Lil Wayne Doubles Down With SPoT

Rapper Lil Wayne Increases Investment In Tampa, Florida Skatepark BY Nadia Nundakamar Thu Mar 31, 11:59pm EDT TAMPA, FL (AP) - Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr., or Lil Wayne as he’s know to music fans, has been a fixture at Skatepark of Tampa (SPoT) since first attending the Tampa Pro skateboard competition in March of 2011. In April the following year Mr. Carter set the Twitterverse abuzz with a cash injection of $9.3 million in return for majority ownership of SPoT, and now he’s at it again. According to a joint statement released by SPoT and Carter’s Cash Money Records, Lil Wayne is doubling his initial investment in SPoT with an additional $10 million, which will grant him a 90% ownership position and control over of a new product line that will draw from the collaborative efforts of Mr. Carter and SPoT. “We gonna be f*@#ing with everything from headphones, to watches, to wines and cheese,” Wayne said in the statement. Brian Schaefer, founder and former owner of SPoT, will continue to function as CEO of the brand while Michael $imms of Cash Money has been named CFO of the venture. In a controversial move, Skatepark of Tampa will be renamed under the agreement as SPoT Weezy World Wide (SPoT WWW), and in addition to a top-to-bottom brand overhaul, will be expanding its brick and mortar presence in the southeast along with an unspecified West Coast location. “Based on the long running success of Tampa Am and Tampa Pro, expanding that model westward was a no brainer,” Schaefer says. “And with Weezy’s investment in the brand we’re going to be taking over the entire world, eventually.” An unnamed source close to Mr. Carter says the success of Beats By Dre prompted the push into the headphone category. A wireless headphone is the first product slated to launch in late Fall 2016, followed by a limited shoe release, the “SPoT Weezy Skytop” in spring of 2017, along with a more eclectic line of goods including “the SPoT Weezybox,” a 1990s style boom box. Products will be available online and at SPoT WWW stores. In a separate statement, Cash Money announced it would be shuttering the Trukfit lifestyle clothing line to focus on SPoT WWW brand. “Skaters don’t like the Truckfit sh#t,” Mr. Carter said. “I’m a skater. I wanna make the sh#t that skaters gonna f*@k with.” In the announcement, SPoT WWW said they are working with a wide range of athletes and industry heavyweights to promote the launch, including Chad Muska, Tom Penny, Greg Lutzka, Jason “Weeman” Acuna, and Gary Rogers. Each will eventually have his own signature line of products. The partnership has been met with mixed reviews since Mr. Carter’s initial investment, but reportedly much of the “core” skate industry is receptive to the announced change. “Zumiez and all of the other non core brands pay for our riders to go everywhere,” said Micky Reyes of San Francisco’s Deluxe Distribution. “Do you really think that SPoT sells enough Real boards to even get half the guys to Tampa Pro? Hopefully that’s about to change.” “Everyone is going mainstream,” Schaefer adds, “brands like Polar and Welcome, no matter how cool, can’t even give us a discount to help pay for a sheet of skate lite. So I for one am stoked to align with Weezy at this level, and in the contract we’re guaranteed to have him perform at every one of our events, it’s win win, what more could we ask for?” (Reporting by Nadia Nundakamar; Editing by Bernadette Barnes and Lisa Wang)