Despite his ongoing legal battle with Cash Money Records, Lil Wayne insists he has the power to release Tha Carter Vwhenever he feels like it. Wayne spoke about the long-awaited project earlier this week during a phone interview with Wild Wayne on New Orleans’s Q93 radio station.
“Of course you’re going to see Tha Carter V. I just don’t want to put it out the wrong way,” he explained at the 6:35-minute mark. “Honestly, I can do what I want at any time. The fans deserve it to be right and that’s how it’s gonna be. I gonna make sure it’s right. I can drop whatever I want to drop. That’s why I keep dropping whatever I want to drop. But I’m not gonna give them Tha Carter V the wrong way.”
It’s unclear why Wayne continues to delay the release if he does, in fact, have the authority to drop Tha Carter V at any moment. He told Q93 that the project was completed and ready to be heard.
“It’s on the shelf, just ready to drop. I ain’t gotta do that. I move on and keep it moving and give them what I’m doing right now. Tha Carter V is ready to be listened to. It’s just gotta be listened to the right way and like I said, I’m not gonna give it to them wrong.”
It’s been more than two years since Wayne filed a $51 million lawsuit against Cash Money and its CEO Bryan "Birdman" Williams. Wayne claimed the record label failed to pay him what he was owed, including the $8 million he was supposed to receive for the recording of Tha Carter V.
It’s more than likely the album will officially drop once the legal dispute has been resolved.
Earlier this year, notorious “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli previewed a couple of tracks from Tha Carter V during a live stream. It was later reported Wayne’s team approached Shkreli about the teasers, and were told no further leaks would occur.
On Aug. 4, the Daily Caller reporter Alex Pfeiffer tweeted Shkreli got his hands on the unreleased album after Wayne supposedly left a copy of it inside a car he later sold.
“Martin told me that Lil Wayne sold his Bugatti Veyron to some guy,” Pfeiffer told Pigeons & Planes. “The guy then discovered CDs and assorted personal belongings of Wayne in the car. [The guy] called Wayne and asked if he wanted them back and Wayne said 'no.' One of these CDs turned out to be Tha Carter V and he sold it to Shkreli.”
