Comparing musical kings in honor of Lil Wayne’s stop at MGM Grand
Oh Wikipedia, the odd facts you deliver with such authority:
“On September 27, 2012, Lil Wayne passed Elvis Presley as the male with the most entries on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with 109 songs.”
Source it back to Billboard, and the explanation is more cumbersome. Rappers share credit on each other’s tracks, so Lil Wayne set a new record even though he was the lead artist on only 42 of the chart entries. Elvis, on the other hand, was solely credited for all of his 108.
But for one day at least, Lil Wayne will be the new king of Vegas, when the “America’s Most Wanted” tour (including T.I., Hit Boy and G-Eazy) visits the MGM Grand Garden on Saturday.
And now the door is open. You can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube. Thank you Wikipedia, for setting up a dozen random and ridiculous Elvis/Wayne comparisons.
1. What’s in a name?
Elvis did not like being called “The Pelvis” but seemed to be OK with the Memphis mafia calling him “Chief” or “E.P.”
Lil Wayne, born Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., rapped as Baby D on his adolescent recordings with the B.G.’z. He has a bunch of nicknames (Mr. Coach Carter, Mr. Go Harder), but Weezy is the one that seems to stick.
To Elvis, Weezy was probably Louise on “The Jeffersons.” And Lil Wayne was probably Wayne Newton, that kid from “The Lucy Show” who shadowed his career.
2. Precocious lads
Dwayne started rapping when he was 8 and played the Tin Man in his middle school’s production of “The Wiz” when he was 12. When he was 15, he rapped “(Expletive) Big Boy” on the B.G.’z “True Story.”
Elvis got his first guitar for his 11th birthday in 1946. When he was 12, his idol Mississippi Slim offered him the chance to sing on his Tupelo radio show. Elvis was overcome by stage fright the first time, but showed up the next week to sing. Presumably not about Big Boy.
3. Young Love
Elvis fell for Priscilla Beaulieu when she was 14, but did not marry her until she was almost 22.
According to “Lil Wayne,” a biography in the “Superstars of Hip-Hop” series for young readers, “Lil Wayne was the youngest member in Hot Boys. He was only 15. Wayne was going to have to grow up fast, though. Soon after he joined Hot Boys, Wayne’s first daughter was born. Now Wayne was a father and needed to support a family. He needed to succeed in rap more than ever.”
4. Nemesis
Wayne’s grudge with Pusha T has fueled many a lyric on both sides. “His head up his ass, I’m-a have to head-butt him,” Wayne announces in the smackdown “Goulish.”
Elvis had to contend with Pat Boone. And it’s said he once shot out a TV screen because Robert Goulet was singing on it.
5. Cribs
Graceland had three TVs side by side, so Elvis could simultaneously watch the three networks that he was limited to in the ’60s.
Wayne’s Miami Beach mansion has “10 bathrooms,” allowing him to go No. 2 “all day,” as he explains in “We Be Steady Mobbin’.”
6. Entourage
Elvis: Sonny, Red.
Wayne: Marley, Scoob.
7. Jailhouse Rock
Elvis wore stripes on a movie set in “Jailhouse Rock.” Wayne wore a jumpsuit in the New York City Correctional Institution for Men on Rikers Island.
The Elvis song was a signature hit. Wayne released a No. 1 album from the jailhouse, “I Am Not a Human Being,” in 2010. It was the first No. 1 from an artist doing time since Tupac Shakur in 1995.
8. Slumming
Elvis sang “In the Ghetto.” Wayne rapped “All My Life (In the Ghetto) with Jay Rock.
9. Viva Las Vegas
Weezy will have to put in a lot more time in Las Vegas to challenge the King’s concert legacy. But the Strip gets some love in his videos. He catches a limo ride — standing on the roof — in the “Lollipop” video, which, according to our friend Wikipedia, filmed inside Gavin Maloof’s mansion in the Southern Highlands Golf Club.
And the video for “No Worries” pays homage to the Hunter S. Thompson book (and movie) “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” with Wayne as Dr. Gonzo cruising in a “red shark” convertible.
10. Presidential
The photo of Elvis meeting Richard Nixon in 1970 is said to be more requested than any other image or document in the National Archives.
President Obama has yet to pose with Wayne in the Oval Office, but the president has name-dropped him and at one point told Rolling Stone he had some Weezy on his iPod.
In 2008, Obama told America’s youth, “You are probably not that good a rapper. Maybe you are the next Lil Wayne, but probably not, in which case you need to stay in school.” (Wayne dropped out at age 14.)
11. Drug of Choice
Wayne: Sizzurp, or “purple drank” — codeine cough syrup and a mixer such as grape soda — landed him in the hospital.
Elvis: Eleven of them, according to his autopsy report. Four in significant amounts, including codeine. Also Ethinamate (sleeping pills), quaaludes and an unidentified barbiturate.
12. Death and resurrection
Elvis lives on chiefly through his many impersonators, though “Kissin’ Cousins” has its moments.
Wayne has so far fended off his flirtations with the Grim Reaper.
At 12, young Dwayne “accidentally shot himself. He was playing with a gun and it went off,” according to the book for young readers. “The bullet nearly hit Dwayne’s heart. It could have killed him, but he lived.”
More recently, Wayne has been battling recurring seizures. “I go to sleep and wake up in the hospital,” he told MTV.
At a recent Chicago tour stop, he asked his fans how many of them were high, and said those who weren’t are his “hero” and “role model.”
Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.
