Lil Wayne In Samsung Ad As His TIDAL May Be Sold To Samsung?
Is it all just a coincidence that Lil Wayne is in a Samsung ad trying to pop a bottle of champagne at the same time his company TIDAL is allegedly being considered by Samsung as a potential buy?
On February 29, Droid Life reported that Lil Wayne was one of many celebrities in a new Samsung commercial released on February 28. The ad is called “Why?” and is meant to promote Samsung’s smartphone, the Galaxy S7.
https://youtu.be/RfCubGgMkms
Moreover, BGR says “Lil Wayne has the best bit in the whole ad as he expresses annoyance that his phone will break if he douses it with champagne. ‘Why doesn’t my phone work if I pour this expensive champagne all over it?’ the rapper asks. ‘How am I supposed to show people how rich and carefree I am?'”
Interestingly, Lil Wayne was already involved in a Samsung headline — and it involved his business investment, TIDAL.
Lil Wayne bought into TIDAL around June 4, 2015, according to Rolling Stone, and Lil Wayne contributed a sizable chunk of change compared to other celebrities. Since June, Lil Wayne has watched other music celebrities join in on TIDAL as well.
Of course, Jay Z is the leading owner of TIDAL above Lil Wayne, and it is often for this reason that the media tends to leave Lil Wayne out of their TIDAL news stories.
What is interesting to note is that Jay Z is currently being discussed in the news for getting sued for $5 million for copyright infringement with TIDAL, according to Hip Hop DX, — while, at the same time, TIDAL may be bought from Jay Z by Samsung.
Obviously, it could be a coincidence that the company Lil Wayne owns may be bought by the same company he was hired to advertise for. About the potential buying of Lil Wayne’s TIDAL by Samsung, the New York Post writes that they are relying on the statement of insiders because TIDAL and Samsung are not confirming rumors at this time.
According to insiders, Samsung has “restarted talks to acquire [TIDAL]” and the reason they aren’t talking about the potential deal is because “Samsung is re-engaging; they are working on something really big, and they’re keeping it very quiet in case it leaks.”
The insiders close to Lil Wayne’s TIDAL that are familiar with the music industry also say that “The pressure is definitely on … TIDAL certainly needs a new home to stay alive.”
Is there a reason that Jay Z and Lil Wayne would want to unload TIDAL onto Samsung in the first place? As late as February 25, TIDAL got a new celebrity musician investor when rapper T.I. joined TIDAL, according to Forbes.
However, on February 22, the Guardian was questioning if Kanye West and Beyonce had in fact “saved” TIDAL. This counters the February 15 article from Fortune that states that Kanye West and other celebrity musicians like Lil Wayne acting as investors and also exclusively offering their new music on TIDAL is what is going to make TIDAL work.
On February 25, Death and Taxes went on to support the Guardian with their own take on a year of TIDAL’s “successes and failures.” One aspect they discussed was that TIDAL only offered something different because they tried to “offer lossless audio.”
As previously reported by The Inquisitr, this has been an ongoing focus of musicians like Neil Young’s PONO and Lil Wayne’s TIDAL, but Death and Taxes claims the following about the importance of lossless audio to the common streaming audio consumer:
“At its core, this sounds like a great idea, but the reality is, the vast majority of those listening to music via streaming services could care less about sound quality.”
In the meantime, Lil Wayne may be looking to shift his investment interests because he wants to put his money in the legal marijuana industry. Centre Daily reported that Lil Wayne allegedly smoked marijuana on stage while performing for his Dedication Tour at the Bryce Jordan Center in University Park, Pennsylvania, on February 27 and stated the following.
“[Lil Wayne] smoked several cigars containing an unknown substance and lobbied for decriminalization of pot throughout the concert.”
About the alleged marijuana smoking by Lil Wayne during his concert, the local law enforcement agencies and the venue management staff have decided not to comment.
Reviewing his Bryce Jordan Center show, Onward State writes on February 29 that “This was the old legend [Lil Wayne] turning back the clocks to have one special show again where you get fans thinking about the old days.”
Will Lil Wayne cash in by investing in marijuana? According to recent reports by Yahoo, 2016 is going to be a breakthrough year for marijuana legalization. For instance, the District of Columbia recently legalized marijuana for recreational use, following in the footsteps of Colorado and Washington.
Although Lil Wayne has not released his own brand of marijuana yet, TIME reported in November 2015 that other celebrity musicians like Snoop Dogg and Willie Nelson are coming up with their own marijuana brands.
Alternatively, it would not be surprising to see Lil Wayne start to wind down his career by selling TIDAL and investing in something like his own marijuana brand.
According to The YBF, Lil Wayne said that he would retire by age 35 in a 2011 interview. This means that Lil Wayne could be setting himself up for some major celebrity limelight gear-shifting — and we will find out on September 27, 2017 if Lil Wayne makes good on his promise of retiring at age 35 after all.
[Picture by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]