Lil Wayne says he was into Missy Elliott before he knew who Jay-Z was

Lil Wayne was a fan of Missy Elliott before he knew about Jay-Z. That’s what he said during their sit-down on TV One’s UNCENSORED.

“As a kid before Jay — this before I even knew a Jay-Z existed, I was into Missy Elliott,” Wayne told Missy. “It was because you were able to, you would say things that I would want to say as I’m rapping. You not only made me like—You made me love it. And I became so interested in you. And what happened was I bought the album and did not know that you really was spitting like … You know what I mean. You know I spit that verse to you all the time.”

He also noted he listened to Cee-Lo and said he was “very much into Noreaga.”

When discussing the impact Tha Carter III had on shaping his career, Wayne said, “I think that was probably the first time we noticed — you know what I mean for me, I started really getting that praise you know and I started really accept … Lovin’ it and embracing it. … just seeing people in the street or just from hearing from other artists, so really, the confidence was just strong.”

“I come from the days we as in artists — we as in Juvenile and B.G. we checking the Billboard magazine to see where this and that. That don’t exist now,” he added. “When we dropped Tha Block Is Hot, it sold like 114,000 or 95,000 the first week and that was the equivalent or the impact of selling a million and I remember I was like, ‘I can’t do nothing but thank God.’”

Wayne’s chat with Missy follows the announcement that she’ll be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

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