Lil Wayne Says He Found Nicki Minaj by Watching Battle Rap DVDs

Lil Wayne says he found Nicki Minaj by watching battle rap DVDs, and that he was sure the next great female rapper had to come out of New York.

Craig Carton brought it up on The Joint Venture Show, pointing out it was 17 years ago, around this time of year, that Wayne discovered Nicki. He asked what it was about her that caught Wayne's ear.

Wayne said he went looking in one place first.

"I really believed that female hip hop came from New York, you know, like that had to come from home grown New York first of all."

He said the way to scout talent back then was rap battles, which were big enough that people bought recordings of them.

"They were popular, so popular they're being filmed and being sold on DVDs."

Wayne compared it to watching sports. You see who wins the first battle, then watch that person keep moving up against new opponents. He added that the rappers knew scouts were watching, so they treated it like a big moment.

He said he met Nicki at the same time as Jae Millz, another battle rapper from New York, whom he also signed. What caught him off guard was that Nicki already knew his music.

"What surprised me the most was that I didn't expect Nicki to know nothing about us."

Wayne said some of his female friends from New York used to tell him they couldn't listen to his music because they saw it as party music. He said he hated that, and it was part of the reason he rapped so much: he wanted crowds to come away saying he could really rap.

Watch the full episode of The Joint Venture Show for the whole story, plus Wayne on the Yankees lawsuit and his son's football scholarship offer.