Rock Weezy fans like myself are feasting this morning, as Lil Wayne has once again delved into Weezerdom on a new song off the just-released Tha Carter VI.
The album, available now on Complex Shop, finds the aptly named “Island Holiday” positioned roughly halfway through its hour-plus runtime. Through gravelly Auto-Tune, Weezy F. Baby gives fans his own take on Weezer’s 2001 hit and longtime live set staple “Island in the Sun.” As Weezheads are well aware, the track, which features two official videos (including one directed by Spike Jonze), has long been discussed as nearly not making the cut for the Rivers Cuomo-led band’s self-titled 2001 album, a.k.a. The Green Album.
“Island Holiday” starts with Weezy performing a cappella with Rivers’ original “Island in the Sun” chorus, though with some minor melodic adjustments. Following choruses show him diving deeper into the interpolation style, with lyrical modifications including switching from “When you’re on a holiday, you can’t find the words to say” to “Every day’s a holiday, feel like I just beat a case,” among others.
While credits weren’t available on Apple Music or Spotify at the time of this writing, YouTube Music, as expected, lists Cuomo as a composer and lyricist of the track. However, it wasn’t immediately clear whether Cuomo himself actually performs on the song.
This isn’t the first Weezy-Weezer collaboration moment. That honor goes to “Can’t Stop Partying,” a track from Weezer’s 2009 album Raditude that later included Chamillionaire in a live performance.
Weezy’s love for rock is well-established, with his 2010 album Rebirth, though highly divisive when first released, arguably going on to influence both the sound and aesthetics of younger artists like Lil Uzi Vert and Playboi Carti. He has regularly worked with Travis Barker, alongside whom he appeared on the cover of Complex back in 2006.
During the Matt Skiba era of blink-182 in 2019, Weezy and the band shared a mashup of “What’s My Age Again?” and “A Milli,” as well as hit the road together on a co-headlining tour. In the first verse of “Island Holiday,” Wayne appears to reference blink’s “What’s My Age Again,” like so: “Just got an actin’ coach to help me act my age.”
