5 Reasons Why PepsiCo Dropping Lil Wayne Is A Big Deal

Mountain Dew is no longer riding for—or, rather, skating with—Lil Wayne. Their parent company PepsiCo cut ties with the celebrity endorser late last week after they received backlash for a crude reference that Weezy made to Emmett Till on Future’s “Karate Chop” remix back in February. So although Mountain Dew recently centered an entire DEWeezy campaign around the Young Money CEO, Wayne will no longer be involved in promoting PepsiCo’s products.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a major corporation drop a rapper because of his lyrical content. Less than a month ago, Reebok did the same thing to Rick Ross because of a line he spit on Rocko’s “U.O.E.N.O.” But we would argue that people aren’t paying close enough attention to what Wayne getting dropped by Mountain Dew actually means. Everyone is focusing on how he’s losing a lot of money. But what about the other unintended consequences of his doomed relationship with PepsiCo? With that in mind, we put together five reasons why Mountain Dew dropping Lil Wayne is a big deal. Here’s how it could affect him as well as others.

Reason #1:
The future of Lil Wayne’s DEWeezy Skatepark in New Orleans is now in serious doubt.
Late last year, Wayne and Mountain Dew teamed up to open a skatepark in his hometown. The skatepark, which is located in the Lower Ninth Ward, was seen as a boon for the city when it first opened. But we’re not sure where it stands now that Weezy and Mountain Dew are cutting ties. Will Wayne find a new sponsor for it? Will he throw some of his own money at it to keep it running? Or will it eventually close down and become neglected? It’s still a little too early to tell. But if Wayne’s departure from Mountain Dew does force the skatepark to close down, it would affect all those in the surrounding area who both use the park and appreciate what it adds to the community.

Reason #2:
Lil Wayne just allowed a major corporation to re-write a part of his legacy.
Getting an endorsement deal is supposed to be a good thing for your career. In a way, it signifies the fact that you’ve “made it” and that your name is so big that a company can use it to sell products. So Wayne teaming up with Mountain Dew should have been a nice addition to his resume. Instead, it’ll now go down as one of the biggest blemishes on his entire career. That’s not to say that this recent incident will define his entire career. We refuse to be a prisoner of the moment. But Wayne will have to work hard to make people forget about it. And, even then, they may forgive him for it but they won’t totally forget it.

Reason #3:
Other rappers are less likely to get endorsement deals now because of what just happened with Mountain Dew and Lil Wayne.
Corporations aren’t stupid. If they can use a high-profile rapper to make a quick buck, they will. So the issues that Rick Ross and Wayne have faced aren’t going to stop them from offering endorsement deals to rappers altogether. But they WILL think long and hard each and every time they consider a rapper for a deal in the immediate future. Guys like Jay-Z and Swizz Beatz will be immune because of their strong track records. But if a corporation thinks a rapper could harm their brand in any way, they’ll avoid working with him or her because of what just took place with Ross and Weezy. And that’s a real shame for all of the rappers out there who deserve endorsement deals right now

Reason #4:
Lil Wayne is putting rap music front and center for all the wrong reasons.
We’re not going to sit here and tell you that all rap lyrics are squeaky clean. If you spend more than five minutes a day listening to rap, then you know that there are plenty of lyrics out there that would probably outrage people if they knew about them. But there’s also a lot of good, solid music. Those outside of the rap community aren’t thinking about that right now, though. All they’re thinking about are lyrics about date rape and Emmett Till because of Rick Ross and Lil Wayne. Their offensive lyrics are a representation of rap music right now, even though they really shouldn’t be.

Reason #5:
Lil Wayne could have been a leader and prevented all of this—and didn’t.
Lil Wayne’s Emmett Till lyric was disrespectful, uncalled for, and, above all else, irresponsible. The truth of that matter is that he took a huge risk by coming up with that lyric and spitting it in the studio. He had to know that it was going to be scrutinized and he rolled with it anyway. Well, either that, or he didn’t see what the big deal was when he rapped that line on Future’s song. Either way, he made a huge mistake and proved that, despite his status in the rap game, he’s not really ready to be the superstar that we all want him to be. Also, it took way too long for him to apologize once it was clear that he was in the wrong. He really dropped the ball on this and let a lot of people down in the process.