Lil Wayne Name Drops Lane Kiffin in Latest Rap Song

Lane Kiffin's off-field comments have twice earned him reprimands from the Southeastern Conference this season. But now he's finally getting mad props -- assuming people still give mad props -- thanks to the rapper Lil Wayne. In Lil's newest track, Banned From TV, the Southern rapper includes this line, "Smoke weed, talk s--- like Lane Kiffin." Now Lane Kiffin has acknowledged the endorsement via Twitter, tweeting today, "looking forward to another great practice today and a huge game Saturday ... also a huge shout-out to Lil Wayne for boosting our street cred!"

Yep, two of the South's top gangsters are already in fine form. As for fans? Well, UT fans, are already talking about, wait for it, the recruiting benefits of Lil Wayne's lyrical endorsement. Wrote a reader, Alan, this morning in an e-mail to me, "Should help with recruiting. Especially in South Florida, Louisiana, Atlanta and Memphis."

But why stop with recruiting help? Now that he's been bound and gagged by the SEC, Lane Kiffin should hop on the gangster train and play this for all it's worth.

Lil Wayne's past is dotted with controversy, including being arrested three times for drug-related issues, Wayne now faces sentencing in February on a weapons charge for which he has already plead guilty. He's expected to serve a year in prison. Notwithstanding his criminal history, he's also an acknowledged sports fan, having memorably appeared on ESPN's Around the Horn earlier this year and debated sports journalists on issues of the day. In a sad day for sports journalists everywhere, Wayne triumphed.

Lil Wayne is 27 and Lane Kiffin is just 34. So it's not particularly surprising that the New Orleans native would have picked up on Kiffin's brash manner and incorporated the antics into a song. As for Kiffin, markedly younger than most coaches in the SEC, and about 10,000 percent cooler than the only person near his own age, the top-button buttoning Dan Mullen, he's better able to bridge the generational divide with his players. And while Kiffin has some interesting character traits that don't fit in that well with the rap universe -- he goes for jogs on game day and wears visors for instance -- his affinity for the entertainment side of college football is really second-to-one, Steve Spurrier in the 1990s. Now that he's been threatened with suspension should he make any more improper comments, maybe Kiffin can just rely on third parties to make his case via rap lyrics.

Amazingly, right now, that seems possible.

Clay Travis is the author of three books. His latest, "On Rocky Top: A Front Row Seat to The End of an Era" chronicles the 2008 Tennessee football season and is on sale now.