After expressing his frustration at the NFL booking Kendrick Lamar to perform at Super Bowl LIX, Lil Wayne is sharing his feelings toward the situation

Jack Irvin has over five years of experience working in digital journalism, and he’s worked at PEOPLE since 2022. Jack started in the industry with internships at Rolling Stone and Entertainment Tonight, and he worked as a writer for publications including Bustle, MTV News, Shondaland, L’Officiel USA, Ladygunn, Flood and PopCrush before joining PEOPLE. In his current role, Jack covers daily music news and has interviewed both up-and-coming and established artists including Dolly Parton, Michelle Branch, Ashanti, Cyndi Lauper, Normani, Carly Rae Jepsen and Coco Jones.

US rapper Lil Wayne poses in the press room during the MTV Video Music Awards at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, on September 12, 2023.

Lil Wayne in September 2023.Credit :  ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty

Lil Wayne is opening up about not getting chosen to perform at the 2025 Super Bowl Halftime show in his New Orleans hometown.

After expressing his frustration at the NFL booking Kendrick Lamar to perform at Super Bowl LIX in February, the 42-year-old Grammy winner is sharing details of his feelings toward the situation in a new Rolling Stone cover story interview.

Despite previously wanting to take the stage at the 2025 Super Bowl Halftime show, Wayne said of the future, “They stole that feeling. I don’t want to do it. It was perfect.”

At one point during the interview, Wayne played his upcoming Tha Carter 6 album for the reporter. “They coulda had some music… But instead they got rappin’,” he said in between songs. “They f—ed up.”

Rolling Stone released its May 2025 issue cover featuring Lil Wayne, the groundbreaking hip-hop pioneer whose influence spans three decades.

Lil Wayne for ‘Rolling Stone’.Theo Wenner

The “A Milli” rapper also detailed the efforts he made in hopes of securing the halftime show slot. “To perform, it’s a bunch of things [the NFL] going to tell you to do and not do, asses to kiss and not kiss,” he told the outlet.

“If you notice, I was a part of things I’ve never been a part of. Like [Michael] Rubin’s all-white parties. I’m doing s— with Tom Brady. That was all for that,” added Wayne. “You ain’t never seen me in them types of venues. I ain’t Drake. I ain’t out there smiling like that everywhere. I’m in the stu’, smokin’ and recording.”

In September 2024, Lamar was announced as the 2025 Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime show performer. Days later, Wayne posted a video expressing his disappointment for not being selected for the hometown show. “It hurt a whole lot,” he said at the time.

Lil Wayne performs onstage during the 2025 Dreamville Music Festival at Dorothea Dix Park on April 5, 2025 in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Lil Wayne in Raleigh on April 5, 2025.Prince Williams/WireImage

“I blame myself for not being mentally prepared for a letdown and for automatically mentally putting myself in that position like somebody told me that was my position,” he explained.

“But I thought there was nothing better than that spot and that stage and that platform in my city, so it hurt,” Wayne added.

In a December appearance on The Skip Bayless Show, Wayne revealed he had a conversation with Lamar, 37, about the ordeal. “I’ve spoken to him and I wished him all the best and told him [he] better kill it,” he said at the time.