Slaven Vlasic/Getty; Stefanie Keenan/Getty; Frazer Harrison/Getty 50 Cent in June 2024; Kendrick Lamar in February 2024; Lil Wayne in July 2023

50 Cent is all for the NFL’s decision to select Kendrick Lamar as the next Super Bowl Halftime Show performer, a decision that has prompted controversy as some believe Lil Wayne should have been tapped for the gig, which will take place in his New Orleans hometown.

In conversation with The Talk, the rapper, 49, highlighted his support for Lamar taking on the job.

“I mean, it was a choice,” he shared. “I think Kendrick deserves, as a solo artist right now, he’s the guy. But having the game be in New Orleans, having the game be played in New Orleans I can see why they got the Wayne… I think the way the last show was put together with me, Eminem, Dr. Dre, Kendrick was there then and Mary J. Blige.”

Sheryl Underwood, who co-hosts The Talk, noted to 50 Cent that Lamar could very well bring out New Orleans rap icons such as Juvenile, but 50 Cent maintained that Lamar should forge his own path, bringing out artists who have been significant to his career.

“He should bring out the people that he featured on big records with,” he said.

When news of Lamar’s placement was shared, some rappers spoke out about the gig not going to Wayne, which even spurred the “How to Love” creator to respond to the situation in his own words.

“I must say thank you to every voice, every opinion, all the care, all the love and support out there. Your words turned into arms and held me up when I tried to fall back,” the rapper, 41, said in an Instagram post.

“That hurt. It hurt a lot. You know what I’m talking about — it hurt a whole lot,” Wayne noted of the snub. “I blame myself for not being mentally prepared for a letdown — and for automatically mentally putting myself in that position like somebody told me that was my position. So I blame myself for that.”

“But,” he added, “I thought that was nothing better than that spot and that stage and that platform in my city, so it hurt. It hurt a whole lot.”

John Salangsang/Shutterstock Lil Wayne in September 2023

Wayne continued by saying his fans are “f—— amazing,” noting, “It made me feel like s— not getting this opportunity, and when I felt like s—, you guys reminded me that I ain’t s— without y’all. And that’s an amazing reality.”

“So, like I said, it broke me, and I’m just trying to put me back together,” Wayne ended the message, thanking “all of my peers, my friends, my family, my homies on the sports television and everybody repping me. I really appreciate that, I really do. I feel like I let all of y’all down by not getting that opportunity, but I’m working on me … So thank you.”