Lil Wayne may be a double platinum selling artist and the best rapper alive, according to Time Magazine, but he’s not above having to go through security before performing. The NY Post reports that Lil Wayne, 25, refused to pass through a metal detector or let his bag get searched before he was due to go on stage during the Fashion Rocks event in NY this weekend. He got indignant and left, but then tried to return later and was too late to go on. His show ended up getting canceled at the last minute:

HEY, LIL’ Wayne – what was in the bag you were carrying Friday night? The rapper – whose album “Tha Carter III” was one of the biggest hits of 2008 – was supposed to perform at “Fashion Rocks” but left when he found out he’d have to go through security.

“When Lil’ Wayne showed up to perform in the show – and he showed up on time – he was carrying a bag and refused, point blank, to go through security,” one senior production person told us. “Everyone else – including Rihanna, Chris Brown, Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake and Kid Rock – went through security, and we couldn’t make an exception. He’s obviously not a Boy Scout and has a history with drugs and guns.

“But he wouldn’t budge and refused to have his bag searched or have a security wand passed over him. Then he started getting abusive: ‘I don’t need your [bleeping] show – I’m leaving if you make me do this.’ So he had to leave, I mean, who knows what was in that bag?

“He got back in the car we’d paid for and drove off. Minutes later, we got frantic calls from his management and record label begging us to have him back. We said, ‘OK, we have an opening at 7 p.m.’ The next thing you know, Wayne’s people are saying, ‘Can we do a bit later. He’s not going to be ready.’

“We had a crew of 250 people waiting for him . . . Then he calls at, like, 9:30 and says, ‘I’m five blocks away,’ which is like 500 blocks away in New York traffic, so we just pulled the plug. It was just so disrespectful to the crew and to the 5,000 audience members. Unbelievable.”

Lil’ Wayne’s manager didn’t return calls.

[From The NY Post]

Maybe this guy has a legitimate reason to fear for his life. I’m not defending his refusal to pass through security, or the assumption that he was carrying a concealed weapon, with or without a permit. He could have passed the bag onto one of his staff and told them to stash it in his bus or limo if it contained a handgun or an illicit substance but instead he kept it with him, suggesting he had something in it he didn’t want to part with. It’s possible he has received threats and is scared to be without a gun. If everyone else was going through security, he could feel moderately safe that no one in the crowd was armed. Who knows what his life is like though and if he’s afraid that someone is going to take a shot at him.

The Post reminds us that Lil Wayne was at a hearing in NY yesterday about whether the police were violating his rights when they came on his tour bus and found a 9mm gun in one of his bags. If they didn’t have a warrant, maybe they were.

I’m not for gun rights in general, but I also have no clue what it’s like to live in fear of other people with guns. It’s a complicated issue and one to which there aren’t easy solutions.