Lil Wayne ‘Tha Carter V’ Release Date: Birdman Says New Album Coming Soon, Weezy Responds To Claim

Is the Lil Wayne Carter V release date coming soon? According to Weezy’s former associate Birdman, the album is on the way in the near future. However, the rapper behind the first four Carter albums is saying otherwise. He recently called out Birdman’s bluff making headlines in the hip-hop world. The interesting news is that Lil Wayne is supposedly dropping three or four new albums in the new year, but will the Carter V be on par with what Birdman is saying?

According to Hip Hop Wired, Cash Money Records President Mack Maine recently talked about his label’s album releases scheduled for 2017. He noted that Carter V is on the way in addition to several other projects from Wayne and other artists.

“We wanna get that Carter V out. Wayne also has a dope project called Velvet. We want to get that out.”

In a report from BET earlier on Saturday, it was noted that the ongoing lawsuit Wayne has against Birdman is getting in the way of Carter V being released. In fact, although Birdman claimed Wayne’s new album is coming soon, a source close to Weezy reportedly called Birdman “full of s**t” for the claim. The latest comments are just more of the same back and forth that has been going on between the two former friends for a little while now.

As TMZ first reported in January of 2015, a $51 million lawsuit was filed by Wayne against Birdman and label Cash Money. The suit alleged that Birdman and the label withheld tens of millions of dollars that Wayne was owed for his delayed album Tha Carter V. Wayne is reportedly in possession of the master copy of Carter V and won’t give it up until the suit is settled and also had threatened to retire at one point.

So basically, Wayne wants Birdman to pay him what he feels he’s due before he releases his highly anticipated rap album. Wayne also reportedly wanted a judge to declare him a joint copyright owner of all other Young Money recordings, which would mean works from Drake, Nicki Minaj, and other artists. There have been recent reports that Birdman has met up with Universal Music Group to try to work out a payment that Wayne will be happy with in order to assist in getting the new music out.

The last official Lil Wayne album to drop was the Free Weezy Album released back in July 2015 exclusively on the TIDAL music streaming service. Prior to that it was I Am Not a Human Being II in 2013, with Tha Carter IV in 2011. Wayne continues to put in his work in guest spots for other artists, though. In 2016, he was heard from on tracks from Chance the Rapper, 2 Chainz, and PartyNextDoor.

As mentioned by his record label’s president Mack Maine, not only are there a handful of Lil Wayne projects planned, but the label is also hoping for releases from top artists Drake and Nicki Minaj. In 2016, the only notable feature album from the label was Drake’s Views, which went on to sell quite a few copies and garner critical acclaim.

Wayne, real name Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr., first met up with Birdman back in 1991. At the time, Wayne was just 9 years old and Birdman, real name Bryan Williams, was the rapper and owner of Cash Money Records. Birdman became a sort of father figure and mentor type in Wayne’s life and helped him on his way to a lucrative career for the both of them. The two went on to release a collaborative album called Like Father, Like Son in 2006.

Just like other family struggles, this father-and-son type relationship has seen good times and now bad times. Unfortunately for fans of Lil Wayne, their latest money struggles and war of words are leading to a drought for fans of the rapper’s well-received music. Hopefully, Carter V sees the light of day in 2017, and if not soon, hopefully, a few of the projects Mack Maine mentioned will keep fans happy until it does.

[Featured Image by Jonathan Leibson/Getty Images]