UPDATE (Jan. 20):
Bradford Cohen, who is the attorney for both Kodak Black and Lil Wayne, confirmed the pardons with XXL. "President Trump and his administration have been tireless advocates on behalf of the African-American community," Cohen said in a statement. "These pardons is [sic] a perfect example of this administration following up on its reforms and commitments. Thank you to President Trump for his advocacy and dedication to justice reform."
ORIGINAL STORY:
In one of his final flexes as POTUS, President Trump has given clemency to Lil Wayne.
Following reports the Young Money rapper would be on the final list of people to be pardoned, Trump revealed some of his list of pardons on Tuesday (Jan. 19), his final day in office, and Wayne was among the number of people who will have their federal charges or sentences absolved. Wayne was awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to a federal firearms charge in December of 2020, but he will now be exonerated.
According to Reuters, Lil Wayne and Kodak Black, both with federal weapons offenses, received presidential pardons as well as former White House aide Steve Bannon and former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who was serving a 28-year prison term on corruption charges.
The pardon of Lil Wayne may seem like a surprise to some but looks like it may have been a couple months in the making. Last October, just a week before the 2020 presidential election, Tunechi gave a big cosign to the incumbent presidential candidate via Twitter. "Just had a great meeting with @realdonaldtrump @potus besides what he’s done so far with criminal reform, the platinum plan is going to give the community real ownership," Wayne captioned a photo of himself with a smiling Trump. He listened to what we had to say today and assured he will and can get it done."
While the endorsement drew the ire of many in the hip-hop community, it definitely seemed to put Wayne in Trump's good graces. "[Lil Wayne] wanted a meeting," Trump later said of their interaction. "He's a really nice guy. Really an activist in a very positive way. And he asked for a meeting and we had the meeting. And, as you saw, the meeting went very well."
Despite the cosign from Wayne and other rappers like Lil Pump, Trump failed to win the election. However, it appears Weezy's endorsement may have been enough to get assistance from the lame duck president.
XXL has reached out to Lil Wayne's team for commen
See Rappers Showing Support for President Trump in 2020