Posted by Andrew Unterberger on 03/29/2011 at 6:00 PM News

The Popdust Files: drake, lil wayne, nicki minaj

It was Lil Wayne’s official endorsement that helped bring superstars Drake and Nicki Minaj to the masses—he not only signed them to his Young Money label, but he appeared on several hit songs with them, performed with them live, and generally seemed like best buds with his new protégés. So it might come as a little bit of a surprise that Wayne has not actually listened to either of their smash debut albums. “I never heard Drake’s album. I never heard Nicki’s album,” Weezy told Angie Martinez during a recent Hot 97 interview. “I swear to God. I work too hard.”

Is it that much of a shocker, though? We already knew that the recentl incarcerated rapper was not even familiar with the title of Minaj’s album Pink Friday while in prison, and that he had to ask his artist Mack Maine about what Drake’s album sounded like (“He singing his ass off?”) when asked about his expectations for Thank Me Later‘s first-week sales. Besides, Lil Wayne’s super-prolific and often poorly edited output over the years has hardly suggested the behavior of a man with the attention span to sit down and listen to one album all the way through.

For what it’s worth, Weezy says that Drake and Minaj probably wouldn’t take the revelation personally. “They would probably guess it,” said the Extraterrestrial. “I’m always focused on something and it captures my whole attention, I can’t do nothing else… Drake and Nick, don’t take that no kinda way.” You should check the albums out sometime, though, Wayne—they’re pretty good! Maybe we’ll throw some of the tracks on a mix for you sometime.