2023 MTV VMAs: Lil Wayne Brings ‘Kat Food’ to the Stage in First VMAs Performance in a Decade
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Lil Wayne returned to the MTV Video Music Awards stage for the first time in a decade to kick off the show. The rapper welcomed the VMAs to WayneTown with a throwback to his 2018 hit “Uproar” and the live debut of his new single “Kat Food” at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Weezy rapped his way through the crowd while a crew of dancers held it down on the stage. In case anyone forgot that he can really get an audience going, the hundreds of hands up in the air served as a sufficient reminder.
Earlier this month, Lil Wayne released his latest single — produced by Charlie Handsome, FNZ, and Rogét Chahayed and featuring a sample of Missy Elliott’s “Work It” — to accompany the announcement of his return to the VMAs.
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It had been 11 years since Lil Wayne last graced the VMAs, appearing at the 2012 show to perform his “Yuck” and “No Worries” alongside 2 Chainz. A 14-time Moon Person nominee, Wayne has only won the award twice, including at the 2012 VMAs, where “HYFR” with Drake scooped up Best Hip Hop Video. Prior to that, his “Lollipop” won the same category in 2008.
While Weezy has been nominated over the past decade for appearing on other artists’ Best Collaboration-eligible tracks and cameoing on DJ Khaled’s “I’m the One,” the rapper earned his own recognition at the 2023 VMAs when his “Kant Nobody” with Swizz Beatz and the late DMX scored a Best Hip Hop Video nod. He’ll compete against Nicki Minaj, Diddy, DJ Khaled, GloRilla, Lil Uzi Vert, and Metro Boomin featuring Future in the category.
“Kat Food” may or may not feature on Lil Wayne’s reported next album, Tha Carter VI. Fans have speculated that the rapper intends to drop the LP around his birthday, Sept. 27, although Wayne has not yet confirmed anything. Earlier this year, he told Rolling Stone he is constantly making new music.
“I work on multiple songs a day,” Lil Wayne said. “I probably look at 20 verses a day. I’m on my bus right now. I have a studio set up on this bus. We have a studio bus behind me. In every hotel we get to, before I get to the room, my two engineers set up a studio in the bedroom. And I told you, we already have a studio booked in that city if that city has a nice studio, meaning I don’t stop working.”
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