females have changed. The money changed; I get different checks now. I don’t even look at certain people no more now. I don’t even have to go into certain parts of Universal [Records] now; things like that. It’s fun. In six years my daughter will be, like, 15. I’m shooting any [boys] that come by my house playing with my daughter. (laughs) Nah, I think in six years, she’s gonna be in this business doing what the hell she wants to do. She’s gonna be known already. She wants to be an actress; she wants to do everything. Six years from now, I would love to be a respected actor. Not a great actor or a well-paid actor; a respected actor. I would love to be the owner or part-owner of a sports team. I would love to be respected as a humanitarian. I would love for somebody to say, “You know, you used to be the best rapper alive.” I don’t want to be the best rapper [in six years] because that might mean that the game just totally sucks if I’m [still] the best rapper. But, um, what do I want to be in six years? Alive. That’s it. - by Lil Wayne, as told to Julia Beverly
OZONE MAG // 79