Lil Wayne has a word of advice for LSU women’s basketball star Angel Reese as she navigates handling newfound notoriety on and off the court. The Welcome 2 Collegrove rapper has been a huge public supporter of the 6’ 3″ forward since she and her team made national headlines with their history-making NCAA Championship win in June.
Since then, the 21-year-old collegiate athlete has become a household name among sports lovers and media pundits who have been floored by the staggering figures she has secured with NIL deals. The seemingly overnight glow-up, however, took a toll on Reese, who was benched for two weeks in November to reset and refocus.
When she returned for the Tigers’ victorious Dec. 1 matchup against Virginia Tech, Reese, for the first time, spoke about taking time away from the game. “My mental health is the most important thing before anything,” she said in a postgame interview. “I’m going to make sure I’m OK before anything because I don’t want to cause anything — harm or any cancer within the locker room. So, being able to take a reset to myself. Like I said before, I am human. I’m not just an athlete, and that’s OK to do.”
In a new Bleacher Report interview with Taylor Rooks, Wayne revealed what advice he would give the future WNBA star as she navigates the ebbs and flows of young stardom. “Angel’s a smart, smart young lady, very smart,” he began. “She takes time to think about the decisions she’s gonna make, rather than you’re opinion in right or wrong, she takes time to think about them before she make ‘em… Angel has reached out to me before, not even about this situation,” added the Louisiana native.
He continued, “The advice I would give her, though… is just embrace every part of it, you know, embrace every single part of it — ’cause if you do, you will know it will never be always amazing. It will never be always good. It will probably be the majority tough, not bad, but it will be majority tough, so you’ll enjoy the good and the amazing much more.”
Click to watch Wayne’s full interview below.