Lil Wayne Inspires Kidd Kidd To Make It Big

Kidd Kidd
Photo: Dream Big

Fire Starter: Kidd Kidd

We're going to keep flying through the green light this month in the Fire Starter section. The hot talent from the South keeps emerging. So far, we've brought you Pill and Donnis out of the ATL. This week, we take it to New Orleans for Kidd Kidd.

"Kidd Kidd, my face on every wanted poster" — you might not have recognized the voice, but Kidd was on one of the biggest singles of 2008: Lil Wayne's "Mrs. Officer." The downtown New Orleans native linked up with the uptown N.O. legend (Kidd says downtown cats are known for being grimy, while uptown fellas are famous for stuntin') more than six years ago as part of Wayne's side clique Sqad Up. The collective — which also included Gudda Gudda and T-Streets, who are now down with Wayne's Young Money label — released a slew of mixtapes and underground, independent albums on Wayne's now-defunct Money Yung'N Records.

"Wayne, he works hard," said Kidd, who is known primarily by the nicknames "Peanut" or "Nutt" in his hometown. "You've got to give it up to him. He's a hard worker, so I feel like if I'm around you, I have to work just as hard as you. When he's in the studio, I'm in there. I have to make sure I'm on top of mine too. It was just about being at the right place at the right time."

Since last year, Kidd has ventured out to do his own thing and has linked up with music-industry vet Sha Money XL, who played an integral part in 50 Cent and the G-Unit's rise to fame.

"I want to see the best for him," XL told Mixtape Daily. "I got the label deal too. We're gonna put out records regardless, but it's more for me to get him out there as big as he can be, 'cause he's a star. I want to see him rise to the top. If another major comes in and got the right money, we can do it. L.A. Reid, all y'all know we get to it. We can get to it."

Kidd's first stop to making sure everyone knows his face and his music is the mixtape New Kidd on the Block, hosted by DJ Whoo Kid and DJ Scream. The CD has a mixture of freestyles and new songs, as well as old records he recorded with Drake and Wayne.

"I wanted to put those songs out there, because somebody else was already trying to," Kidd explained. "It wasn't out there how it was supposed to be, so we put those on there."

Some of the records Kidd dug in the crates for was "My N---a," which lent some melodic inspiration to Drake's "Best I Ever Had' and the original version of "Forever" — sans Eminem and Kanye West (Drake and Wayne's verses are totally different form the version you hear on the radio).

"What a lot of people don't know, ['Forever'], it was a me, Drake and Wayne song, the original before they did the remix to it."

He also flipped his own version of Drake's "Fear," which is about Kidd's introduction to the rap game. "It's letting people know, 'Don't be scared of me. Just give me your ear and let me do me,' " Kidd explained.

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