Lil Wayne is happily covering the next issue of Billboard and during the in-depth cover story, reveals a handful of exciting updates pertaining to his music (and more specifically Tha Carter V), as well as gets personal while discussing his mental health.
As revealed during the excellent profile, written by Dan Rys, Weezy divulges that he now has full ownership of Young Money as a result of the legal settlements between himself and Birdman. Now that the imprint is no longer a joint venture, Wayne is free to head the label without involving Cash Money, with his long-awaited album Tha Carter V marking the first time in his career he’ll be releasing music outside of his longtime former label home.
The lawsuit between Lil Wayne and Birdman had been ongoing for over three years, first being filed in December 2015 for $51 million (and consequently shelving Tha Carter V for the time being). The pair were finally able to reach an amicable agreement this June, settling the lawsuits for an undisclosed sum and leaving Wayne free to head up his own label independently. As reported by Rys, Young Money now solely belongs to Wayne and still will have its distribution deal with Republic Republic.
After years of not speaking, and throwing occasional shade on stage and on social media, Birdman and Lil Wayne are now mending their decades-long relationship, with Birdman recently making a point to apologize publicly to his prodigy and former business partner.
“Not even just with him, but my relationships with a lot of people have become different, just because of how different I work now,” Lil Wayne says, touching on how the experience influenced him. “I’m submerged in everything about myself, trying to be better at who I am. It’s something where you have to cut some things off.”
Elsewhere during the piece, Weezy touches on his mental health, coming forward to admit that the self-inflicted gunshot wound he lived through when he was 12 was actually a suicide attempt, with the young aspiring rapper reacting to his mother telling him he would no longer be allowed to rap.
He referred to the incident as an accident for years, but a new verse now reveals otherwise. The song in question also samples Sampha’s 2013 song “Indecision” and marks the first time Wayne directly reflects on the truth behind his choice to fire his mother’s gun as a pre-teen instead of vaguely allude to it like he has in the past.
In addition to now feeling ready to dive deep regarding his own personal mental health and past experiences, he also shares how his children have helped him get through the perils of recent years.
“My four jewels — when I FaceTime one of them, man, everything goes away,” he says, going on to talk about his choice not to let his ongoing legal battles weigh him down. “I didn’t let it get to me too much. Just the confidence in knowing that there’s always a tomorrow and I’m going to make sure that tomorrow is bright. Some people can’t go on [like] that, like, ‘OK, tomorrow will be better.’ They need it to be better right now. And thank God I didn’t, and I never did.”
Take a look at the full cover story featuring Lil Wayne via Billboard.