Thanks to a settlement made this past June between Lil Wayne and Cash Money Records, the 35-year-old rapper now entirely owns Young Money.
According to the Billboard cover story on Mr. Carter, in 2003, Young Money was established as a 51-49 joint venture between Weezy and his label Cash Money. YM was considered an imprint. Throughout the years, Young Money signed a plethora of artists such as Drake and Nicki Minaj, and the joint venture was extended through June 2015.
However, court documents show that around 2013, Cash Money’s payments to its imprint were hot and cold, and in Feb. 2014, they stopped entirely.
“By the time Wayne delivered the masters for what was to be Tha Carter V in December 2014, he had only been paid one-fifth of his guarantee. ‘As the deals got bigger, they got more complicated, and our money slowed,’ says Ron Sweeney, Wayne’s attorney and manager.”
The lawsuits were settled on Jun. 7 for an undisclosed amount. Both sides paid their stakes, and Wayne himself was paid in full. His upcoming and highly-anticipated album Tha Carter V will be the first album Wayne’s released that won’t have the Cash Money logo on it.
“My relationships with a lot of people have become different, just because of how different I work now,” Wayne told Billboard about his work ethic now that money is straightened out. “I’m submerged in everything about myself, trying to be better at who I am. It’s something where you have to cut some things off.”
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