Now, the album has finally arrived, though it seems pretty clear that it’s not entirely a relic of 2012 that’s been collecting dust for half a decade. In recent weeks, news surfaced that Lil Wayne and Birdman had finally reached an agreement for an undisclosed sum, effectively freeing up Tha Carter V for release. These the lost files from ’09 and I’m tired of em just sittin on my hard drive. With each passing year, fans got more and more ravenous for its release, and the online campaign to #FreeThaCarterV (or #FreeC5) continued to grow louder and louder. Through all that, Tha Carter V remained one of popular music’s big, mythical question marks.
Later that year, Wayne released The Free Weezy Album exclusively on Tidal, and Cash Money returned fire by filing suit against Jay-Z‘s fledgling streaming platform for $50 million. In early 2015, Weezy sued Cash Money for $51 million and demanded the right to terminate his contract and leave the label. Lil Wayne’s feud with his label only ramped up from there. Again, I am truly sorry and I don’t blame ya if ya fed up with waiting 4 me & this album. … I want off this label and nothing to do with these people but unfortunately it ain’t that easy. I am truly and deeply sorry to all my fans but most of all to myself and my family for putting us in this situation. To all my fans, I want you to know that my album won’t and hasn’t been released bekuz … Cash Money Records refuse to release it.
Baby fired off a series of tweets explaining that fans would have to wait, as Birdman was not going to release the project. However, shortly before the album’s rumored initial release date, Weezy F. In 2014, Lil Wayne released “ Believe Me” featuring Drake, which was intended to be Tha Carter V‘s lead single. Tha Carter IV also came after an extended delay, prompting Wayne to release a new mixtape, Sorry 4 Tha Wait, to hold fans over until the album’s release. The album was teased by Wayne and those around him as far back as 2012, one year after the release of Tha Carter IV, which was met with a middling critical response but was an overwhelming commercial success, eventually being certified Platinum two times over. However, in addition to the baseline excitement of fans about a new Weezy LP, the significant buzz surrounding this specific release stems from a long, fraught battle his parent label, Cash Money Records, and Birdman, the label’s leader and Wayne’s noted musical father figure. The 23-track album marks the fifth installment in the prolific rapper’s enormously successful, Grammy-winning series of albums. After years locked up in label disputes, Lil Wayne‘s long-awaited new album, Tha Carter V, has finally arrived.