NEW ORLEANS — The $51-million-dollar lawsuit filed in March between rappers Birdman and Lil Wayne will proceed now that Birdman has pulled his negotiations off the table.
As reported by WetPaint, "Lawyers representing both parties were close to reaching a deal to settle, but that all went down the drain when the 'A Milli' rapper changed a lyric on stage, switching 'I’m a Cash Money millionaire' to 'I’m a Roc-A-Fella millionaire.'"
David McBride with McBride & Russell Law Firm, LLC told the Louisiana Record that another development prompted Birdman to rescind his negotiations.
"Birdman's issues are with the release of Lil Wayne's album," McBride said.
Noted on Billboard, Lil Wayne was "alleging that Cash Money only paid him $2 million of the $10 million it owed him for recording and delivering the long-delayed Carter V album." The Carter V album has been not yet released.
As reported by The Boombox, "Wayne previously asked Baby (Birdman) to show his financial records in order to account for the $70 million they were supposed to split when the label received a $100 million advance from Universal."
Birdman's lawyers told The Boombox that they have "already offered up 20,000 pages of legal documents to Wayne’s legal team, but Wayne’s lawyers say the documents offered don’t show how the finances were handled, and they need more relevant information."
"The contract between Birdman and Lil Wayne entailed Lil Wayne releasing a certain number of albums," McBride said.
He explained that since Lil Wayne has fulfilled his duties under the contract, Birdman is seeking to make him stay with the current label and not pursue other avenues. Other avenues include Jay Z's record label Roc-A-Fella Records, but, according to WetPaint, the owner of that label and Birdman do not jive together.
So the case will continue now that negotiations have fallen through.
"I would suspect it (the case) to be resolved within a year. With lawsuits ongoing, this is impacting Lil Wayne's ability to write and make money," McBride said.
Lil Wayne is technically under contract with Cash Money Records, which is operated by Birdman, and has been for years. The duo, having produced music together since 2006, began making negative comments toward each other in 2014. Not only has this been apparent in Lil Wayne's twitter account, but at concerts, as well.
In addition to filing suit with Cash Money Records, Lil Wayne also filed against Universal Music Group (UMG), which has distributed his music since 1998 and works in connection with Cash Money Records.
For that lawsuit, it is noted on Billboard that Lil Wayne "alleges that the major has been redirecting royalties due to Wayne in order to pay back its own $100 million advance to Cash Money, of which $60 million is unrecouped, according to court documents."
The California judge of the suit against UMG has since said the litigation between Lil Wayne and Cash Money Records must be resolved first, then he will resolve the UMG litigation battle.
In addition to Lil Wayne being signed under Cash Money Record, Tyga, another high-profile rapper, is also a featured artist who recently departed Cash Money Records and signed with Kanye West's label G.O.O.D Music. If litigation is resolved and Lil Wayne departs Cash Money Records, the label will employ 18 artists.