Lil Wayne's battle with Cash Money Records over the release of Tha Carter V has been going on for almost three years now, and in a new interview with Elliott Wilson and B. Dot via the Rap Radar podcast on the Play.it network, Wayne's manager finally breaks his silence on what led to the tension. You can watch him speak on the situation in the clip above.

In the interview, Cortez Bryant, manager for Wayne and Nicki Minaj, talks about how Wayne never received an advance for "Believe Me," the first single that was supposed to be off C5 featuring Drake. Nonetheless, Wayne wanted to move forward with the release of the album, and while they waited on that advance, they moved on the Drake vs. Wayne tour.

But even after the tour, Cash Money told Wayne they didn't have the advance money, and Wayne still decided to put together a plan for the album rollout. That's where Google came in.

"This was before streaming really hit. We had a deal cut with Google where they were going to back the album and we were really gonna be able to give Carter V away for free, streaming," reveals Cortez. "The deal was lucrative. When I presented it to Slim and Baby, they didn't get it. They didn't get streaming. They went to the powers that be, the label was against it because they hadn't put their hands in the [streaming services'] pockets yet, they had no control over it, and they basically told me we can't put the album out. And when I had to tell Wayne that, he was like...what? He was like, 'You can't stop me, you can't hold me back, my fans don't deserve this and I'm about to air it out.'"

Cortez goes on to speak on how despite Wayne putting out other music since then, they want to do the release of Carter 5 right because fans expect way more from that series. He also says the album is done, it's incredible, and they don't want to put it out until it's properly marketed and supported. "I don't want a cease-and-desist coming like we did with the Free Weezy Album," says Cortez, who claims Hov said fuck it and wanted to keep the album on Tidal anyway.

The struggle between Wayne and Birdman doesn't look like it's going to end any time soon. Despite Baby saying he wants to "heal" his relationship with Wayne, Weezy has emphasized he never wants to work with Birdman again.

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