'I probably felt at that time that I was rebelling and I could associate myself with that,' Weezy tells MTV News of Seattle grunge band.
By Rob Markman
Lil Wayne
Photo: MTV News
Long before Lil Wayne was living his rock-star dreams onstage, he was at home — like many other kids his age — rocking out to Nirvana.
"I was a real big fan of that," Weezy told MTV News' Sway after his MTV "Unplugged" taping earlier this year.
The multiplatinum rapper — who released his first rock-inspired album Rebirth in 2010 — recalled the impact that Krist Novoselic, Dave Grohl and Kurt Cobain had on him. It all started with The Box, a now-defunct cable station that was fueled by fans' phoned-in music video requests. For Wayne, it was rare to see a rock and roll video, especially one that he could identify with. " 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' was one of the only rock songs that would come on, and you'll be like, 'That one is OK, I can deal with that one,' " he recalled.
On Saturday, the Seattle grunge band's breakout album, Nevermind, turns 20. And while singles like "Come as You Are," "Lithium" and "In Bloom" helped make Nevermind a classic, it was "Smells Like Teen Spirit" that made music fans across the world take notice. Nirvana was bigger than just rock.
Maybe it was the loud guitars, the punk-style wardrobe or Cobain's long hair, but something attracted Wayne when he first saw the video as a kid in 1991. Interestingly enough, the Cash Money Billionaire now plays guitar, dresses with a punk-inspired swag and swings his long dreads onstage. But if you let Weezy tell it, it's the lyrics to "Teen Spirit" that he most identified with.
"Because I was young and I actually listened to the lyrics, and I probably felt at that time that I was rebelling and I could associate myself with that and relate to the things [Cobain] was talking about and speaking about in the song," Tunechi remembered. "I probably couldn't, but I thought I could."
Share your memories of Nevermind in the comments below!
Stick with MTV News all week as we reveal the Nevermind You Never Knew, celebrating the 20th anniversary of Nirvana's definitive album with classic footage, new interviews and much more.
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