
Devastating new report shows the rapper also spent millions of taxpayer dollars on drip and other luxury items
Lil Wayne came up as part of the New Orleans phenomenon Cash Money Millionaires. Since appearances on seminal flashy rap tracks like “Bling Bling” where he boasted enough ice to skate on, the throaty rhymer has for decades been well known for his eccentric and designer tastes.
What was less commonly known until today, however, was how much of that big timer lifestyle has been underwritten by federal taxpayers. According to a bombshell new investigation in Business Insider by Jack Newsham and Katherine Long titled “How rich musicians billed American taxpayers for luxury hotels, shopping sprees, and million-dollar bonuses,” Wayne was among a greedy cadre of red carpet-ready reverse Robin Hoods who apparently abused “a program called the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant.”
“Signed into law by Trump in 2020 and championed by lawmakers including Sen. Chuck Schumer, it was established as a lifeline for struggling independent venues and arts groups during the pandemic,” Long and Newsham write. “But pop stars used the program as a piggy bank to keep the party going.”
How Lil Wayne spent his Covid relief grant money
The revelations are outrageous, and also involve characters including Chris Brown and DJ Marshmello (yes, the dipshit with the big emoji head, who reportedly “paid himself more than any other musician who received grant money”—$9.9 million). It’s pure insanity across the board, but perhaps especially considering how Wayne used some of the dough for something the federal government isn’t well known for supporting—retail marijuana. From Business Insider:
[Lil Wayne] received an $8.9 million grant from a little-known pandemic-relief program that he used to cover more than two years’ worth of spending on luxury hotel stays, designer clothes, and travel to and from nightclub appearances around the country. The rapper … spent more than $1.3 million from the grant on private-jet flights and over $460,000 on clothes and accessories, many of them from high-end brands like Gucci and Balenciaga. He billed taxpayers more than $175,000 for expenses related to a music festival promoting his marijuana brand, GKUA, including clothing for artists associated with his record label.
Asked for a statement, it appears that Wayne told the reporters to suck on his blunt, or something of that nature: “Lil Wayne’s publicists didn’t respond to numerous requests for comment on detailed questions. Reached by text, Lil Wayne made a sexually explicit overture to a reporter and did not respond to questions.”
How Lil Wayne’s weed brand apparently benefited from his Covid grant
Billed as “The Best High Of Your Life” and “Ultra Premium,” Gkua is available in Colorado, California, Michigan, and Oklahoma. According to the article, “Lil Wayne used federal funds to buy clothes for himself and several of his associates to wear at a music festival promoting his marijuana brand, and the SBA didn’t question his claim that he ran a drug-free workplace, even though he often smokes weed onstage.”
In March, Business Insider initially reported that “in 2021,” Wayne “told the government his touring company was a ‘drug-free workplace,’” and that “the ‘dangers’ of drugs such as weed were communicated to employees … and they were told they could be punished or be forced to go to rehab.”
Wayne is the rare entrepreneur to use government bucks for a weed venture. As cannabis companies across the country have decried for years, they can’t even write off typical business expenses, since “Section 280E disallows all deductions or credits for any amount paid or incurred in carrying on any trade or business that consists of illegally trafficking in a Schedule I or II controlled substance.”