Lil Wayne defined the mixtape era. From the Dedication tapes to the Da Drought projects, Weezy’s mixtape run truly deserves to be added to the U.S. Library of Congress. Unfortunately, that does fans little service when they can’t even access these projects on their favorite streaming services. Thankfully, Wayne’s team appears to be working towards resolving the matter.
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Last year, fans were blessed with the re-release of No Ceilings which finally arrived on streaming platforms. Though some songs didn’t end up getting cleared, the majority of the project is easily found on Apple Music and Spotify. Apparently, there will be another classic Wayne tape that will be available for widespread consumption on digital streaming platforms next year.
“Spoiler alert,” Mack Maine, Weezy’s manager, told Billboard this week. “We have [a mixtape] coming, probably in January.”
He didn’t reveal much information outside of that but, unlike No Ceilings, Wayne and co. managed to clear all of the songs on the tracklist. “Shout-out to the fans. If we could, we’d put all of [the tapes] up in one month,” he continued. “It’s a tedious process. It’s not like a one-day thing. But we’re going to hopefully get all those mixtapes [up].”
Perhaps, it could be one of the Dedication projects. Last year, DJ Drama confirmed that they’re trying to bring the entire series to DSPs after Jae Millz commented on how Wayne never got paid for any of his mixtapes. Still, Maine explained that the mixtape era was great for Weezy’s career, overall.
“The mixtape game has definitely been nice for Wayne and a big part of his career,” Maine says. “You can do whatever you want, say whatever you want, just go bananas. It’s kind of like practice for a lyricist.”
Which Wayne tape do you want to see on streaming services? Let us know in the comment section below.