Lil Wayne Makes Lyrical Attack on Sharpton

Rapper Lil Wayne has lashed out at U.S. civil rights leader Reverend Al Sharpton in the lyrics to a new song, branding the minister a "nobody".

On the track Misunderstood from his new album Tha Carter III, the Lollipop hitmaker takes aim at the race activist, rapping: "You are nobody to me/You're just another Don King (boxing promoter) with a perm/Just a little more political/And that just means you a little more un-human/Than us humans... F**k Al Sharpton and anyone like him."

But Sharpton insists he takes no offence to the slur, reported by AllHipHop.com - because he claims Lil Wayne has no credibility as a musician.

He says, "While some of the rappers don't like the fact that Rev. Sharpton has been leading marches against the degradation of women in music, a Gallup (opinion) poll released last week revealed that Reverend Sharpton has a 50 per cent approval rate among African-Americans."

"So why dignify a response to one rap artist who doesn't even say anything substantive?"