Lil Wayne opened the 31st Annual ESPY Awards with a performance of his hit track, “A Milli.” He offered a sporty twist on the track, which you can check out below.
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He later introduced WNBA legend Sue Bird to the podium and showed up wearing a “Mamba Mentality” sweater with an LSU hat supporting women in sports.
The performance caps off a thrilling run for Weezy. Last month, it was announced that he is set to receive the highest honor at the upcoming BMI R&B/Hip-Hop Awards: the BMI Icon Award. The awards are a private event and will be held at at LIV Nightclub in Miami Beach on September 6. It will be hosted by BMI President and CEO Mike O’Neill and vice president Catherine Brewton.
BMI, or Broadcast Music, Inc., is a performance rights organization that represents songwriters and composers when it comes to licensing and royalties. According to Billboard, the awards show will “salute the songwriters, producers and music publishers of the past year’s 35 most-performed R&B/hip-hop songs in the U.S. from BMI’s repertoire. The BMI R&B/hip-hop song, songwriter, producer, and publisher of the Year will also be named.” Additionally, there will be a tribute to the 50th anniversary of hip-hop.
In a statement, Brewton said, “As a legend and superstar of hip-hop, Lil Wayne is synonymous with the genre. He’s been part of the BMI family since 2002, and we’re proud to name him a BMI Icon in keeping with his reputation as one of the most influential artists of all time. We’re also excited to pay tribute to the 50th anniversary of hip-hop with a celebration that reflects the genre’s legacy, which has infiltrated entertainment, fashion, sports, and much more.”
The rap icon also recently spoke to Rolling Stone and answered a range of questions, including whether or not he was thinking about retirement. To that, he said, “When you work the way I work, it gets strenuous, and it might flash. And even when you say it, I don’t think you actually mean stop working or doing music. You probably just mean you want to retire from everything else but the music [laughs]. When you’re an artist — a real artist like myself, I was born this way. So I don’t think that the real true artists and pioneers, they never retire. They died doing this.”
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