Iconic rapper and label owner, Lil Wayne, continues to brand himself as not only one of the most successful artists of his generation but as a true force in global touring, with his I Am Still Music Tour coming to a triumphant close after 78 shows across three continents (Africa, Australia and North America). Lil Wayne performed in arenas in Spring 2011 and amphitheaters in Summer 2011 before closing the year with international and overseas shows in Winter 2011.
The numbers for the tour, both attendance and financials, are eye-popping with the North American leg of the I Am Still Music Tour grossing $47million and tickets sold within the thousands including 32,000 tickets in Chicago(over 2 shows), over 27,000 tickets in Buffalo, 28,000 tickets each in both Philadelphia and Dallas. In the New York area alone, Lil Wayne pulled off the unthinkable for a hip hop artist, headlining both the Bamboozle Festival whose crowd clocked in at 90,000 fans over three days, and Hot 97’s Summer Jam which drew a crowd of 50,000 fans to Giants Stadium, while also drawing over 30,000 fans to his own headline shows in Holmdel, NJ and Long Island’s Nassau.
Lil Wayne’s manager and president of Blueprint Group, the management and artist development company born of the merger of Bryant Management and Hip-Hop Since 1978, “For so many years, critics have claimed that hip hop tours would never be successful. Lil Wayne has put the nail in the coffin of that idea.” Adds Bryant, “2011 has seen Lil Wayne further cement his status as a headline arena artist in the US & Canada. The I Am Still Music run exceeded our own expectations. The amount of tickets he sold in both primary and secondary markets across the country was phenomenal and we are now focusing on the expansion of his global success”.
Much like their North American predecessor, Lil Wayne’s international leg of the I Am Still Music Tour continued his streak of commercial and critical success, with his Australian shows with Eminem drawing over 130,000 fans over 3 days, including a stadium performance in Melbourne and two stadiums in Sydney. Immediately following his tour in Australia, Lil Wayne toured South Africa for his inaugural African tour, selling out arenas in arenas in Capetown, Johannesburg and Durbin.
Shawn Gee, Lil Wayne’s tour producer who manages the touring activity for Blueprint Group’s roster says, “One of our goals for Wayne’s touring business at the start of this cycle was to expand his reach outside of North America. We feel there is a huge opportunity to build Wayne into a true global touring force. We recently completed a string of dates in Australia and South Africa where Wayne played in stadiums, with Eminem, in Melbourne in front of 65,000 fans and arenas in Johannesburg and Capetown. In 2012 we plan to build on this international success and tour Europe and South America to further expand his global reach.”
Known for curating creative line ups that mirror music festival programming, Lil Wayne’s tours included support from a cross section of musical genres including hip hop heavyweight Rick Ross, Platinum-selling, Grammy Award nominated rap doyenne Nicki Minaj, noted drummer and television star Travis Barker, Grammy Award nominated R&B/pop singer Keri Hilson, R&B tenor Lloyd and Far East Movement (aka FM), whose single, “Like A G6,” from their debut album Free Wired reached triple platinum-plus status. Always incorporating his work as a label president, Lil Wayne also included many of the artists from his Young Money label into various tour dates including Shanell, Tyga, Lil Twist and Cory Gunz.
The Multi-platinum and Grammy award winning recording artist, who has sold well over 10million records, used the tour as a marketing vehicle for his highly anticipated album Tha Carter IV, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 chart. The album, which sold over 964,000 copies in its first week, was the second highest first sales week of the year, coming in behind Lady Gagawhose Born This Way sold 1.1 million copies. Prior to the release of the album, fans in attendance were able to hear select tracks from Tha Carter IV, including his high charting single “Six Foot Seven Foot” featuring Cory Gunz as well as “How to Love” in addition to deeper cuts.
A diverse performer celebrated for his high voltage live show, Lil Wayne’s 2011 touring year continues to be his strongest and most influential to date. The I Am Still Music tour followed Lil Wayne’s breakout touring years of 2008 – 2009 in which his unparalleled touring success saw LiL Wayne perform at 78 headline shows across domestic arenas and amphitheatres in 9 months, grossing over $40 million USD, making him hip hop’s most profitable touring artist and securing him the cover of Billboard Magazine.
