Sharks

Sharks — Lil Wayne, Jelly Roll & Big Sean

Three Careers, One Summer Collab

There is something specific about a rap collaboration that brings together artists from genuinely different contexts: a New Orleans legend still operating at the top of the game after three decades, a Nashville-raised rapper whose crossover appeal had made him one of the most unlikely mainstream breakthroughs of recent years, and a Detroit MC who had been quietly building one of the more consistent bodies of work in commercial hip-hop. When Lil Wayne, Jelly Roll, and Big Sean landed in the same record together in the summer of 2025, the combination had the potential energy of a gathering that almost should not have happened but clearly did.

Lil Wayne's Enduring Presence

Dwayne Carter's career arc is without parallel in American rap. From his teenage years as a Hot Boys member to his mid-2000s run as arguably the most prolific and technically gifted rapper alive, through years of legal battles and label difficulties, and into his 2020s position as a respected elder who could still turn in a verse capable of startling younger listeners, Wayne has navigated the industry with a stubbornness that looks, in retrospect, like a form of artistic integrity. His presence on Sharks brought that accumulated gravity to the project.

Jelly Roll's Crossover Reach

Jason DeFord, performing as Jelly Roll, represented one of the more interesting genre-crossing phenomena of the early 2020s. A rapper and singer who had built his reputation in independent country-rap territory before a mainstream country breakthrough, his inclusion on a track with Wayne and Sean signaled the kind of genre porousness that has defined commercial music in the streaming era. His vocal approach, rougher and more emotionally raw than either of his collaborators, gave the track a textural contrast that a three-way rap feature can rarely manufacture on purpose.

Chart Performance in the Summer of 2025

The track debuted at number 54 on the Billboard Hot 100 on June 21, 2025, logging one week on the chart. For a collaboration of this profile, that first-week placement reflects the combined fan bases mobilizing around the release. The shark imagery in the title aligns with a long tradition of predator metaphors in rap, a language of competitive dominance and survival that all three artists have engaged with throughout their careers in different registers.

What This Track Means for Its Era

Collaborations of this type, crossing genre lines and generational divides in rap, became increasingly common through the 2020s as the industry's old walls between country, rap, and pop continued to dissolve. Jelly Roll's trajectory in particular made him a bridge figure: artists who might not otherwise share a session found common commercial ground when he was involved. Sharks captures a specific moment in that ongoing genre conversation. Press play and hear what happens when New Orleans, Nashville, and Detroit end up in the same room.

“Sharks” — Lil Wayne, Jelly Roll & Big Sean's singular moment on the 2020s charts.