Lil Wayne recalls how Jay-Z encouraged him to stop writing lyrics, saying that ‘10,000 Bars’ was the last time he wrote down rap lyrics

Throughout his career, Lil Wayne’s admiration for Jay-Z has been well known.

It’s no secret that Lil Wayne quit penning lyrics after discovering that Jay-Z was rapping straight off the top of the dome.

During his appearance on the most recent edition of The Pivot Podcast, Weezy F Baby thought back to the day he gave up writing and chose to rap whatever was on his mind. The last time Wayne penned a rhyme was for his 35-minute album “10,000 Bars” in 2002, according to Wayne. 

“I love everything that crap, except Jay. Like Biggie, love Biggie, and love Jadakiss. I stopped as soon as I heard it,” Wayne said. “You could ask my boy. ‘I heard that n***a Jay-Z don’t write no more.’”

He said, “We went in the studio, and we did ‘10,000 bars,’ and that was the last time I rapped anything off of a piece of paper.”

Lil Wayne showcased his skill as a lyricist on “10,000 Bars,” dissecting iconic hip-hop songs like Ludacris’ “Southern Hospitality,” Jay-Z’s “I Just Wanna Love You,” and Redman’s “Let’s Get Dirty,” among others. It contributed to his rise to solo stardom and his subsequent indelible mark in the annals of rap history.

Lil Wayne’s admiration for Jay-Z has already been well publicized. In an interview for Rolling Stone’s Musicians on Musicians series, Weezy disclosed Jay-Z’s 1999 album Vol. 3 to Lil Baby. S. Carter’s life and times altered his course in life. He even had the words from Vol. 3 tattooed on his body since the record held such sentimental value for him.  

“I really [purchased] the automobile that the rapper was talking about in the first record. At that moment, he said, “That was my album.” “Jay also spoke incoherently. With the recording, he lost his mind. I had the album’s lyrics tattooed on me and everything. Some of the songs I have are remakes of those album’s spinoffs.”

But not everyone shared Lil Wayne’s enthusiasm for Jay-Z. Wayne said last month that Birdman made fun of him for supposedly attempting to sound like Jay-Z on songs. 

He said to Rolling Stone, “You’re going to start sounding like your favorite artist when you find them.” “It was Birdman and them who finally made me say, ‘Bro, I’m sick of you sounding like Jay-Z in every song you do.’” You’re not Jay-Z.