NMAAM CELEBRATES LIL WAYNE'S BIG 4-0

In honor of Lil Wayne's 40th birthday, which is today, 9/27, Nashville's National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM) has announced an exhibit boasting artifacts the Young Money/Republic star has collected throughout his life and career.

Weezy is the first hip-hop artist to support the museum’s mission with a fully curated cache of items, which includes his Rap Album of the Year Grammy, BET I Am Hip Hop Award, the clothing he wore during important moments in his career and his first, handwritten letter from Rikers Island (where he served eight months on weapons charges in 2010).

The museum is hosting an event for local college students on 9/27 so they can be the first members of the public to view the exhibit. They will also have an opportunity to hear from Lil Wayne virtually, record the rapper's lyrics in the museum’s Rap Booth and discuss his influence on American music. NMAAM will likewise host a livestreamed lecture on the impact of Lil Wayne presented by Vanderbilt University professors Dr. Gillum Sharpley and Dr. Michael Eric Dyson as part of their course Dr. King to Lil Wayne.

Said H. Beecher Hicks III, president & CEO of NMAAM, "What better way to celebrate Mr. Carter's 40th than by commemorating his accomplished career with an exhibit honoring his 25 years of impacting the music we listen to and the multiple genres he's shaped, alongside the larger story we tell here at NMAAM.”

NMAAM's Lil Wayne exhibit will be on display through 12/27.

In a related story, a HITS editor has been known as Lil Wheezy ever since he took far too big a drag from the office Volcano.