Lil Weezer Strikes Again: Lil Wayne Spins Weezer’s ‘Island In the Sun’ Into Breezy ‘Island Holiday’ on ‘Tha Carter VI’

Lil Wayne has long had a fascination with rock. The rapper even released a whole album devoted to his love of the genre back in 2010, Rebirth. He also appears to have a specific thing for Weezer, who prefaced his rock pivot in 2009 by inviting the legendary New Orleans MC to appear on their Polow da Don-produced single “Can’t Stop Partying” from the Raditude album.

Now, Weezer F. Baby is returning the favor on his just-released Tha Carter VI album on the song “Island Holiday,” a Wayne-ified remake of Weezer’s 2001 power pop single “Island in the Sun.” The track opens with an AutoTuned Wayne crooning the original song’s opening verse — “When you’re on a holiday/ You can’t find the word to say/ All the things that come to you/ And I wanna feel it too” — over a sample of the tune’s familiar strummy guitar before a skittery beat comes in and the MC takes off in his signature quirky direction.

In Wayne’s hands, the “hip-hip” refrain turns into “sip-sip” as he asks a woman what she’s drinking before getting down to business. “Just got paid/ Where’s my shades?/ I’m on demon time, am I late?/ Bad b–ch on my plate, fed my face/ Just got an acting coach to help me act my age,” Wayne raps woozily over a spare beat and hi-hat sizzles.

The rest of the song is a similar combo of original Wayne lyrics and his take on the Weezer lines, including a bit in the chorus where he sings, “On an island in the sun/ Breakin’ bread you can have the crumbs/ And it makes me feel so fire/ I can’t control my flame”; the original lyrics had Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo singing: “On an island in the sun/ We’ll be playing and having fun/ And it makes me feel so fine/ I can’t control my brain.”

The track ends with Wayne chanting the album’s name and bragging what sounds like “I got Weezer the band on this one” before a fiery guitar solo break, though at press time the song’s credits were not available on Spotify or Apple Music, so it was unclear if Cuomo or any other Weezer members actually appear on the song.

The Weezer connect isn’t the only rock team-up on the album, as U2 singer Bono pops in on the soaring ballad “The Days” and rapper/rocker MGK makes a hazy cameo on the album-ending “Alone in the Studio With My Gun.”

Wayne will kick off his Carter VI tour on Friday (June 6) at Madison Square Garden in his first solo headlining gig at the storied NYC arena.

Listen to “Island Holiday” below.