Lil Wayne Starts His Own Line of Champagnes

(swiped from Pitchfork Media)

To most people, Halo is a popular first-person shooter video game. To closet nerd and million-record-selling rapper Lil Wayne, Halo is a fine name for a line of champagnes.

According to Vibe.com (via Rock and Roll Daily), Wayne will launch his own champagne line, called Halo, this fall. Halo will come in four varieties: Halo Brut, Halo Brut Vintage, Halo Rose, and Halo Pinnacle.

Vibe.com describes each variety thusly: "Halo Brut offers a golden blush with a lemon cream and roasted hazelnut flavor with a citrus-y finish, while Halo Brut Vintage presents a sparkling amalgamation of almonds and lemon blossoms with a creamy consistency. The third champagne, Halo Rose, is blended with the delightful aromas of crushed raspberries, mint, and pomegranate that will remind wine aficionados of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes. Halo Pinnacle is a Chardonnay laden with the texture of pure fruit, and the taste of lime-tree flowers and roasted hazelnuts is very noticeable."

Basically, Weezy's sparkling wine will be reminiscent of nuts, cream, and citrus fruits, much like other beverages of the sort. Lil Wayne's statement on the new business venture, quoted by Vibe.com, was succinct: "Champagne is for celebrating. I'm ready to put my foot in a new door. There are so many different business opportunities; I want to take advantage of it all."

[Note: Technically, the name "champagne" refers only to sparkling wine made with grapes from the Champagne region of France. Everything else is just sparkling wine. We don't know if Weezy's beverage is honest to goodness champagne or not, but given this guy's high standards, it probably is.-- Ed.]

While starting your own champagne brand is a pretty definite sign of success, being mentioned in a speech by a presidential hopeful is an arguably bigger one. Thanks to a speech Barack Obama gave yesterday (July 8), Wayne can claim both.

During a speech at a town hall meeting in Powder Springs, Georgia, Obama encouraged African American children to finish high school, saying, "You are probably not that good a rapper. Maybe you are the next Lil' Wayne, but probably not, in which case you need to stay in school," according to an ABC News blog entry (via The Daily Swarm).

We didn't realize Obama could be so harsh, but we're into it.

Finally, as previously reported, Lil Wayne will appear in the basketball flick Hurricane Seasons alongside Forest Whitaker and Bow Wow this Christmas. He's also touring this summer and fall in support of Tha Carter III.

Lil Wayne:

07-11 Shreveport, LA - Hirsch Memorial Coliseum
07-12 Grand Prairie, TX - Nokia Theatre (K104 Summer Jam)
07-20 Auburn, WA - White River Amphitheatre (KUBE 93 Summer Jam)
08-10 Baltimore, MD - Pimlico Race Course (Virgin Mobile Festival)
10-24-26 New Orleans, LA - Voodoo Experience

• MP3: Bun B [ft. Lil Wayne]: Damn I'm Cold [from the Ill Trill LP]