Lil Wayne is well known to be one of the most popular artists to follow the NBA closely, and every now and again he talks to the press about basketball as if he was an expert. Truth is, he’s a die-hard fan of the game, and recently he spit out a freestyle to honor Lou Williams as he announced his retirement last month.
Along with the rap, the musician also dedicated a heartfelt message to the three-time Sixth Man of the Year, in a video posted this past Wednesday on social media. Williams played his final campaign in Atlanta saying he’s ready to hang up his basketball shoes at the age of 36.
After Wayne’s freestyle, he mentioned many memorable moments of his 17-year-career in the league, everything from ignoring the NBA Bubble in 2020 to go buy some chicken wings, to holding the record for most points coming off the bench.
Take a look at the hip hop artist’s tribute to Williams and judge it for yourselves:
Lil Wayne spits a freestyle and honors Lou Williams for his NBA Retirement 🔥 pic.twitter.com/bEtnnbSm0m
— Wave Check🌊 (@thewavecheckk) July 26, 2023
“My n-gga Lou Williams, man, 17 years in the game, finally retiring,” Wayne said. “You the hardest n-gga in the world when you know the whole fucking NBA community know that you went to the fucking club to get some fucking lemon pepper Lou wings.
“And I know you know that if that would’ve been anybody else, them n-ggas would not be in the NBA! … N-ggas got songs after you, and you deserve every single bar, you deserve all your flowers, man.”
Many other celebrities known to follow the sport then commented under Wayne’s Twitter post. While Drake said “the greatest ever,” Hawks teammate Trae Young also replied: “This tough af [three fire emojis].” Another who shared was Lou’s former LA Clippers teammate Patrick Beverly. “U snapped [four fire emojis],” he wrote.
The player posted a video in June announcing his retirement through a sentimental video narrated by his daughter
Last month, Williams announced his retirement with a special video which has his daughter Jada as the protagonist, narrating some sort of letter to his father while she mentioned a long number of accomplishments throughout his NBA career.
“You’ve had a lot of thoughts over these few years,” she started. “Finally today, I’m happy you found peace with your decision. You were a young dreamer out of South Gwinnett. One of the last to be drafted straight to the league. You were eager to make a name for yourself.”
Check out Lou’s tribute video which served as announcement of his retirement from the basketball courts:
Back in February, Williams went on the “Brick By Brick” podcast and made it clear he wasn’t afraid of retirement whenever he would make the decision.
“Not at all, I’m embracing it. I speak so freely about it, because I don’t know when I’ll retire,” he said. “I have the freedom to make that decision, whether it’s this year, next year, or I wanna keep going…cuz I can still play at a high level. It’s not a lack of talent, I think I’m just mentally in a space where I’m ready to give my energy to something else.”
