Lil Wayne right after recording “Can’t Believe It” featuring T-Pain in a New York City studio, around the corner from Times Square.

I was probably one of the first people in the universe to hear this song. The same night he sang the elusive “Flower Song” (which is now called “Damn Damn”) prominently featured in The Carter. I was reluctant about following him into the vocal booth but he was very welcoming and I set up 2 cameras, one on a tripod and one hand-held. He was really in great spirits that night and turned to me at one point and thanked me for shooting this moment in time. The Carter 3 was released at midnight. Members of his entourage walked over to Virgin Megastore and bought a dozen copies and gave him his first copy. He looked through the tracklisting and didn’t recognize some of the names. Then he turned to the camera and told a long, complicated but hilarious story of how he believes Magic Johnson doesn’t really have AIDS and it’s a grand conspiracy created by the US Government in order to publicize the disease to the general public using a celebrity as a springboard. Then he told us the story of how he tried to buy a Starbucks franchise a few years back while he was taking classes at the University of Houston. Apparently he said he had more than enough money but failed the rigorous ‘background screening’ test that the Starbucks company demands of all franchise owners. He went back into the vocal booth and recorded what sounded like a Country Rap song*. He sang “I’m the white cup drinker, baby I’m a trapper turned rapper turned singer.” His New Orleans accent was so thick I could hardly understand some of the words croaking out of his mouth. I felt like a Lil Wayne Country Rap album would have been an interesting career move but it never manifested. Same with the “Artist Formerly Known as Tunechi” solo R&B album that he was recording all during the filming of The Carter. But that’s another story…

This was the night that I realized I wasn’t just making a documentary about a rapper, I was filming a great American icon - before anyone knew so - and I was extremely lucky to be in his presence.

*update - some readers have told me this song was called “He Rap - He Sing” from the Lil Wayne/T-Pain joint album “T-Wayne”