Lil Wayne Brings ‘Tha Carter' Album Series Full-Circle With ‘A Milli' Performance at 2025 BET Awards

Lil Wayne was in the house at Monday night's (June 9) 2025 BET Awards, with the rap icon taking the stage to perform both a new song and a classic track on the heels of the release of his new album Tha Carter VI.
Weezy's performance came a little over an hour into the show, with the star making a dramatic entrance as a gospel choir in red robes sang and fog clouded the Peacock Theater stage in Los Angeles. As the audience greeted him with raucous applause, Wayne fittingly opened with 'Welcome to Tha Carter,' which is the second track from his latest LP.
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'Man of my word, I stand on my word/ Y'all get on my nerves, I get high and land like a bird,' the hip-hop titan spit, clutching a drink in a plastic tumbler. 'Respect, I don't demand, I deserve, my standards superb/ Family first, family second, family third.'
Tunechi then rolled seamlessly into his next selection for the night, giving fans a blast from the past by dusting off his 2008 hit 'A Milli.' As he recited the iconic bars with a big smile on his face, fans in the crowd rapped along to the lines 'A million here, a million there.'
Peaking at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, 'A Milli' was one of several hits on Wayne's critically acclaimed Billboard 200-topper Tha Carter III, aka the third installment in his yearslong Tha Carter album series. The rapper recently added to the series with the long-awaited June 6 release of Tha Carter VI, a sprawling 19-track effort featuring collaborations with Wyclef Jean, BigXthaPlug, Jelly Roll, MGK and more co-stars.
The same day he dropped Tha Carter VI, Wayne kicked off his tour in support of the album with a performance at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Weezy is up for a few prizes at the 25th-anniversary BET Awards — hosted this year by Kevin Hart — including best male hip hop artist against BigXthaPlug, Bossman DLow, Burna Boy, Drake, Future, Kendrick Lamar, Key Glock and Tyler, The Creator. Wayne is also nominated twice in the best collaboration category, with both his work on Bless with Wheezy and Young Thug and 'Sticky' with Tyler, GloRilla and Sexyy Red picking up nods.
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The Sabrina Carpenter Man's Best Friend Discourse, Explained

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Sabrina Carpenter first announced her new album, Man's Best Friend, on June 11, 2025. The star simultaneously revealed that the project would include 'Manchild' as its lead single and unveiled the cover art for the project. In the album art, which you can see below, Carpenter appears on her knees before a suited figure, which many have assumed to be a man given the title, who grabs her hair. The back cover of the album appears to be a photo of a dog wearing a collar with the album's title in a heart-shaped pendant. To coincide with the announcement, Carpenter also appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone, shot by David LaChapelle, wearing nothing but white stockings. 'If I really wanted to, I could have stretched out Short n' Sweet much, much longer," Carpenter said in her cover interview. 'But I'm at that point in my life where I'm like, 'Wait a second, there's no rules.' If I'm inspired to write and make something new, I would rather do that. Why would I wait three years just for the sake of waiting three years? It's all about what feels right. I'm learning to listen to that a lot more, instead of what is perceived as the right or wrong move.' Though Carpenter has gained a reputation for sexually charged and explicit innuendos, the cover art for Man's Best Friend has gained the star a fair share of criticism and a number of detractors who claim the image is degrading and even misogynistic. Many have pointed out the image bears a strong resemblance to 'misogynistic ads from the '60s.' In contrast, others claim that the photograph is intended for the male gaze and that nowadays liberation can be achieved through other means. 'Intentionally reproducing a misogynistic aesthetic, even under the guise of satire, doesn't subvert it; it reinforces it. It aestheticizes the very tropes it claims to critique,' someone wrote on X criticizing the cover. Others argued that while the point of the cover was to subvert sexist tropes, its execution failed to deliver. 'Satire implies an exaggeration,' another person wrote on X. 'The Sabrina cover and title can easily be perceived at face value, so it FAILS at being satire.' While there's a handful of people criticizing the cover of Man's Best Friend, there are also many people defending the choice of cover art, saying it's supposed to be satirical, ironic, and tongue-in-cheek. "The way people can't comprehend that an album called 'Man's Best Friend' with cover art of a man treating a woman like a dog (b*tch), and a lead song titled 'Manchild' is clearly ironic/criticizing those things," someone commented on X. Some claimed detractors are trying to police Carpenter's sexual expression, while others defended the cover as being purposely controversial, likening it to previous work from '80s, '90s, and '00s stars like Madonna, Xtina, and Britney. 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3 hours ago

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The best sales to shop this weekend: Samsung, Ruggable, Spanx

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