Dakota Fanning says Lil Wayne messaged her after viral 'Watch My Shoes' rap
Lil Wayne sent Dakota Fanning a message on Instagram after watching her rap every word of his 2009 song "Watch My Shoes."
Fanning shared the story on Sept. 14 on the red carpet at the Emmy Awards, the annual awards for television. She was speaking with host Justin Sylvester on Live From E!: 2026 Emmys, with her sister Elle Fanning beside her for the interview.
Asked about the viral clip, Fanning said the rapper had contacted her directly. She described it as getting "the stamp of approval from Lil Tunechi on Instagram," using one of Lil Wayne's familiar nicknames for himself. "He loved it."
She said the contact came as a DM, a private direct message on Instagram, in which he said he loved her performance, according to Billboard. She added that she was "pinching myself" after his response, according to E! News. The phrase is one people often use when good news feels hard to believe.
The performance that prompted the message was recorded in late August for Track Star, an online music series that tests how well guests know songs. Fanning took on "Watch My Shoes" and rapped along for the cameras. The segment was then posted to social media, where it spread quickly.
The Instagram clip of that performance has passed 10 million views. That total was counted from views of the post, and it was recognised as the marker that turned a studio segment into a viral video, a clip passed widely from person to person.
The song comes from No Ceilings, a project by Lil Wayne. A mixtape is a longer release outside the usual album cycle, often used in hip-hop to share freestyles, remixes and extra verses. Lil Wayne first released No Ceilings on Halloween in 2009, and it arrived on streaming services in August 2020, which put the full set on the apps listeners use to play music on demand.
Fanning's Track Star choice was a track from that mixtape, according to Complex. She did not present it as the start of a music career. She presented it as a fan performance that received a reply from the songwriter.
What makes this stand out is the loop it completes. A song released in 2009 found a new audience through a late-summer video, and the response came straight back from the artist. For fans, this means the story now lives in two places, the original Track Star post and the red-carpet interview where Fanning confirmed the DM.
