Whenever Nicki Minaj goes live on Instagram, the Queen rapper never fails to entertain, and Thursday night was no different. In a matter of hours, she publicly co-signed rising artist BIA and announced their new single “Whole Lotta Money (Remix),” stopped Drake from shooting his shot at BIA, and discussed why she doesn’t typically like to work with other female rappers.
Another interesting moment from Nicki’s recent IG Live session was when her mentor Lil Wayne hopped on for a bit to clear the air about rumors that he had gotten married as well as answer some of Nicki’s music-related questions. At one point, the Beam Me Up Scotty artist informs Wayne that Complex recently ranked his guest feature on “Seeing Green” as the fifth-best verse of the year, and fans were able to see his reaction to the news in real-time.
“So your verse one ‘Seeing Green’ won the fifth-best verse of the year so far,” Nicki tells Lil Wayne during the IG Live, and the legendary rapper immediately scoffs at the ranking.
“That sucks,” Weezy says, matter-of-factly. Nicki laughs at his response and questions if he feels that way because he’s not ranked at #1. “A fifth, what the hell?”
Nicki Minaj continues to egg him on by reminding him that his verse was judged against every single rap release of 2021, to which Lil Wayne says, “I’m colder than every f*cking rap verse that was released this year.”
In order from top to bottom, the rest of Complex’s top five verses of 2021 include Drake’s verse on “Lemon Pepper Freestyle,” J. Cole’s first verse on “Let Go My Hand,” Lil Baby’s feature on Drake’s “Wants and Needs,” and Tyler, the Creator’s fourth verse on “WILSHIRE.” Considering that one of his artists has two songs ranked in the top five slots, Lil Wayne is definitely still winning at the end of the day, but it’s inspiring to see the Funeral rapper remain so passionate about his output this deep into his career.
If you haven’t listened to it in a while, you can revisit Young Money’s three-way lyrical onslaught on “Seeing Green” below. Do you agree with Lil Wayne? Is his feature on “Seeing Green” the pinnacle of rap verses in 2021?