Weezy Shows Up At The CMAs And… Air Guitars?!
When I heard that Lil Wayne was going to show up to perform with Kid Rock at the Country Music Awards last night, I got pretty excited. I’m not what you’d call a Kid Rock fan, but lately I’ve been rooting on the Waffle House-brawling palooka because he keeps bucking industry CW to no detriment to his decade-long (!) career. Anyway, before the CMAs, word got out that the decidedly non-country Weezy himself was going to take the stage with Kid Rock, who’s already barely country by today’s standards. Little did I know that Lil’ Wayne would show up and do next to nothing!
He didn’t rap. He didn’t sing. He barely “played” more than one string on his guitar, which he stopped pretend-playing about halfway through Kid Rock’s good-natured, but extraordinarily derivative “All Summer Long.” Weezy stuck to the background mostly, wearing a Titans jersey (with “Lil Wayne” written on the back) to match Mr. Rock’s and acting like a rock and roll hypeman, waving his arms about, messing with his hat, and plucking away on that one string. I kept waiting for him to grab the mic and spit, but nope, nothing happened. We didn’t even get a “yeah, yeah, yeah” or anything. It was downright tasteful! Color me disappointed. I was really hoping for something to punctuate the unctuous, slick, hermetic awfulness of what came before and after.
Hey, but hats off to former semi-Athenian Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland, who racked up two awards. And can we just admit that Rascal Flatts is going to keep winning Best Vocal Group until they break up because there aren’t really any country bands out there? They should just call it the Alabama Award or something. Meanwhile, Emmylou Harris, Tom T. Hall, the Statler Brothers, and Ernest V. “Pop” Stoneman were all inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, as well they should be.
The complete list of winners: Entertainer Of The Year – Kenny Chesney Female Vocalist – Carrie Underwood Male Vocalist – Brad Paisley New Artist – Lady Antebellum Vocal Group – Rascal Flatts Vocal Duo – Sugarland Single of the Year – “I Saw God Today,” George Strait Album of the Year – Troubadour, George Strait Song of the Year – “Stay,” Sugarland (written by Jennifer Nettles) Musical Event of the Year – “Gone, Gone, Gone,” Robert Plant & Alison Krauss Music Video of the Year – “Waitin’ on a Woman,” Brad Paisley Musician of the Year – Guitarist Mac McAnally
Lil Wayne joins Kid Rock on stage at Country Music Awards show [The Canadian Press]
