Lil Wayne is suing his record label, Cash Money Records, for $51 million dollars. The rapper hopes he will be able to end his current recording contract with the label. Wayne’s lawsuit claims Cash Money CEO, Bryan ‘Birdman’ Williams, has withheld a large amount of money that is owed to him. Yesterday, the twenty-one page lawsuit somehow surfaced on the Internet. A portion of the document breaks down the rapper’s contract with his record label, and how much Cash Money owes him. As reported earlier by TMZ, Cash Money Records owes Lil Wayne $10 million dollars for completing Tha Carter V album. The album was reportedly completed in December 2014.
The document stated, “Cash Money agreed to pay Carter an advance of Ten Million Dollars ($10,000,000.00) per solo album, with Eight Million Dollars ($8,000,000.00) to be paid upon the commencement of the recording of each solo album.” The end of the document stated, “The remaining Two Million Dollars ($2,000,000.00) to be paid upon delivery of such album to Cash Money.” The lawsuit stated that, “Cash Money has failed to properly account and pay royalties and profits to Young Money LLC. While Cash Money needed Weezy [Lil Wayne] and Young Money’s approval for marketing expenses greater than $300,000.00, they did not do so.” The lawsuit also stated, “Cash Money claims millions of dollars in marketing expenses for the Young Money Label.”
Lil Wayne also wants to be named the joint copyright holder of all the music released on Young Money, which is his Cash Money imprint. The document stated that Lil Wayne signed with Cash Money in 1998, and the rapper formed Young Money in 2003. The documents show that Cash Money and Wayne agreed to a split of 51% – 49% for all of Young Money’s revenue. Some of the recording artists signed to Young Money Entertainment include Drake, Nicki Minaj, Tyga, Austin Mahone, Christina Milian, and Mack Maine. Lil Wayne just released his Sorry 4 the Wait 2 mixtape about a week ago. The mixtape features 17-tracks and guests appearances from 2 Chainz, Drake, Nicki Minaj, Christina Milian, and Mack Maine. Sorry 4 the Wait 2 addresses the dispute between Wayne and Cash Money Records. So far, the record label has not issued a statement regarding Lil Wayne’s lawsuit.