Lil Wayne Says That His Biggest Influence Is Missy Elliott

Rappers are starting to realize just how lucrative podcasting can be amid the coronavirus pandemic. Hot New Hip Hop speculated today that Joe Budden’s podcast may have broken the floodgates for other performing artists to throw their hats in the ring, but regardless, it’s true that more and more artists are getting into the business.

According to the outlet, DJ Khaled has also joined the podcasting world after he teamed up with Amazon Music for the creation of The First One. Ironically, Khaled titled it The First One, despite the fact he is late to the game.

DJ Khaled did manage to secure a top-notch guest with Lil’ Wayne, however, which marked his very first episode. Amid their conversation on the podcast, Lil’ Wayne shared surprising information about his formative years, claiming how Missy Elliott was actually one of his biggest influences.

Khaled asked him who was his biggest influence in the Hot Boys days, and without missing a beat, Lil Wayne responded with conviction, “Missy Elliott,” before going on to say that she was his favorite rapper. Wayne went on to say it was the reason why he was making “so many sounds.”

According to Lil’ Wayne, when he worked with Mannie Fresh, he always told him to throw in little sounds like, “brrrr,” and “heeheeheeha,” and that’s why the track, “Block Burner,” is one of his favorites because he took a lot of inspiration from Missy Elliott at the time.

Wayne went on to say that Mannie Fresh played a crucial role in getting him to make the right sounds in the style of Missy Elliott. Regarding podcasting, Lil’ Wayne has his own program as well in which he features some of the biggest artists in rap.

For instance, earlier this year, Lil’ Wayne had Eminem on the program and the two rappers shared who they thought was the greatest rapper.

Eminem explained how he had immense respect for Tupac Shakur, because not only did he have poetic skills, but he also had the emotion behind the words. Eminem said Tupac, to this day, makes him feel some type of way.