Lil Wayne Reportedly Free to Release 'Tha Carter V' After Settling Lawsuits

BY Calum SlingerlandPublished Jun 7, 2018

The long and arduous wait for Lil Wayne's Tha Carter V might have finally come to a close, having settled a pair of long-running lawsuits against Cash Money Records, Bryan "Birdman" Williams, Universal and more.

As Pitchfork confirms [via The Blast] Wayne's first settlement involves a lawsuit filed against Cash Money, Williams and his brother Ronald "Slim Williams," UMG Recordings, Inc. and Universal Music Group, Inc. Pitchfork notes that the first documents in the suit were filed in May 2015, with Wayne amending the suit in July of last year.

The Blast reports that Universal paid "well over $10 million" to settle the suit, alleging that Universal will release Tha Carter V with Wayne's ties to Birdman's Cash Money Records being severed. 

Wayne's second settlement involves a lawsuit filed in March 2016 against Universal Music Group, Inc. and SoundExchange, Inc. That suit found the rapper seeking at least $40 million USD from the label, claiming it had withheld profits he had earned from Young Money Records artists such as Drake, Nicki Minaj and Tyga.

Pitchfork notes that a notice of dismissal pertaining to the suit that the publication obtained does not indicate a monetary settlement, instead ruling that each side agreed to "bear its own costs and attorneys' fees."

Tha Carter V release saga and ensuing legal battles have been plaguing Wayne since December 2014, when the rapper initially claimed he was being held "prisoner" by Cash Money Records. Wayne then filed a $51 million USD lawsuit against the label and hoped to take Drake and Nicki Minaj with him in breaking his Young Money imprint away from Cash Money.

Wayne then had his tour bus shot up some months later, a murder attempt that was reportedly linked to Young Thug and Birdman. In September 2016, Wayne hinted at retirement from rap after expressing that he was "defenseless and mentally defeated."

One of the strangest turns in the saga came when ex-pharma CEO/current convicted felon Martin Shkreli claimed he had purchased the unreleased LP. In March of this year, Shkreli was ordered by the United States Department of Justice to forfeit his copy of Tha Carter V, in addition to the sole copy of Wu-Tang Clan's unreleased Once Upon a Time in Shaolin.

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