Rapper Lil Wayne Meets With Trump

Rapper Lil Wayne Meets With Trump
Lil Wayne performs during Hot 97's "Busta Rhymes & Friends: Hot For The Holidays" at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., in a file photo. (Brad Barket/Invision/AP)
Paula Liu
10/30/2020
Updated:
10/31/2020

Rapper Lil Wayne met with President Donald Trump on Thursday.

The 38-year-old rapper, whose real name is Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., shared a picture of himself standing beside the president.

“Just had a great meeting with @realdonaldtrump @potus besides what he’s done so far with criminal reform, the platinum plan is going to give the community real ownership. He listened to what we had to say today and assured he will and can get it done,” Lil Wayne wrote on Twitter.

Trump’s Platinum Plan, released by his reelection campaign on Sept. 25, is a list that outlines how the president intends to uplift the black community in America.

“After years of neglect by Democrat politicians, Black Americans have finally found a true advocate in President Trump, who is working tirelessly to deliver greater opportunity, security, prosperity, and fairness to their communities,” the Trump campaign website stated.
The plan (pdf) is based around four key values—opportunity, security, prosperity, and fairness—all of which will improve employment rates, create more businesses, improve safety for families and business owners, generate more funding, and improve fairness for black Americans and black communities, the plan states.

It also seeks to add some 3 million new jobs for the black community, create 500,000 new black-owned businesses, and increase access to capital in black communities by almost $500 billion. Part of the plan includes bringing back manufacturing jobs to the United States to advance jobs and business and having an immigration policy that protects American jobs. It also calls for increasing “activity in opportunity zones including benefits for local hires.”

Lil Wayne’s meeting with Trump came as other black American rappers have voiced their support for the president.

Earlier this month, rapper 50 Cent published a post on Instagram writing that he was going to be voting for Trump, coming after the release of Biden’s Tax plan.

The rapper—born Curtis Jackson III in Queens—condemned Biden’s tax plan, which would raise tax rates on corporations and individuals who make more than $400,000 per year.

And on Oct. 25, rapper Ice Cube, whose real name O’Shea Jackson, told Fox News Sunday that he sat down with Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and presented his plan for the black community.

“They listened, heard what I had to say, pumped up their plan, and presented it to the people,” he said. Although it isn’t certain who Jackson will vote for, the rapper said that he would be willing to sit down with anyone who will get the job done.

Jack Phillips and Mimi Nguyen Ly contributed to this article.