A Year of Lil Wayne: Drake, Tunechi, and Barbie

Day 134: "Truffle Butter" feat. Lil Wayne and Drake – Nicki Minaj, The Pinkprint , 2014

Today, Nicki Minaj lit the internet on fire by posting two pictures on Instagram. In those pictures were her and Drake, her former superstar music-making buddy and Young Money labelmate, who dubiously became her enemy via alliances revolving around him beefing with her then-boyfriend Meek Mill. Nicki and Meek are no longer together, thus thawing the ice and allowing Drake and Nicki to work together again. This incidentally heaps infinitely more Ls upon noted loss-taker Meek Mill, and said Ls have become the main narrative because honestly who cares about music when there is DRAMAAAAAAA! The story has, in any case, since been swamped by Beyoncé's pregnancy announcement. It's a busy day on Instagram!

But for fans of music, the photos were interesting because they suggested the return of something that was once commonplace but hasn't existed since 2014. In the second one, seen above, Nicki, Drake, and Lil Wayne are all together—Mack Maine, the label president, gets a shout out—in what looks like a studio. Wayne, of course, "discovered" Drake and Nicki Minaj and signed them to Young Money, making them the stars of a label otherwise slim on star power (sorry Gudda Gudda). In the intervening years, Drake and Nicki Minaj became two of the biggest stars in music, period, more or less replacing Wayne in the process (Nicki is one of maybe three rappers alive who can go toe-to-toe with Wayne, and Drake somehow is now the most famous rapper in the world).

Pursuant with his duties as a good mentor, Wayne has always seemed graciously enthusiastic about their success even when that has meant stepping to the side, but his enthusiasm has always been best manifested when he hops on a track with one or the other. Or occasionally both of them, as happens twice on The Pinkprint. The single, "Only," involved Wayne and Drake creepily insinuating they wanted to fuck Nicki, and it became a hit. The other song, "Truffle Butter," has no hook and just features the three of them rapping a cypher on an understated beat.

This one's the for-the-love-of-the-game, real hip-hop track. They even indulge their rap nerd sides and all play off each other's verses, opening with the same construction. I don't love this song—all three have rapped substantially better elsewhere—but I do appreciate it because it's pretty much the only instance of all this star power being united and there being no attempt made to make a hit. This is what I imagine Nicki, Wayne, and Drake would make if they were left to just play around in the studio. Which, given that they are all so big now that they have no reason to answer to anyone, they totally could do again. Hopefully that's what this picture is signalling. In any case, I don't have too much to say about the song, but I do think Wayne's closing bars are exemplary even for him and by far the highlight of this song. I very distinctly remember running back just his verse several times the first time I heard this song and being thrilled because I hadn't had that feeling in a while. The bars are as follows:

And, well, that just about sums it up.

Photo via Nicki Minaj on Instagram.

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