It’s been 11 years and we still haven’t seen Lil Wayne and Juelz Santana’s collaborative mixtape I Can’t Feel My Face. On Wednesday, Weezy took to Instagram to tease us with a photo of him and Juelz, with a caption that read, “Do y’all want ICFMF,” followed by the thinking emoji.
The tape has been delayed for a number of reasons, and on both sides too. After Wayne served an eight month stint in jail in 2010, he told MTV in 2012 thought it was “time” that him and Juelz “really capitalize on that.” However, Juelz’s own legal troubles got in the way, when his New Jersey recording studio was raided by the police in 2011. According to MTV, Juelz’s studio was subsequently shut down.
Weezy used the songs he had set aside for ICFMF for his own solo album I Am Not a Human Being II, which came out in 2013. “I started putting extra verses on those songs and I've moved on,” he confirmed to MTV. “Now what probably would've been I Can't Feel My Face, has now turned into I Am Not a Human Being.”
However, Juelz’s reasoning for the delay was a bit different. In 2013—before I Am Not a Human Being II dropped—the Dipset member spoke with VladTV, explaining that the issue had to do with both emcees' individual labels.
“It worked out for the best anyway, because the album didn't come out for political reasons,” Juelz said. “Two different labels. [There were] so many people you had to get on the same page.”
He also cited that it was difficult to keep Wayne’s music under wraps: “At that time, everything from Wayne was getting leaked.” Juelz's logic is fairly on point. In 2006, the tape Blow—which features collaborative songs by both artists—was leaked, and in 2009, another tape My Face Can’t Be Feltfeaturing both rappers was also leaked. Neither were official releases.
Yet, the two have seemed to remain on good terms, evidenced by Wayne’s Juelz-supported song “Bloody Mary,” which came out on Jan. 24, and appeared on Dedication 6: Reloaded. Hopefully this means that we’ll see I Can’t Feel My Face soon. Until then, enjoy the two bodying "Black Republicans" again, and a throwback interview with Wayne talking about the project above.
