Lil Wayne, Mannie Fresh And Juvenile Making ‘Iconic’ Joint Album For Fans
Cash Money Records stars Juvenile and Mannie Fresh have announced that they are hard at work with Lil Wayne on a new project together. Fans have been demanding a new collaboration from the trio for some time, and now they just might get it.
“The fans demanded this, to them it’s iconic,” Mannie told AllHipHop. “It’s necessary that y’all come back and do this album, and even show the planet that whatever was going on with us we can get over that.”
“We already got some features,” Juvenile added.
The three hitmakers previously collaborated on several tracks, including “Back That Azz Up,” “I Need A Hot Girl,” and “Tha Block Is Hot.” Juvenile and Mannie Fresh have both left Cash Money Records, while Lil Wayne has been trying to do the same but remains under contract and embattled in a lawsuit with the brotherly duo behind one of rap’s biggest music empires.
.@LilTunechi, @juviethegreat and @manniefresh are making an album together???????????????? https://t.co/pCyMVn0NGm pic.twitter.com/iA4gViiuwh
— Complex Music (@ComplexMusic) January 12, 2016
Weezy is suing label owners Bryan “Birdman” Williams and Ronald “Slim” Williams for his 49 percent control of Young Money and $51 million. His is yet another monetary dispute against Baby and Slim which has been an issue for the brothers almost as long as their label has been around.
After scoring a number of hits for Cash Money back in the late ’90s and early 2000s, Juvenile left the label and sued for financial mismanagement. As he explained to Complex in 2012, “My reason [to leave Cash Money] is the same reason most artists leave their label—money.”
Mannie’s departure led to an out-of-court settlement, with the rapper confirming he left Cash Money “because of money, scratch, moolah.”
Other artists who escaped the label for similar reasons were Limp Bizkit, Mystikal, and Busta Rhymes, who all left Cash Money Records in 2014. Late last year, Tyga, of Weezy’s Young Money, which is 51 percent owned by Birdman and Cash Money, took to social media to put on blast that Cash Money refused to release his album (“The Gold Album: 18th Dynasty”), per Pitchfork. Despite the legal issues, the label retains contractual control over rap’s biggest acts: Drake, Lil Wayne, and Nicki Minaj.
Juvenile, Mannie Fresh and Lil Wayne are making an album together: https://t.co/IRFOhRtF5O
— XXL Magazine (@XXL) January 12, 2016
Lil Wayne and Juvenile are members of the currently-on-hiatus rap group Hot Boys, along with B.G. and Turk, who was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment in 2006 and released in 2012. He settled his $1.3 million Cash Money lawsuit in July 2015. The Hot Boys made numerous appearances on Juvenile’s 1998 album 400 Degreez, which introduced the rapper to mainstream hip hop fans and sold over four million copies in the U.S. It remains the best-selling album of his solo career and the best-selling album ever released on Cash Money Records.
When Lil Wayne became the breakout star in the group, the others stepped back and each went on to have solo careers with varied success — none reaching the level of Weezy’s. All of his albums have reached at least gold, and the development of his boutique label, Young Money Entertainment, has helped him amass a large, ever-increasing fan base.
While the Juve, Fresh, and Wayne collaboration is not being touted as an official Hot Boys album, it’s the best semi-reunion fans can hope for since the collective (Juve, Fresh, Weezy, B.G. and Turk) dropped their last release, Let ‘Em Burn, in 2003. Lil Wayne also reconnected with Juve and Mannie at the Lil Weezyana Fest in August.
No label has yet signed on to this new project from Lil Wayne, Mannie Fresh, and Juvenile, so no release date has been set. Stay tuned.
Watch Juvenile and Mannie Fresh’s interview below.
[Images courtesy Christopher Polk/Getty Images/Twitter]
