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When Lil Wayne first entered the Colorado Buffalos football program facilities last February, he couldn’t help but gasp at the revamped locker room constructed by newly named head coach Deion Sanders.

After a smoldering 27-6 run at Jackson State, Sanders — also affectionately known as Coach Prime — encouraged Wayne and the Colorado faithful to buckle their seatbelts as he intended to rewrite history for the once-hapless program. Wayne, a longtime friend of Sanders, was one of the few who believed in Coach Prime’s ability to reverse the fortune of a team that went 1-11 and finished dead last in the Pac-12 division last year. 

“I never doubt Unc,” Wayne relays to Billboard. “I would never doubt him. I think if you were to ask me that question before the season or even before that day I walked in there, I think I probably would have said the same thing. I would have said I could see them at 3-0. I spoke to him that night [when I visited him in February], and his confidence was through the roof, past the stars and the moon.”

Within the season’s first two games, Sanders toppled the likes of last year’s National Championship runner-up TCU in a 45-42 yard burner and a squash match against Nebraska the following week. Coming into their third game last Saturday (Sept. 16), Sanders’ loquacious demeanor, paired with the elite play of his star players Travis Hunter and his sons Shilo and Shedeur Sanders, have propelled the Buffs into the national spotlight as they embarked on a contentious battle against in-state rivals Colorado State. 

The hotly anticipated match-up in Boulder, Colorado was a starry event, as names such as The Rock, Kawhi Leonard, Master P, Offset and Key Glock gallivanted around the stadium to support Prime. Wayne led the team onto the field alongside Prime with a fiery pre-game performance of “Uproar.” Donning a custom-made Buffs Jersey with “Tunechi” emblazoned on the back, Wayne’s spirited efforts ignited the motor of the NCAA’s most-talked-about team as they secured their third win of the season, remaining undefeated. 

“I love Wayne to life like a friend and a son,” Sanders tells Billboard. “I understand his gift and his heart. I see one of the best human beings I’ve ever known well beyond the stage and the handclaps of life.”

Billboard chatted with Lil Wayne about his father-son relationship with Sanders, the resounding results of the “Prime Effect,” hip-hop rallying around Colorado’s football team and shouting out Deion on Nas’ newest song “Never Die.”

Give me a play-by-play of walking out Deion in Boulder last Saturday.

First of all, it was electric. That man got Colorado turnt right now. Them people, they believe. For me, it was just an honor. For the most part, I still can’t believe what he’s doing. It’s unbelievable. Plain and simple. The way he has those people believing, just for him to even invite me and to implicate me and to include me, I just try to make sure I do my part to the fullest, just like those boys do out there for him. 

Before Deion went to Jackson State in 2020, you sent out a tweet to Florida State University in 2019 about hiring him to become the next head coach. You saw the vision very early on. What made you think he could be such a success story in the college game?

You know, he’s been a coach. You gotta look like at Shedeur. Shedeur hasn’t played for no else but his dad. He’s been a coach, he’s been doing this. So with that said, what is it about him or what does he have? It’s just him. Plain and simple — just him. He’s not the only person like that in the college game. There’s a few coaches that has that kind of status.

What I mean by that is due to the transfer portal, you gotta have certain things to get those kids to wanna come to your school and wanna play for you. There’s only a handful of coaches that don’t need those things — it’s just their names. The kids just wanna play for that coach for whatever reason. He’s one of those guys, and when [the kids] get there, they see what it is. They see exactly what it is and he gives them an option. “Are you with it?” If you ain’t with it, then he ain’t gonna tell you to get out, you’re gonna leave. But I bet even if you leave, you leave a better man.

You also said in that same tweet that you would let your sons play for Coach Prime, so having someone who’s not only a coach but a father figure is a beautiful thing. 

A wonderful thing. If you were ever even able to spend 10 minutes around him and those players, you would already see that they’re not just whatever their numbers say. They’re not just whatever positions they are to him. Just like they would run through a wall for him, he’ll run through 20 walls for them.

I don’t know if you caught wind of this, but Deion over the weekend during a press conference said that he loves you like a son.

No. I didn’t hear that. What did he say?

He said he loves you like a son.

Wow. Wow. 

With that being said, beyond football, talk about that relationship that you guys do have off the field. 

I mean, I didn’t get to see what he said during the press conference but to elaborate on it, that’s it right there in a nutshell. A father-son relationship. It’s been that way. He’s known me since I was a teenager, man. He’s one of those guys where you could be doing something in the world, living your life and you can do something where it won’t be the right thing to do, you’ll get a call from him and you’ll be looking at your phone like, ‘How the hell you got my number, man?” There were times in my life where my mama couldn’t get my number [Laughs]. That man will hit you up and it’s straight from the heart.

With that said, there’s only certain people like that where people have met him and called him “Unc” or “Coach.” What that mean is you automatically put him on a pedestal or a level higher than yourself — levels higher than yourself — so you can always look up to him. You don’t do that for everybody. 

One thing I will say, I can’t remember the last time I saw hip-hop in Colorado the way I did on Saturday. You, Offset, Key Glock and Master P were all in the building. We have athletes, entertainers and artists rallying behind Prime. Why is that important to the sport of college football?

No, no, no. I have to disagree. [Laughs?] Hip-Hop has been in Denver before. You forgot A.I. was out there?

You talking about Bubba Chuck. 

I’m talking about Allen Iverson. You forgot A.I. was in Denver? You forgot he a Nugget?

Him and Melo. You’re right. 

Both of them shorts were so big. [Laughs.] 

They had the baby blue jerseys.

Yeah and I gotta go back on you because you forgot the University of Miami. You forgot how Uncle Luke had the hip-hop over there.

Ed Reed and those boys.

Yeah. Honestly, with Unc, this ain’t even him trying to bring hip-hop to it, it’s him just going off the vibes and the moods of the kids that he’s coaching. If they love Taylor Swift, he’ll try his hardest to get her up in there. [Laughs.] Trust me, he’s just going off the vibes. Like I said, they’ll run through walls for him because they understand that he’ll do whatever for them, as well. He’s only going to do it for the better of them. 

I don’t know if you saw, but yesterday Shilo and Shedeur joked about playing in the NFL next season and Prime was quick to stop any talk of that. What’s the ceiling for them on the NFL level?

For Shedeur, I don’t think there is one. He works with The GOAT [Tom Brady] and he’s a sponge. He loves to learn and to get better. When you got a guy like that in any sport or way of life, that path and future is always bright. I think he’s gonna be in the Heisman talk this year. 

Shilo is like, “Hold up. Y’all gotta understand who I am.” Shilo plays the same position as his pops and I think he’s gonna be right there with him. I think it’s gonna be one of those drafts where you got the brothers there. Just like when you had the Watt brothers. It’s gonna be one of them type of drafts. 

From a competitive standpoint, do you see any similarities between you and Prime?

Yeah, it’s impossible for myself not to because I try my hardest to make sure there is some. [I see it] in our drive. The way he believes in himself, is how I believe in myself. Of course, the way that he’s fathered his kids. I have kids of my own. I have sons just like himself.

Also, speaking on that, I also gotta shout out Lil Deion, man. We don’t speak about Lil Deion, we speak about Shilo and Shedeur, but I want everybody to know that whatever you see on television, online or on social media about Colorado University or about the football team, you’re watching it through the lens of Lil Deion. He runs that part of everything. He was doing the same thing for Jackson State. When I went to Colorado that night to holla at Unc, he filmed the whole thing and edited it that night so it can be out the next morning.

Lastly, you shouted out Deion on the new Nas record that you’re featured on called “Never Die.” That was the first time you guys teamed up in over 10 years. What was it like to get back in the booth and just be on the same song again?

It’s always love with Nasty, man. Always. He a God. He a God in this thing that we do. I think we saw each other at an Awards show or something. We saw each other recently and we switched info right there. He said he was doing his joint. He sent it to me. I knocked it out and he sent it back.