from-florida-with-love

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Lil Wayne Reminisces With Drake About Playing "Lollipop" For Kobe Bryant


Lil Wayne chatted with his old friend Drake on Young Money Radio on Friday, where they reminisced about the night Wayne played “Lollipop” for Kobe Bryant.

The second episode of Lil Wayne‘s new Beats 1 show, Young Money Radio, on Apple Music premiered on Friday (May 1st), and along with previously announced guests, Stephen A. Smith and DJ Khaled, Drake also made an virtual appearance. Drake took the opportunity to talk with his old friend about his new mixtape, Dark Lane Demo Tapes, which dropped at midnight that same day. One of the songs off the tape, “From Florida With Love,” details a famous incident that took place in 2009, in which Drake was robbed at gunpoint and lost a chain Wayne had gifted him. He had received his new ice one fateful night on Wayne’s tour bus while in the presence of the late Kobe Bryant.

“On the song ‘From Florida With Love,'” Wayne tells Drake on Young Money Radio, “you reminded me of the time that I played ‘Lollipop’ on the tour bus for you and the late, great Kobe Bryant. Rest in peace to the Black Mamba.” Wayne also makes sure to wish the late GiGi Bryant a “Happy Birthday,” as she would have been turning 14 years old on Friday. Drake goes on to describe the surreal experience, remembering that Wayne was in the process of getting a “painful” angel wing tattoo on his side. “I’m already just floored that I’m sitting here talking to Lil Wayne as he’s like bleeding out,” Drake says, “getting this angel wing on his side, and then next thing I know Kobe Bryant walks on the bus, and he came to pick up an iPod. Because, at the time, that’s how we gave the athletes music, was on iPods. And you ran the album, and you played more than one song for sure but, of course, you played ‘Lollipop.'”

Lil Wayne Reminisces With Drake About Playing "Lollipop" For Kobe BryantJeff Gross/Getty Images

“Just to be in that moment, with you and him, it was out-of-body, man,” Drake continues. “It was something I just wanted to write about. Especially now. It hurts me that we’ll all never get to reminisce about that moment. But rest in peace to Kobe and Gigi, of course.” On the track, Drake mentions this exciting night on Wayne’s tour bus before delving into the robbery, rapping, “Weezy played that shit for me and Kobe on the bus/Went and got a chain for me, I had to give it up.”

Stream Young Money Radio on Beats 1 Apple Music.

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Drake Reflects On 2009 Robbery On "From Florida With Love" Off New Mixtape


Drake looks back on getting robbed at gunpoint in 2009 on “From Florida With Love” off his new mixtape, “Dark Lane Demo Tapes.”

Drake‘s new mixtape, Dark Lane Demo Tapes, dropped on Friday, and the project is full of hidden gems. A collection of previously leaked tracks and brand new joints, DLDT was, for the most part, a surprise for fans. Whispers of a new Drake project only started circulating a few hours before he dropped the tape at midnight on Friday (May 1st), and even then, it was relatively unknown what he would be bringing to the table. One of the most widely discussed cuts off DLDT is the third-to-last track, “From Florida With Love,” largely due to Drake’s reference to a famous incident in 2009 in which the rapper was robbed at gunpoint.

Drake and his date were walking back to his SUV on Beatrice Street in Toronto on May 31st, when two armed men approached them and ordered Drake to give up all his money and jewelry. He ended up losing $2,000 in cash, an AP watch, and a diamond chain Lil Wayne had gifted him, the latter of which serves as the track’s segway into the subject of the robbery.

Drake Reflects On 2009 Robbery On "From Florida With Love" Off New MixtapeJohn Phillips/Getty Images

On “From Florida With Love,” Drake raps about the same moment that he spoke about during his infamous Rap Radar interview in 2019, in which he met the late Kobe Bryant on Wayne’s tour bus before he was gifted the chain. “Weezy played that sh*t for me and Kobe on the bus/Went and got a chain for me, I had to give it up,” he spits, before going into detail about the actual moment he was forced to give up the piece of jewelry.

“N*ggas had they pistols loaded pointed at my truck,” he raps. “And you know that lesson stuck/From that day I never touched the road without a (Plug)/Ayy, from that day I never saw the point in talkin’ tough/Hasn’t happened since, I guess you n*ggas know what’s up.” Drake opened up about the unfortunate incident in his GQ cover story the following year. “I knew it was a setup, because I had on a sweater and a jacket,” he said. “but when they banged on the car window with a gun and opened the door, the first thing he said was, ‘Yo, run that chain.’ They didn’t rob her, and her purse was sitting right there. So I was like, ‘OK, yup—you set the whole thing up.'”