Lil Wayne and Robin Thicke perform “Shooter” on The Tonight Show in 2006

This performance is about as close as you can get to nailing the exact moment in which Lil Wayne’s career shifted. Before this he was little more than another New Orleans rapper that rapped over Mannie Fresh beats. He was good, and the music was good, but what else? The song “Shooter” showed Wayne becoming a much more unique artist. Here he was moving beyond the traditions of New Orleans rap. His song structure had evolved into something more cohesive. It was putting less focus on dropping three dope verses on a song and more about having a song move through transitions and create its own feelings. He doesn’t perform the final verse on this show, but the three verses all have a distinct feeling that give the song an arc. This willingness to explore the basic structure of a song in that way is something that you don’t see a lot of in southern rap, and it is one of the reasons Wayne really stands out amongst his peers. I doubt Juvenile would have rolled up for a late night television appearance and play hypeman to a singing white dude for a minute and a half before starting to rap.