I woke up early this morning and made my way to the living room to grab my phone and catch up on missed texts. Standard morning routine from me which ranges anywhere from 2am - 4am. This morning there were a few notifications on my iPhone but only one mattered. It was from my boy Lito and it read, “No Ceilings on Spotify.” Now some of you might start your day with a casual stretch or with a glass of water but when I get a text like this, I grab the AirPods, press play, and disregard everything else I was supposed to do.
Oh yeah… A lot of you probably don’t know the significance or meaning of the words No Ceilings now on Spotify so let me clarify. Lil Wayne dropped the No Ceilings mixtape on October 31, 2009. The album had so much buzz on the blogs and on the mixtape scene back then. My homie Stro and I carpooled to work a few days after the mixtape released and I had it downloaded on a CDR so we could BUMP it in my 2004 Acura Integra on our drive to work. We both already had started to memorize lyrics so we weren’t scared to flex a few bars if needed on that car ride. On our way home from work, Stro and I thought it was a good time to hit our boy Lito up on speaker phone. Lito was out of state attending University of Michigan but we knew he was up on the new Weezy. That phone call was so hype. No Ceilings was a fire mixtape and Stro, Lito, and I were all in.
If you’re reading this I’m sure you already know my love of rap music. And here’s one of the things I love most about rap. While you may hear a Lil Wayne song, you might nod your head in approval or maybe even rap in your car a bit. But when I listen to Weezy I do all of those same things but I have vivid memories of different friends of mine through various times of Weezy’s career. Take my brother for example….
When the Hot Boys came out Todd was ALL OVER THEM. Cash Money Records was a movement out of New Orleans and the South in the late 90’s and they had dope energy with platinum chains dangling from their necks. Birdman and Slim started the label following Master P’s blueprint with No Limit Records. The roster was loaded with Juvenile, BG, Weezy, the Big Tymers, and the Hot Boys with all of them getting laced with beats by Mannie Fresh.
Juvenile popped first but when BG dropped “Bling Bling” it was a smash that everybody knew the words to. Big bro and I made sure that our mom referred to her jewelry as bling going forward and she obliged. Anytime I hear or see Hot Boys I think of Todd all gassed up on Cash Money. You probably haven’t watched the “Bling Bling” video in 20 years so now is a good time to check it out again.
In 2004 I was living in Arizona but I would always come back to San Diego to hang with family and friends. My homie George was living in PB at the time and I remember going over to his pad to chop it up about sports and music like we always have. George and I see eye-to-eye on most rap and we always keep each other up on the new hot sh*t. George usually doesn’t come with a hard push on artists unless he feels I’m missing the boat but he was pushing the new Lil Wayne album heavy. Weezy had just dropped The Carter in the summer of ‘04 and I was sleeping. I knew Wayne had talent but I didn’t know he had The Carter in him. I hadn’t even heard the singles at that time because I was too buried in the Underground Hip Hop movement to know what was going on outside of it.
The first song I listened to with George was “Go DJ” and I was floored. Wayne was no longer the young rapper from the Hot Boys who had solo projects on the side. Wayne was now officially a major player who was about to kick down the doors to the rap world. He was only 21 at the time of the album drop so he was basically the Fernando Tatis Jr. of the rap world back then.
From that first time I heard “Go DJ” I became a Lil Wayne stan and was on the lookout for all albums, mixtapes, and features with him. To follow up The Carter was a hard thing to do but Weezy did what Weezy does. He elevated and came out with an even doper album with mainstream appeal. The Carter II dropped in late 2005 and it was massive. Weezy started to mature with his subject matter too. The lyrical content kept getting better and Weezy was aging like some fine syrup in a plastic cup.
Around the time of The Carter II you could find Weezy on everybody’s songs with great features. He was also releasing mixtapes left and right and a pace that few rappers have been able to keep up with. For those diehard Wayne fans, if you utter the words, Mixtape Weezy they will light up. Wayne had the Dedication series with DJ Drama which gave listeners banger after banger.
There were many days working in the Nordstrom mailroom in AZ with my boy Ray Rob bumpin’ Weezy NON STOP. We had all the albums and all the mixtapes and kept them flowing while we worked. Of course turning the volume down when any managers came by to interrupt our tunes. But when they left? That volume dial was turned up again and we were rapping and folding clothes to ship them to rich people all around the US. Nobody could match the hustle and work ethic Ray and I had in those long days in the mailroom. Shout out to Mixtape Weezy for giving us the blueprint and soundtrack to hustle hard for a little over minimum wage back then.
Eventually I did move back to San Diego in 2007 but the location didn’t interrupt my Weezy fandom. Most of my crew bumped Weezy and if you were a coworker who liked Lil Wayne too? Instant homies. That brings us all the way back to Stro and Lito.
Stro, Lito, and I were all different ages but we all loved sports, played ball, and bumped rap all the time. When we found out that each of us were big Wayne fans it made our bond that much stronger. To this day I don’t even know if Lito and I would have become homies if it weren’t for that one day while he was interning when Weezy got brought up. Was I bumpin Lil Wayne in that corner office and he overheard the tunes? I can’t remember that but I do remember the energy Lito, Stro, and I had on that speaker phone call back in 2009 when we all talked about our favorite songs from No Ceilings right when it dropped.
I finally got to see Weezy in concert in 2014 when he performed with Drake for the Drake vs. Lil Wayne tour when it hit SD. It was a Street Fighter 2 type vibes throughout the performance and they both killed it. We had a dope crew at that show and it seemed like every fan knew all of the lyrics from both Weezy and Drizzy Drake. Below is some footage to take you back to that show.
Over the years Weezy has remained one of the few artists that I’ll always peep when they drop. Not as consistent as he used to be but he’s always good for a banger or two on most releases.
So when I wake up on a morning like today and see a text that No Ceilings is now on Spotify it’s officially an event. If you don’t know the mixtape, I’ve linked it below. It’s missing a few of the really good songs which is a bummer but I’m guessing it’s due to sample issues. If you want to listen to the OG No Ceilings, you can hit Datpiff to hear bangers like “Ice Cream Paint Job,” “D.O.A.” and “Run This Town.”
I’ve also linked my Best of Lil Wayne playlist if you feel like letting Wayne radio ride. Shout out to the man, the myth, the legend… WEEZY!