Lil Wayne, the hottest misunderstood rapper in the hip-hop industry, brought his high-energy and electrifying “I Am Music Tour” to the FedEx Forum on Sunday. And I was there getting all the sizzling details for the Tri-State Defender’s readers.

Lil Wayne concert photo gallery

Lil Wayne opened his show with thrilling fire bursts and explosions.

Tri-State Defender “All Over Town” personality Nyah Nile (right) found a true Lil Wayne fan in Brandy Monger, a local educator. (Photos by Warren Roseborough)

Anticipation was definitely high for the 26-year-old creatively tattooed, hard-working, five-foot-six New Orleans native, whose sixth album, “Tha Carter III,” was not only the biggest selling disc of 2008 in the U.S., it sold a staggering million-plus copies in its first week alone.

The Memphis Lil Wayne fans came out in full-force to see the 2009 quadruple Grammy winner.

“I just love hip-hop and I am the biggest T-Pain and Lil Wayne fan,” said Brandy Monger, a local educator. “Seating in the front row was mandatory because I am just so excited!”

The show opened with thrilling fire bursts and explosions. After that, Lil Wayne was joined by his five-piece band with a very extraordinary opening act with Florida native R&B/ Hip Hop artist T-Pain.

A music veteran, Lil Wayne moved into a performance of “La La” from “Tha Carter III” before he backtracked to his earlier smash hits such as “The Block is Hot” and “Fireman.” Then he dashed off to change clothes while young aspiring artists from Wayne’s Young Money Label showed their stuff.

Lil Wayne appeared back on stage to give some special shout outs to the family of Drizzy “Drake” Rogers, aka Aubrey Graham, an aspiring rapper signed to Interscope Records, whose family is from Memphis and who was in the audience. Drake joined Weezy on stage to perform “Mrs. Officer “from Tha Carter III.”

Lil Wayne’s style and generosity continued to surprise the audience when he invited another opening act, Keri Hilson, to join him on the next song, “Turning Me On.” (I was extremely excited being that I love this single and just cannot get enough of Hilson’s swagger.)

Changing things up a bit, Weezy sat down with an electric guitar for “Prostitute Flange.” The crowd knew all the lyrics and began to sing along. The leading crowd-pleasers of the night came in the final stretch with “Tha Carter III” monstrous smash hit single, “Lollipop” (accented by four female dancers,) “Shoot Me Down,” “My Life” and the show-ending hit, “A-Milli.”

The entire night was a real treat from beginning to end. The opening show was jam-packed with radio bangers such as Electric Red, a new all girl group with slamming dance moves and looks to kill, Keri Hilson, Gym Class Heroes, and T-Pain.

Of course Hilson, a singer and songwriter, looked beautiful and did a superior job singing her well-known hits. Gym Class Heroes combined snappy guitar rhythms, booming bass lines and witty lyrics to create a unique sound that was more than exciting.

The most compelling opener was the top-hat, sunglass wearing and dread- swinging T-Pain. He was aided by talented dwarf dancers, a tricked-out golf cart, skillful female dancers, and circus style turntables during his club banging hits set, which included Flo Rida’s “Low”, DJ Khaled’s “I'm So Hood,” and his own “Buy You a Drank” and “Chopped and Screwed.”)

You will love Lil Wayne live, I definitely did! This show was way better than any of my expectations. Lil’ Wayne himself made the show incredible!

T-Pain and Lil Wayne have announced plans for a collaborative album under the newest entity T-Wayne. Look for it later this year.

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From my seat on the front row, Lil Wayne seemed quite genuine and fun-loving. Very early in his performance the rapper delivered a warm acknowledgement to his thousands of fans.

“I need to tell you three things. First off, I believe in God, do you? Second, without you, I’m nothing. And third, with out you all, I’m nothing,” he said.

- Nyah Nile