Lil Wayne joined his former group the Hot Boys onstage for a long-planned reunion at Essence Festival. Sort of.
The show, on Friday (July 5), did indeed feature three of the four members of the group onstage. However, according to local press reports, Wayne only came out once B.G. and Juvenile, joined by Mannie Fresh and Birdman, were finished.
Weezy performed for 20 minutes without his former bandmates, producer, and label boss — who then all returned, sans Juvenile, for a final song after Wayne left the stage.
During Wayne’s set, the Cash Money logos onscreen were replaced by ones for his label Young Money, and he said he was “here on behalf of Young Money fucking Records.”
Wayne wasn’t the only Hot Boys member missing from the reunion. Turk was not there either.
B.G. gave his take on Turk’s absence while going live on social media.
“It’s only one n-gga that ain’t in this bitch, you heard me?” Juvie said. “He brought that on hisself. N-gga did a bunch of ho shit, he can’t take it back. He got to fault hisself for not being here.”
Turk, for his part, said on social media late last month that the “business side of it” may prevent him from performing at Essence, but that he was doing “everything in my power” to make sure that he could be present.
In addition to an onstage reunion, rumors have been swirling about a Hot Boys reunion album. However, Lil Wayne recently threw cold water on that speculation, saying he knows nothing about the potential project.
Speaking on NFL star Cam Heywood’s Not Just Football podcast, the New Orleans rap legend was asked about the much-rumored reunion, to which he replied with surprise: “Shit, you just told me!”
He later pushed back against Juvenile‘s claims that a Hot Boys album is being worked on: “That’s what he [said]? I ain’t been to the kitchen yet. I would not lie to you, I have not been in that kitchen yet.
“I have no problem with going to that kitchen, but I ain’t smell it, it ain’t come through the window yet. I ain’t smell the food […] They ain’t told me nothing yet.”
Juvenile previously said a reunion album was in the works, commenting on Instagram Live: “Hot Boys is back together, man. Turk gonna be with me tonight, I’m gonna be with B.G. next week. Me, Wayne, Turk and B.G., all of us gonna be on stage in New Orleans with Mannie Fresh and Birdman. And we already started working on the Hot Boys album.”
