Lil Wayne Covers ‘VIBE’, Discusses Jay-Z Beef

Decked out in a black hat, shades and a Hendrix/Beatles “Sgt. Pepper’s”-style red jacket, Lil Wayne stares off defiantly and confidently from the cover of VIBE‘s upcoming October/November issue. We say defiantly because in the quotes offered up on the publication’s site, the “How To Love” hit-maker speaks candidly about his maybe-beef with fellow rapper Jay-Z. Says Wayne in the mag, “There’s no competition [with any artists]. Music isn’t about competition no more. All the gangster rappers are happy, all the skateboard rappers are happy, all the white rappers are happy… Everybody just happy to do music these days. There are no problems. That shit died a long time ago with them old-ass rappers. We are just making music, making money and having fun feeding our families. Competition is for the old guys.”

Speaking of “old guys,” when asked if he’s referring to Nets co-owner/all-around music mogul Jay-Z in certain antagonizing lyrics (“I got your baby money/Kidnap your bitch, get that how-much-you-love-your-lady money”) on his Tha Carter IV track “It’s Good,” Wayne tells VIBE, “I know for a fact, music is about perception. You can’t do anything but perceive what you hear. If I know that for a fact, I can never be upset about someone’s reaction to it. I’m not gonna say I don’t know what will happen before I say it [on record]. I do know what will happen. I am aware of it. It is what it is.”

We also mentioned that Weezy appears to be confident on that cover, which fits since he notes that “of course, I know there won’t be any repercussions behind what I did.”

Guess we can’t all just get along. Are you Team Hova or Team Weezy?