When $45 million-worth John Calipari quoted Lil Wayne to gatekeep NIL strategy during his time at Kentucky: “I have no idea what it means”

John Calipari has long been considered one of the best recruiters in college basketball. From John Wall to Anthony Davis to Antonio Reeves, Calipari has consistently lured top talent, paving the way for them to join the NBA.

Calipari, who led Kentucky to a national championship, left this offseason and joined Arkansas. Since the dawn of the NIL era, the Hall of Fame coach has been vocal about his stance on how to handle the rapidly evolving landscape in the sport.

At a summer press conference last year, when asked about the uncertainty around NIL deals, John Calipari, who has a net worth of $45 million (as per Celebrity Net Worth), used a quote from rapper Lil Wayne and shared a line from his song, to convey a message about NIL.

"I’m not going to share everything we do, because it’s a competitive advantage here. Now, the reason I’m not sharing because I got a lot of people, coaches — 'How are you doing it? What are you guys doing?' By coming here, if you’re a terrific player, what’s added to your value is being at Kentucky," Calipari said.

"Lil' Wayne said to me, 'I like how you just keep it in-house, what you do and everybody.' He said 'It’s like my lyric: real G’s stay silent like lasagna.' Now, I have no idea what that means, but he gave it to me and said, 'You need to roll with that.'"

The lyric is from Lil Wayne's song "6 Foot 7 Foot" which means that true gangsters stay quiet, just like the letter "G" in the word "lasagna" is silent. John Calipari went on to explain how the idea relates to his approach to NIL deals.

"We got the No. 1 recruiting class in the country. It didn’t happen if we’re not on top of what we’re doing," he added. "But I’m going to say it again, even with NIL, I do not want to be in transactional. I want it to be transformational."

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John Calipari's Arkansas gets its third win of the season

After an early setback against No. 13 Baylor, John Calipari's men bounced back with a win against Troy last week. They secured another victory on Monday against the Pacific Tigers, improving to 3-1 on the season.

The Razorbacks were up by seven points at the end of the first half and didn't look back as they cruised to a 91-72 win over Pacific.

Adou Thiero, a junior transfer from Kentucky, had a game-high 23 points and six rebounds, while Boogie Fland, a five-star freshman recruit, added 20 points and three rebounds.