Lil Wayne is highlighting Missy Elliott and her incomparable music legacy.
When asked to name the top five best rappers while guesting on Fox Sports’ What’s Wright? With Nick Wright podcast Thursday (May 5), Lil Wayne made sure to spotlight Elliott.
“For me, it’s always going to be first, Missy Elliott,” he said. “She’s a huge influence of everything I’ve ever done. ”
Tunechi went on to name Jay-Z, the Notorious B.I.G., Goodie Mob and UGK before the host noted that he hadn’t included himself on the list. The five-time Grammy winner then replied, “I can’t touch them guys. I would never put myself in my list.”
Elliott responded to Wayne’s mention with a heartfelt tweet on Thursday. Retweeting a clip from the segment, Elliott wrote, “Whenever @LilTunechi says my name in his interviews, twitter don’t have enough space for me to say my GRATEFULNESS because he is a LEGEND himself who birthed many emcees after him & as a man to acknowledge me as a big influence 4 him I send you love WAYNE.”
She added in a second tweet: “Another reason this warms my heart is because I’ve seen many times @LilTunechi has said my name over & over for years no matter who the interviewers are he has never been hesitant to say me as a female & for that I am forever GRATEFUL.”
This isn’t the first time Wayne has shouted Elliott out as an inspiration. In 2o2o while chatting with fellow hitmaker DJ Khaled for the premiere episode of The First One podcast, Tunechi said, “Missy Elliott, that was my favorite rapper because that would be why I was making so many sounds. You know, Missy was into the whole ‘Brrrrt’ [sound]. You know what I mean? She’s about to make the ‘hehehehe ha’ [sound].”
“The ‘Block Burner’ song was my best favorite song because my favorite artist was Missy Elliott.”
Watch Lil Wayne’s complete What’s Wright? With Nick Wright interview below: