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Music

Lil Wayne Sues Universal Music for $40 Million in Unpaid Royalties from Nicki Minaj, Drake, and Tyga

It’s all a bit of a mess and the case unlikely to be resolved any time soon.

Photo by Ryan Muir for Noisey

There was a time at the start of this year when everything looked to be straightening out between Lil Wayne and Birdman. After spending New Year's in the same place, the two appeared on the Club Liv stage in Miami in January where Birdman told the crowd: “This my motherfucking, and I’m gonna die for him, I’ma live for him, and I’ll motherfucking kill for him.”

Well, the $51 million lawsuit that Wayne filed against Birdman’s Cash Money Records still stands and now it looks as though Wayne’s legal team will be working overtime. Wayne is now suing Universal Music Group—the umbrella company for Cash Money who, in turn, remain the parent company for Wayne’s Young Money—for $40 million in unpaid royalties, reports The Hollywood Reporter.

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The lawsuit claims that UMG took Wayne’s profits from Drake, Nicki Minaj, and Tyga records and pumped them into repaying the $100 million advance they gave to Cash Money. According to the suit: "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 percent 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.”

A spokesman for UMG issued a statement to The Hollywood Reporter: "It should be no surprise that we learned of the lawyer's complaint through the news media," he writes. "We don't intend to dignify this with further public comment except to say that we will vigorously contest it and that the merits of our case will carry the day.”

Again, it’s all a bit of a mess and the case unlikely to be resolved any time soon. On the bright side, it’s almost legitimately Rolls Royce weather.

via The Hollywood Reporter

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