50 Cent supports the NFL's decision to tap Kendrick Lamar as the next Super Bowl Halftime Show performer, despite criticism by fans, who think Lil Wayne should have been the one selected.
“I mean, it was a choice,” the 49-year-old rapper shared in a conversation with The Talk.
“I think Kendrick deserves, as a solo artist right now, he's the guy. But having the game be in New Orleans, having the game be played in New Orleans I can see why they got the Wayne... I think the way the last show was put together with me, Eminem, Dr. Dre, Kendrick was there then and Mary J. Blige.”
Sheryl Underwood, who co-hosts The Talk, suggested to 50 Cent that Lamar might bring out New Orleans rap heroes like Juvenile, but 50 Cent insisted that Lamar follows his own path, bringing out artists who have been important to his career.
“He should bring out the people that he featured on big records with,” he said.
Many rappers spoke up on Wayne not getting the gig when it went to Lamar, prompting a response from the How to Love artist.
“I must say thank you to every voice, every opinion, all the care, all the love and support out there. Your words turned into arms and held me up when I tried to fall back,” the rapper, 41, said in an Instagram post.
“That hurt. It hurt a lot. You know what I’m talking about — it hurt a whole lot,” Wayne said in reference to the gig-pass.
“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. So I blame myself for that."
“But,” he added, “I thought that was nothing better than that spot and that stage and that platform in my city, so it hurt. It hurt a whole lot.”
Wayne gushed that his fans are “f------ amazing,” adding, “It made me feel like s--- not getting this opportunity, and when I felt like s---, you guys reminded me that I ain’t s--- without y’all. And that’s an amazing reality.”
“So, like I said, it broke me, and I’m just trying to put me back together,” the rapper said concluding the message, thanking “all of my peers, my friends, my family, my homies on the sports television and everybody repping me. I really appreciate that, I really do. I feel like I let all of y’all down by not getting that opportunity, but I’m working on me … So thank you.”
