Why Is Lil Wayne Suing Cash Money?

Looks like Lil Wayne wants Cash Money Records to pay up. The rapper says Cash Money has failed to honor his contract and has been cheating him out of millions of dollars. So, reportedly, Lil Wayne is suing his record label for $51 million, according to the New York Daily News.

The "Got Money" hip hop star says that the label has failed to pay him the $8 million that it owes him for his upcoming album Tha Carter V. The suit reportedly says that under the terms of Wayne's contract with the company, it is supposed to pay him an $8 million advance when he begins work on a new album and an additional $2 million once he finishes it. Wayne says that he finished work on the soon to be released album back in December, but the company still has yet to pay him for even beginning the work.

And Wayne is not even in this suit just for himself. He also says the company has failed to file royalty reports for Drake, despite Drake's overwhelming commercial success in the past few years.

This sounds like it could get ugly fast, especially considering Wayne's long history with Cash Money. After all, he signed on in 1991, when he was just nine years old. But it looks like love has been lost on both sides in the midst of this lawsuit.

Wayne began to publicly vent about his issues with Cash Money via his Twitter page at the beginning of December, citing the label as the reason why his new album has not come out yet. He also described himself as a "prisoner" in the situation.

Late December was when Wayne reportedly first began threatening a lawsuit against the company. Then, in late January, Wayne upped the ante by taking shots at his former mentor Birdman and Cash Money as a whole in a mix tape. One song included lyrics such as, "Cash Money is an army, I'm a one man army!" Of course, Birdman was none too pleased about the diss.

According to TMZ, Birdman was angry at Wayne for "disrespecting" the label and that his former friend was trying to escape a binding contract. Birdman reportedly would not let Wayne leave the label voluntarily either. Instead, sources told TMZ that Birdman wanted to release the album only on his own terms.

Looks like Wayne is not only not giving up the fight, but moving the fight to a courtroom. We will have to stay tuned to see how the lawsuit drama plays out and if Wayne can win his case. But it's safe to say we probably won't ever hear Wayne shouting out to Cash Money in his rap songs again.

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