Lil Wayne is paying tribute to "Uncle Bob." Earlier this week, the 39-year-old rapper remembered former New Orleans police officer Robert Hoobler, often referred to as "Uncle Bob," who died at his home in Old Jefferson, Louisiana, according to The New Orleans Advocate. He was 65.
In the past, Lil Wayne, whose real name is Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., has credited Hoobler for saving his life when he was just 12 years old. Sharing a photo of the former cop, the rapper wrote on Instagram, "Everything happens for a reason. I was dying when I met u at this very spot. U refused to let me die. Everything that doesn’t happen, doesn’t happen for a reason. That reason being you and faith. RIP uncle Bob. Aunt Kathie been waiting for u. I’ll love and miss u both and live for us all."
Hoobler's grandson, Daniel Nelson, told The New Orleans Advocate that he suffered from lingering health issues stemming from a car accident. Hoobler is also said to have struggled with diabetes, which eventually led to both of his legs being amputated.
Last August, Lil Wayne shared his story about Hoobler while speaking with Emmanuel Acho on Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man. While opening up about his mental health struggles, Lil Wayne recalled attempting suicide in 1994. The rapper told Acho that he called the cops before finding his mother's gun and shooting himself in the chest. He said when the police arrived, he tried to signal that he needed help.
“They saw me -- they as in the cops -- they just jumped clean over me and went through the house, talking about, ‘I found the drugs! I found the gun!’" Lil Wayne told Acho. "It took a guy named Uncle Bob, he ran up there and when he got to the top of the steps and saw me there, he refused to even step over me."
Lil Wayne said Hoobler was not even on-duty at the time but arrived at the apartment after he heard the dispatcher on his police radio say there was a boy suffering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
“One of them yelled, ‘I got the drugs!’ And that’s when he went crazy. He was like, ‘I don’t give a f**k about no drugs! Do you not see the baby on the ground?!’" the rapper recalled. "He’s screaming at 'em, and they all came out the other room like, ‘Oh sorry, boss. We called the ambulance.’ He’s like, ‘I don’t give a f**k!’ So he called one of their names [and said] ‘Your car, now!’ Picked me up and just kept telling me some s**t like, ‘You’re not gonna die on me, you’re not gonna die on me.’ … And so he got me to the hospital, he brought me there and made sure I was good.”
Lil Wayne added, "I met him years later. But he was like, ‘I don’t want nothing. I just want to say I’m happy to see that I saved a life that mattered.'"
David Lapene, Hoobler’s former colleague, told The New Orleans Advocate that Lil Wayne’s story of how Hoobler saved his life nearly 30 years ago is "one of the best stories that depicts Hoobler as a person."
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