NEW
YORK (AP) — Rapper Lil Wayne has had it with his record label. He's
suing Cash Money Records for $51 million after claiming that it stiffed
him for $8 million on a record he delivered last month.
In
the federal lawsuit filed Wednesday, the Grammy Award-winning performer
asked a Manhattan judge to nullify contracts he has held with the
company since November 1998.
Born in New Orleans as Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., the 32-year-old rapper
said in the lawsuit that his relationship with the label has been
deteriorating over the last four years, with Cash Money failing to live
up to contractual promises regarding monthly accounting statements and
the timely payment of profits owed to Lil Wayne.
The lawsuit said the problems worsened since 2012 as Cash Money failed
to pay Lil Wayne a 49 percent share of net income derived from the sale
of solo recordings by rapper Drake for Lil Wayne's partial ownership of
the Young Money label, despite Drake's rise as one of the best-selling
recording artists in recent years. Nicki Minaj is also signed to the
label.
It
said Cash Money also is claiming millions of dollars in marketing
expenses for the Young Money label even though it is required to obtain
approval from Lil Wayne for expenses greater than $300,000. And it said
the company is preventing artists recommended by Lil Wayne from being
added to the Young Money label and is failing to pay third parties
involved with the Young Money label, leading to lawsuits and additional
costs.
A
New York lawyer for Cash Money did not immediately return a message
seeking comment. The label was co-founded by Lil Wayne's mentor, Bryan
"Birdman" Williams. A spokeswoman for Birdman and Cash Money did not
return a message seeking comment.
A
rapper since childhood, Lil Wayne released his first solo album, "Tha
Block Is Hot," in 1999. He lives in Florida now. The Young Money label
is based in Miami.
The
Cash Money website is promoting the upcoming release of the record Lil
Wayne finished last month, "Tha Carter V," one of the most anticipated
records of the past year.
Lil
Wayne said last year it was likely to be his last solo album. "Tha
Carter IV," released in 2011, sold nearly 1 million albums the first
week of its release.
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