Lil Wayne has long said that when he was 12 years old and shot himself in the chest that it was an accident. But now on his a new track, “Let It All Work Out,” Weezy revealed that it was actually a suicide attempt.
On the track, which is featured on his latest album Tha Carter V, Weezy raps: “I found my momma’s pistol where she always hide it/I cry, put it to my head and thought about it/Nobody was home to stop me, so I called my auntie/Hung up, then put the gun up to my heart and pondered.”
The rapper told ESPN’s Josina Anderson in a joint interview with fellow Louisiana native Odell Beckham Jr. why he was finally ready to share more about his suicide attempt.
“The thought process doing that verse is…What made me do it was just, [I] was ready to get it off my chest,” he said.
It’s not the first time Lil Wayne has spoken about his brush with suicide on wax.
During his verse on the song “Mad” from Solange Knowles’ 2016 album A Seat At The Table, Weezy rapped: “Or when I attempted suicide that I didn’t die/I remember how mad I was on that day/Man you gotta let it go before it get up in the way.”
Anderson also asked Wayne if the high profile deaths of celebrities like Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade influenced his decision to publicly speak about surviving a suicide attempt. He revealed that the final track on his album was actually recorded years prior to its release.
“That song has actually been recorded for probably over four years,” he said. “I felt that way when I thought the album was coming out. I was ready to come out with it then.”