Lil Wayne, Drake, Nicki Minaj, Tyga Lawsuit: Young Money v Universal Music Group

Lil Wayne is involved in yet another lawsuit involving seemingly warring record companies, this time taking on the major label Universal Music Group for profits earned from artists Drake, Nicki Minaj and Tyga. These three hip-hop stars, two of which are arguably the biggest in the game (sorry Tyga), were originally signed to Wayne's Young Money label, so he's suing the major for "at least $40 million" according to reports. This adds to Lil Wayne's other lawsuit against Cash Money Records for $51 million.

Wayne's suit alleges that Universal and SoundExchange have shorted him tens of millions of dollars for his discovery of these artists, all of whom are worth millions themselves. Apparently this was a strategy to repay itself the $100 million advance Universal paid to Cash Money.

"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," the complaint from the rapper and mogul states, according to a report from The Hollywood Reporter (via The Smoking Section). "As a result, 100% 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."

Lil Wayne owns the rights to 49% of these artists' profits, but this complaint is saying that all of the money that should go to him is going back into Universal. Clearly, this is not sitting well with the rapper, who is currently suing his father figure, Birdman, for the release of his highly anticipated album, The Carter V, according to The Smoking Section.

Tags

Lil Wayne, Drake, Tyga, Nicki Minaj, Universal Music Group, Young Money