Veteran rappers Lil Wayne and T.I. took the stage together during the Dreamville Festival in North Carolina Sunday, April 3, for the first time in over five years since the pair stopped speaking. The rap feud sparked in 2016, after T.I. slammed Wayne over his remarks on the Black Lives Matter movement.
The two emcees were part of DJ Drama’s Gangsta Grillz set alongside Atlanta native Jeezy. The “Sorry 4 the Wait” musician praised the trap rapper while onstage.
“Also when I pulled up, I heard the muthaf-ckin’ King on stage when I pulled up,” the “Mona Lisa” rapper told the thousands in attendance. “Shout out to the muthaf-ckin’ King T.I. You already know what it is. That’s my real muthaf-ckin’ brother right there. That’s my muthaf-ckin’ daughter’s uncle; y’all don’t even understand, man.”
Soon afterward, the trap-genre pioneer is spotted walking up behind Wayne before the two hug it out, seemingly commemorating the special moment. Fans online appeared happy to see the two men settle their differences, including one Twitter user who wrote, “So great to see. 2 of the great emcees out the South acknowledging one another. Came together as real men should do. Especially if it’s love and respect giving by both.”
One Instagram user wrote, “He said it publicly, I’m glad he addressed him publicly, glad they rekindled their friendship too.” They added, “I hope Wayne has grown since that video.”
The two stars dominated the music scene in the early 2000s. They collaborated on several hit songs, including the “Swagger Like Us” remix featuring Grammy Award-winning rapper Kanye West; DJ Khaled’s “We Takin Over” and Destiny’s Child’s “Soldier.”
However, in 2016, T.I. appeared to grow annoyed with his friend after the Louisiana native downplayed the movement during an appearance on ABC’s “Nightline,” stating that it was “weird.” He said, “I don’t feel connected to a damn thing that ain’t got nothin’ to do with me. I’m a young Black rich motherf-cker.” He added, “If that don’t let you know that America understand Black f-ckin’ lives matter these days, I don’t know what it is.”
The “Jefe” rapper took to his social media page, where he did not hold back his criticism toward Wayne, stating, “If you’re not prepared for a question in an interview, say ‘No Comment Bro.’ But stop embarrassing yourself & everyone out here who’s been supporting you.”
T.I.’s remarks did not sit well with Wayne’s daughter and reality star Reginae Carter, who took to social media where she blasted T.I. for not contacting her father before publicly announcing his issues online. “You should’ve copied and pasted this and sent it to him thru via text but you wanna seek for attention,” she wrote at the time in the comments section of a blog post covering the feud.
