Lil Wayne will bring back all the members of the Hot Boys rap group on Nov. 2 at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans.
It’s official like a referee with a whistle.
After many rumors and beefs, New Orleans rap supergroup the Hot Boys will reunite for a concert Nov. 2 at the Smoothie King Center for Lil Wayne’s Lil’ Weezyana Fest.
On Instagram, all four members wrote, “Catch me at Lil Weezyana Fest 2024 for a Hot Boys Reunion November 2nd at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, LA.”
The festival gets its name from Lil Wayne’s alias Weezy and the home state of the supergroup.
The four members of the Hot Boys include Lil Wayne, Juvenile, B.G. and Hot Boy Turk.
During the late 1990s and into the early part of the 21st century, the rap group from Cash Money Records set the world on fire with their group albums and solo projects.
As a collective, the Cash Money Millionaires gave hip-hop heads classics like “Back That Thang Up,” “Bling-Bling,” “A Milli,” “I Need a Hot Girl” and “Stay Fly,” which came courtesy of the Big Tymers.
The duo Big Tymers consisted of Cash Money Records CEO Birdman and the label’s in-house super producer, Mannie Fresh.
At a time when the South, and New Orleans in particular, dominated the hip-hop scene, Cash Money Records stood out from in-state rival No Limit Records because the music that Fresh produced sounded like authentic “Big Easy” music, while artists affiliated with Master P’s No Limit Records had a more universal sound.
Furthermore, all four members of the Hot Boys went on to have solo success with Lil Wayne and Juvenile becoming breakout solo superstars.
Many rappers like Juvenile even believe that Lil Wayne is the greatest rapper of all time.
Nevertheless, as the years passed so did the Hot Boys’ togetherness as well as their affiliation with Cash Money Records.
Citing low wages, individual members of the Hot Boys began leaving the label one by one.
Initially, Wayne stayed with Cash Money as a solo star.
However, business disagreements even led to his departure too.
Wayne would even separate his own label Young Money Entertainment from its relationship with Cash Money.
As members left the Cash Money fold, some took shots at Birdman and the way he handled business.
The beefs were even more complicated because Birdman had a fatherly-type role with B.G. and Lil Wayne.
Birdman even once had a tiff with Mannie Fresh.
Furthermore, past incarcerations also prevented a true reunion over the years with B.G., Turk and Lil Wayne all spending time in prison.
Nevertheless, when B.G. finally got released from prison last year, many fans of the Hot Boys thought that their prayers of a reunion had finally come to pass.
But with all the talk of a possible reunion of the Hot Boys bubbling on the Internet, Birdman seemed to dismiss the possibility of all four Hot Boys reuniting for a tour because of his lack of a relationship with Turk.
B.G. added more fuel to the fire recently releasing a diss record about Turk, whom he said called him a snitch during an interview with media mogul, Wack 100.
In statements and lyrics, B.G. said that Turk could not come back from alleging that he snitched, which would ruin B.G.’s street credibility as a gangsta rapper.
Birdman had a problem with Turk for going on the podcast “Drink Champs,” claiming that they all wore fake jewelry during the early days of Cash Money’s success.
Cash Money Records built its reputation on wealth, lavish lifestyles and excess.
Therefore, claiming that group members wore fake jewelry would possibly put their credibility in danger.
Turk, who regularly appears on a podcast with Atlanta radio personality B High, kept the faith that he and B.G. could put their differences aside so that they could give their fans what they truly hoped for.
However, even many fans of B High’s podcast had given up on a Hot Boys reunion and had begun to turn on Turk for his efforts to get the group back together.
During the 2024 Essence Music Festival in New Orleans, Turk was noticeably absent from the Cash Money Records anniversary performance.
At the anniversary performance, Birdman, Juvenile, B.G. and Mannie Fresh performed together, while Lil Wayne performed separately.
When fans began asking B.G. would Turk ever reunite with the group, he said that fans would not miss him because he was the equivalent of Michelle Williams in Destiny’s Child, and that people really came to see Beyoncé and Kelly Rowland.
Furthermore, B.G. alleged that Turk was not originally supposed to be a group member.
Instead, Birdman’s nephew Lil Derrick was supposed to be the fourth member of the group.
At the time, Lil Derrick, also known as Bullet, was too heavy in the streets to truly focus on his music career.
His uncle Terrance “Gangsta” Williams said Lil Derrick’s best friend eventually murdered him.
Nevertheless, the four that became the official Hot Boys shook up the rap game as a collective for the brief time that they recorded music together.
In 1997, the Hot Boys released their debut album “Get It How U Live,” locally.
That album, combined with local hit albums by the Big Tymers and solo projects by B.G. and Juvenile led to Cash Money Records getting nationwide distribution from Universal Records.
After that deal, Juvenile became the label’s breakout star in 1998, selling four million copies of his album, “400 Degreez.”
The Hot Boys dropped their national debut in 1999, “Guerilla Warfare.”
The other three members then dropped solo albums as well.
But along the way, various members left the label.
Therefore, when the Hot Boys’ third album dropped in 2003 (“Let ‘Em Burn”), the group had long disbanded, and the album consisted of songs recorded years prior.
Now that the group is once again performing on stage together, fans will have to wait to see if they finally get a fourth album from one of the most influential rap groups of all time.
