There were absolutely no tears at the launch of Lil Wayne’s new album, Funeral.
We’re not totally sure about the lifeless title of his latest album, but Lil Wayne has a method to his morbidity. “So you have ‘Rebirth,’ and now you have ‘Funeral,” he explained to Entertainment Weekly about the album which dropped on January 31. “Just plain and simple, nothing else. There’s no backstory. Everyone that asks, I’m like ‘Sorry I don’t have some long drawn-out story about the name.’ It’s just Rebirth, Funeral, and maybe the next one would be Reincarnation, I don’t know.”
In African culture, funeral attendees celebrate the deceased’s life after the ceremony with a practice called “After Tears”. The tradition involves music, alcohol, and dancing. Those three elements were all present at the album release party in Miami on Saturday.
Pictures from the event show Lil Wayne alongside his partner, La’Tecia Thomas. He proposed to the Australian model in October and referenced their relationship on tracks like “Stop Playin’ with Me” and “Not Me” where he referred to her as “wifey”. It marks Wayne’s first serious public relationship since he broke up with Christina Milian in 2015.
Also present at the party? Birdman.
Wayne and the music producer go way back as it was actually Birdman who discovered the Grammy winner at age 13 and signed him to Cash Money Records, making him the youngest-ever member of the label. The two had a fall-out years later that included Dwayne Carter Jr. filing a lawsuit against Cash Money for $51 million, some diss tracks, and even a rumured hit being placed on Tunechi’s life. Thankfully, though, the pair put their differences aside in September when they collaborated on Juvenile’s single “Ride Dat” and it seems the father-son relationship is back on track.
Whilst working on Funeral, Wayne said he couldn’t wait to get into the studio every night and we’re so happy we finally get to enjoy the fruits of his labour!
