Lil Wayne vs Birdman in $51 Million Lawsuit, Details Revealed

Lil Wayne (real name Dwayne Michael Carter Jr.), with his Young Money Entertainment, has filed a $51 million lawsuit against his former mentor Birdman (real name Bryan Williams) and his Cash Money Records in the Southern District of New York.

As alleged in the complaint before federal court, Cash Money breached Lil Wayne's recording contract by failing to pay millions of dollars in royalties for delivering the Tha Carter V album to the label, failing to pay royalties on records on Wayne's Young Money label (including Canadian rapper Drake's), prohibiting him from auditing the label's books, and registering the copyright in Wayne's sound recordings in the label's name alone.

An excerpt from the 21-page lawsuit, via TheYBF, reads: "In early December, 2014, Carter delivered to Cash Money the sound recordings comprising the second of the solo albums, entitled Tha Carter V, provided for by the 2012 Amendment. Although obligated to pay Carter Eight Million Dollars at the commencement of the recording of Tha Carter V and Two Million Dollars upon delivery of the album, Cash Money breached the 1998 Recording Agreement as amended specifically by the 2012 Amendment, by failing to pay Carter the Eight Million Dollar payment upon commencement of the recording and paying Carter only Two Million Dollars over the course of the recording of Tha Carter V. Moreover, Cash Money has refused to pay Carter the Two Million Dollars due upon delivery of Tha Carter V to Cash Money. Cash Money has refused to pay Carter the balance of Eight Million Dollars ($8,000,000.00) due Carter in respect of Tha Carter V, despite due demand therefore by Carter."

An initial report from TMZ states that Wayne has sued Cash Money for the $8 million that Birdman owes him. As gathered from the lawsuit document, the $8 million was only what he was owed when he began recording his new solo album. That amount plus the $2 million he was guaranteed when he finished it, plus a guaranteed quarterly $200,000 fee of overhead payments, plus the royalties from his and his company's talent Drake's recent albums, all sum up to $51 million according to the complaint.