Nov 23 2012 7:53 AM EST 4,093
Lil Wayne: Tha Carter V Is 'My Last Album'
But first, Weezy will drop I Am Not a Human Being II on February 19.
By Rob Markman (@RobMarkman) , with reporting by Sway Calloway (@realsway)
Lil Wayne has had a phenomenal run, but after 19 years in the game, the manic rap machine is looking to pull the plug — and it doesn't seem like he's looking back.
Don't be too alarmed: Weezy still has his 10th solo LP, I Am Not a Human Being II, on deck, and on Wednesday, he premiered his brand-new "No Worries" video on MTV alongside correspondent Sway Calloway. When Sway asked about the sonic makeup of Human Being II, Tunechi compared the work to what should be the next chapter in his most famous musical franchise. "It's like a Carter V," he said.
So why not just retitle Human Being II to fit the mood? "Because I know y'all want me around for a little bit, and Carter V is my last album," Weezy revealed. "Man, I've been rappin' since I was 8 years old. I'm 30 now, man. That's a long time, man."
Weezy's next LP will hit shelves February 19, and after that, who knows when Tha Carter V will come or if there will be another album between the two? What's clear is that Wayne has other interests outside the studio, most notably his love for skateboarding and then, of course, there is his TrukFit clothing line. "When I love to do something, I'm fully focused on it and it only. And music sometimes is not that 'it,' " he said.
Weezy put out his first solo album, Tha Block Is Hot, in 1999, but before that, he was cutting his teeth on Cash Money Records as part of the groups Hot Boys and the B.G.'z. If you go on to count his nine solo LPs, four Hot Boys albums, 2006 tag-team album with Birdman (Like Father, Like Son), his 2009 YMCMB compilation (We Are Young Money) and the dizzying number of mixtapes he has dropped, it becomes easier to understand how Wayne may be all rapped out.
"I signed my contract at 11, I went platinum at 14. I'm 30 now. Thank God I haven't put out an album that hasn't went platinum," he said. "To just keep it goin' like that, I think not only am I being greedy, I'm fooling myself to think that it will continue to be that great."