Lil Wayne sues Universal for $40 milli from unpaid Drake and Nicki Minaj sales

by Richard Howard

March 30, 2016

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Lil Wayne claims the major label owes him millions for discovering Drake and Nicki Minaj.

Name: Lil Wayne. Profession: Rapper. Interests: Impeccably maintained dreadlocks, sizzurp, tattoos, and suing the pants off everybody and their mama.

Yep, the litigious Louisiana native is at it again, and this time he’s going after the big boys. Weezy and his attorneys filed a federal lawsuit on Monday accusing Universal Music Group (UMG) executives of siphoning funds owed to him into their own coffers.

The suit acknowledges the fact that UMG, which owns Lil Wayne’s Cash Money Records Inc., advanced the rapper $100 million. However, the complaint claims that, in seizing Cash Money profits in order to repay the label’s debts, UMG has also diverted monies that Wayne himself is owed pursuant to their agreement. It also names royalties trust SoundExchange as party to the diversion of profits. Part of the lawsuit reads:

“With Universal’s knowledge of Lil Wayne’s rights to partial ownership and profits from those artists, Universal and Cash Money entered into a series of agreements which, among other things, diverted Lil Wayne’s substantial profits to repay debts of Cash Money. As a result, 100 per cent of the profits that should have been paid to Lil Wayne as a result of his ownership of Drake, Nicki Minaj, and Tyga records have been seized by Universal to repay debts that were neither incurred by nor were the obligations of Lil Wayne.”

Drake, Nicki Minaj, and Tyga are all signed to the Cash Money imprint Young Money, which the complaint points out was founded in collaboration with UMG in order to “manufacture, distribute, promote, and exploit performances of new recording artists discovered by Carter and signed to the label.” The documents filed claim that this 2003 agreement entitled Lil Wayne to nearly half of the label’s profits – a revenue split that allegedly has not materialized.

As a result, the man formerly known as Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. is seeking a minimum of $40 million dollars in damages and overdue profits as well as a judgement that will cement his share of label performance royalties going forward.

Tags: Music, News, cash money, Drake, lawsuit, Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Tyga, umg, Universal Music, young money

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