Lil Wayne turned a simple “you good?” check-in from fans into a full-blown Grammy debate after hinting that his latest album was left out of the party. The veteran rapper has been unusually candid about how it feels to watch the 2026 Grammys from the sidelines, even as his peers collect trophies on music’s biggest night. Instead of lashing out, he has mixed frustration with a familiar mantra: work harder, as usual.
His comments landed at a moment when Tha Carter VI is still fresh in listeners’ minds and his legacy is already cemented, which is exactly why the lack of nominations hit so many people as a snub. Wayne’s own reaction, bouncing between humor, humility and a little sting, has only fueled the sense that something about this year’s Grammy picture did not quite add up.
Tha Carter VI, Big Expectations, Zero Nods
By the time Lil Wayne dropped Tha Carter VI last June, the expectation was that the project would be a lock for Grammy consideration. Instead, when the 2026 ballot arrived, the album was nowhere to be found, leaving him without any major nominations tied to the full-length release. Fans who had watched him roll out the record and keep his name in rotation were quick to frame the silence from the Recording Academy as a flat-out snub for Tha Carter VI.
The disappointment was sharper because the album was not some low-key side project. It arrived as the latest chapter in one of rap’s most famous series, and it came packed with guests like BigXthaPlug, 2 Chainz, Bono, Jelly Roll, Big Sean and Kodak Black, a lineup that signaled Wayne was still swinging for the fences. Reporting on the project has stressed that, despite its commercial presence and those high profile collaborators, the Grammys did not reward the body of work, which set the stage for Wayne’s more personal response to being left out of the 2026 field.
“Wasn’t Included. As Usual.”
Once the 2026 Grammys wrapped, Lil Wayne did what a lot of artists do and jumped online to salute the winners. The twist came when he casually pointed out that he was not part of the celebration, a detail that hit harder given his stature and the buzz around his latest album. In one widely shared post, he summed up the feeling with a blunt line: he “wasn’t included, as usual,” a phrase that captured both the sting of the moment and a longer history of feeling overlooked by the Grammys.
That same message carried another line that quickly became a talking point: “I gotta work harder. As usual.” The quote, shared across fan pages and hip hop accounts, landed somewhere between self-critique and sarcasm, as if Wayne was both shrugging off the snub and quietly daring the Academy to keep ignoring him. One post highlighting how Lil Wayne spoke out after being snubbed framed the comments as part of a pattern, with the rapper again leaning on that “as usual” refrain to describe how he processes being left out of the Grammy conversation.
Saluting Winners, Comparing Himself To Bill Belichick
Even as he made it clear he felt snubbed, Wayne kept his public tone surprisingly gracious. After the 68th GRAMMY Awards wrapped, he congratulated the nominees and winners, then pivoted to his own absence with a mix of humor and edge. In one reaction, he likened his situation to that of Bill Belichick, the legendary coach who can miss a season of glory without anyone questioning his place in history, a comparison that showed Wayne still sees himself as a perennial contender regardless of what the GRAMMY voters decide.
Accounts that captured his reaction after the 68th GRAMMY Awards noted how he threaded that Belichick reference into a broader reflection on being left off the list again. One breakdown of his comments described how Wayne saluted the winners, then joked about the snub while shouting out “my slime Bill Beli,” a nod that underlined his belief that missing a trophy does not erase a dynasty. That same recap of his reaction to the 68th GRAMMY Awards helped fuel the sense that Wayne is treating this like another season where the rings did not quite line up, not the end of his run.
Still In The Game, Just Not Where He Wanted
Part of what makes the “snub” conversation tricky is that Lil Wayne was not completely shut out of the 2026 Grammy Awards. Coverage of the nominations has pointed out that he is still in the mix for work outside Tha Carter VI, which complicates the narrative that the Academy has fully turned its back on him. One report framed it as being “still in the game,” stressing that, despite his public disappointment, Lil Wayne remains a nominee at the 2026 ceremony.
That same coverage underlined how he has chosen to respond. Rather than dwelling on the lack of album recognition, Wayne has leaned into that “gotta work harder” line, treating the Grammys as one checkpoint in a much longer race. A follow up piece on how he reflected on not winning at the 2026 Grammys noted that, after being nominated for his work, he still circled back to the idea of grinding more and aiming for “better luck next year, Weezy,” a sentiment that shows up in detailed recaps of his post-show reaction.
Fans, Critics And The Ongoing Grammy Debate
Online, the reaction to Wayne’s comments has been split between sympathy and critique, which is pretty much the default setting for any big Grammy moment. Some fans have argued that Lil Wayne dropped Tha Carter VI last June and that the project simply did not move the needle enough to force its way into the nominations, pointing to threads where people admit they forgot the album even came out. Others have been more blunt, calling the record “garbage juice” and insisting that the lack of a Grammy nod says more about the music than the Academy.
At the same time, there is a vocal camp that sees the situation as another example of the Grammys struggling to keep pace with hip hop’s evolving canon. Posts highlighting how Lil Wayne dropped Tha Carter VI last June but was left without any Grammy nominations have been shared alongside clips of him congratulating the winners at the 2026 Grammys and tying the snub to that Bill Belichick comparison, reinforcing the idea that he is still operating at a high level even if the trophies are not lining up. One viral update captured how Lil Wayne congratulated the nominees and winners at the 2026 Grammy Awards before noting he was not nominated this year, a moment that was preserved in a widely circulated Grammy Awards clip.
Even outlets that focused on his disappointment have stressed that he is “still in the game,” repeating that, despite the snub for Tha Carter VI, Lil Wayne remains part of the 2026 Grammy Awards picture and is already talking about working harder for the next round. One detailed breakdown of his comments framed the story around that idea of being “still in the game,” noting that, despite the public frustration, Lil Wayne is not walking away from the Grammys and is instead using the moment as fuel, a point that shows up clearly in coverage of how he responded to the Grammy disappointment.
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