Lil Wayne defended Ja Morant’s recent gun controversy during a conversation on the All The Smoke podcast.
On the latest episode of Showtime’s talk show, Weezy was asked about his thoughts on Morant, with the rap veteran admitting he “put himself in [Ja’s] shoes” to remember what it was like to be young with money.
“The best I could do is remember when I was younger and my homies, my squad, my ni**as around me, at the age where they don’t have money,” he said. “I’m the one with the money, and I don’t even know how much money I’ll end up with, but I’m the one with some money in my pocket — I know I got a bright future.
“My homies, they ain’t on a payroll. They my homies, they live good when they with me. When I gotta go to work and all that, they gotta go back to being who they gotta be. So what I’m saying that to say, they in them streets and I was aware of that…So if I was going through something at that point in time, something public what slime going through, I could imagine the rebellious attitude I would have if my homies is egging that attitude on.”
Mr. Carter continued, asking the show hosts and the public if they knew who Morant was outside of the NBA. He then elaborated on his stance, stating that he also made “knucklehead” decisions—even though he grew up with a very present mother.
“Do y’all know that boy? ‘Cause I don’t,” he continued. “I know him from dunking and jumping, and I only started knowing him when I started paying attention to him in his last year of college. He come from like a town with 3,000 people. Like, what? What y’all expect? Y’all gave him $200 million.
“I just said, a town with 3,000 people. You expect him to be responsible? Now we tripping. That’s magic. ‘Cause I could tell you now, I come from a real well-raised, beautiful mother, nice, you know what I mean? My mama would bust her a** to make sure everything around me was nice, and I still was a knucklehead. I shot myself…But what we don’t know is, if he’s that great of a fu**ing gangsta, you know what I mean? He’s that great of a damn basketball player, we know that. We don’t know if he’s that great of whatever else you being.'”
Morant, 23, was suspended after the Memphis Grizzlies star was seen brandishing a firearm in a video for a second time.
On Tuesday (May 16), the basketball phenom made his first public statement, taking full accountability for his actions.
“I know I’ve disappointed a lot of people who have supported me,” the point guard typed. “This is a journey and I recognize there is more work to do. My words may not mean much right now, but I take full accountability for my actions. I’m committed to continuing to work on myself.”