Billboard's Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century Podcast: Lil Wayne (No. 21) & Bruno Mars (No. 20)

On this week's (September 6) episode of the Biggest Pop Stars of the 21st Century podcast, we take a look at a couple “Mirror” men: all-time rap legend Lil Wayne (No. 21) and classic pop entertainer Bruno Mars (No. 20).

First, host Andrew Unterberger is joined by staff writer Kyle Denis and associate director of R&B/hip-hop (and host of Billboard No filtering) Carl Lamarre to talk about the self-proclaimed greatest rapper alive, Lil Wayne. We share memories of Wayne's golden age—specifically 2008, Weezy's breakout year—and break down how he was able to transform all of popular music into Wayne's world, and then how he was able to retire from the spotlight without sacrifice. his relevance or his legacy. We also delve into the question many had when they saw the rapper born with the name Dwayne Carter on our list: Is Lil Wayne really a pop star in the first place?

Then, at about the 45:40 mark, Carl is replaced by Bulletin boardR&B/Hip-Hop chart director Trevor Anderson will turn to all things Bruno Mars. We break down how Bruno Mars was able to prove an immediate exception to so many top 40 rules of the 2010s: an old purveyor of pop in an era of rap and EDM, a proven triple threat performer in an era of bedroom pop stars, and a distant personality star in an age of chronic online overshers. We also share our take on how Bruno has somehow made it through almost a decade and a half as a prominent pop hitmaker without ever hinting at a flop era — and how long he can keep his winning streak going from now on.

Listen to our latest below, catch up on our past episodes here and be sure to subscribe Bulletin board'small The biggest pop stars of the 21st century series wherever you take your podcasts! (New episodes will be revealed every Friday, after we publish our two new Top Pop Star rankings for that week.)