Lil Wayne and Birdman linked up
when Wayne was just nine years old
and used to call each other Father and Son -
but then they sparked a wild beef
that almost got Wayne killed
and today we’re breaking it all down.
Wayne and Birdman took over the rap game together,
and it all started before Wayne was even a teenager.
He started rapping when he was eight,
then a year later he met Birdman
and was recording freestyles on his answering machine.
Birdman had already started Cash Money Records,
and in ‘97
Wayne, B.G, Juvenile, and Turk
formed a crew on the label called the Hot Boys.
They dropped their first album when Wayne was 14
and sold over 300K copies.
It was clear from the jump that Wayne and Birdman made a great team,
and The Hot Boys selling so many records helped Cash Money
get a $30 million deal with Universal Records the next year.
Wayne and the Hot Boys kept up the momentum
and hit #1 on Billboard charts with their second album.
Everyone else ended up leaving Cash Money over financial issues,
but Wayne held it down
and helped turn it into one of the most successful labels of all time.
His first solo album hit #3 on the Billboard 200 chart
and Source magazine nominated him for Best New Artist,
but Wayne was just getting started.
By the time he dropped Tha Carter II
and sold over 200K in the first week,
everyone knew he was taking over.
That same year,
Birdman named him president of Cash Money
and Wayne started his imprint label Young Money.
Birdman and Wayne were already on top of the industry,
and in 2006 they dropped a collab tape called Like Father, Like Son.
They completely ran the game together for the next decade.
Wayne became one of the highest selling artists of all time
and made history by taking the record from Elvis
for most tracks on the Billboard Hot 100.
Cash Money was massive,
and Wayne’s Young Money label was bringing in all kinds of cash
after he signed Nicki Minaj and Drake.
In 2011 he dropped Tha Carter IV
and sold almost a million records in the first week.
Running up numbers like that should have kept everyone happy,
but it didn’t take long for drama behind the scenes to start heating up.
Fans were going crazy about Tha Carter IV and couldn’t wait for the sequel.
In October 2013
the Vice President of Promotion for Cash Money Records
said Tha Carter Five was coming soon,
and Drake teased it a few months later when he tweeted “CARTER V.”
Drake and Wayne finally announced that the album was coming out in May,
but then a month later it was delayed for the first time.
The new date was set for December 9th,
but five days before it was supposed to come out
Wayne hopped on Twitter and dropped a bomb.
Fans were expecting to be bumping Wayne's new album within a week,
but that all changed when he tweeted
“To all my fans,
I want u to know that my album won’t and hasn’t been released
bekuz Baby & Cash Money Rec. refuse to release it.”
Then at a party for Vice’s 20th anniversary,
Wayne took the stage and told everyone
I'm f***** up in a bad situation but,
I will be out of it soon
and I do it for ya’ll.
While everyone wanted Tha Carter V,
Wayne dropped a mixtape called Sorry 4 the Wait 2 -
and on the track Sh!t he took a shot at Birdman and said
“Did my time at Cash Money
Time served and released
But this agent ain’t free
Word
That’s word on these streets.”
Then his manager Cortez Bryant |hopped on IG and said
that Wayne had been carrying Cash Money on his back for ten years
and deserved better.
Nobody knew what was really going on,
but it was clear the situation was about to pop off -
then what happened next shocked everyone.
Two weeks later,
news broke that Wayne filed a $51 mil lawsuit against Birdman and Cash Money.
The lawsuit claimed that Birdman violated their deal
by holding onto Tha Carter V,
and Wayne wanted to be released from the contract
and take everyone signed to Young Money with him.
Wayne wasn’t just tryna get a wild amount of cash from Birdman,
he was tryna take the top earners with him too.
But Birdman wasn’t just going to let them walk away without a fight,
so Wayne took shots at him every chance he got.
On the Young Money Cypher he said
“I thank you for my hitman
And tell Pac I’m a big fan
I sang ‘Dear Mama’ to my dear mama
And sang ‘Hit Em Up’ to my daddy’s b**** ass
I thank you for my hitman
‘Bout to go kidnap the big man.”
It was clear Wayne wanted smoke
and he yelled “f*** Cash Money” at a show in Florida not long after the diss.
F*** Cash Money.
Then three weeks later,
Lil Wayne was allegedly almost taken out over the lawsuit and beef -
and rumors say the dude who allegedly ordered the hit
was Young Thug.
At the same time Wayne was airing out Birdman,
there was tension between him and Thug too.
It all started after Thug announced his new album was going to be called Carter 6.
The album cover came out that showed Thug naked,
and that’s when Wayne sent the first diss.
During a club set, Wayne told his fans
I want y'all to do me a favor
and stop listening to songs that
of n****s who pose naked
on their motherf***** album covers.
Wayne obviously wasn’t rocking with Thug trying to use the Carter name,
but Thug hopped on IG the next day
and told everyone
But this is my idol
I won't ever in my life swap words with him
or beef with him about nothing.
This is a person that I look up to.
But after he showed love to Wayne and said he looked up to him,
Thug switched up in a crazy way.
Thug posted a video on IG
Yeah YSL
Carter 6 coming out Friday
first show New Orleans Hollygrove.
That wasn’t even the wildest part though.
At the end of the video
he sent a weird threat to Wayne and said
F*** n****, meet me there, better yet,
beat me there ya dig.
With them d***s too n****.
Out of nowhere the situation went from some rap drama
to Thug sending death threats.
Fans didn’t know why it turned up so fast,
and nobody expected what happened next.
Thug changed his album title to Barter 6 to avoid a lawsuit,
and on the track Can’t Tell
he sent a subliminal at Wayne with the line
“P**** boy I leave you dead
and call it dead-ication.”
He didn’t call him out by name,
but everyone connected the bar to Wayne’s Dedication projects.
Wayne responded at a show a few days after the album dropped and said
“If there were any other albums that dropped recently,
tell ‘em I said ‘suck my d***.
Carter V comin’ soon.
Ain’t no muthaf*****’ such thing as Carter 6.”
Everyone knew that Thug and Wayne weren’t cool,
but they had no idea how serious it was about to get.
On April 26th, 2015,
Wayne had a show in Thug’s hometown of Atlanta.
Everything was fine during the set,
but when his crew left the club that night
someone tried to take him out.
Wayne’s two tour buses pulled out of the spot and hit the road.
At first they had a police escort to protect them,
but when they got on the interstate the cops left
and that’s when someone rolled up on them and started letting off shots.
Luckily nobody got hit during the shooting,
but rumors started flying that it was over the beef with Young Thug.
The cops eventually booked Thug’s road manager
Jimmy Winfrey for what went down.
After the show
he allegedly walked up to Wayne and told him
“This is my city,
keep f***** around I’ll spray the bus.”
Reports say that Thug called Winfrey eight times in 12 minutes
right before the bus shooting.
Thug allegedly trying to take out Wayne was crazy,
but then some news broke that shocked the entire game.
It turns out
that Thug wasn’t the only dude who talked to Winfrey that night.
In 2018 a phone call leaked that makes it look like Birdman
might have been the one who ordered the hit.
During a call with Winfrey,
Birdman said
It’s time for you to come out here
and get your money man
You heard my n****?
You did everything you could do boss
It's an eye opener,
you heard what I'm saying?
Strictly business man.
Winfrey was convicted and got hit with a ten year sentence,
but he ended up appealing it and taking an Alford Plea to get the charges dropped.
Thug and Birdman were never charged over the hit,
but that might change very soon.
Back in March news broke that Young Thug’s legal team
is trying to exclude the video where he threatened Wayne from his RICO trial.
There’s also been an informant working with the cops for years,
and his info might get Birdman and Thug hit with new charges over the shooting.
There’s no telling what kind of info about the shooting will come out during the trial.
Birdman and Lil Wayne are both listed as potential witnesses
for the prosecution in Thug’s case,
so the whole situation could break wide open
and fans might finally know the truth about what went down that night
and who put the hit out on Wayne.
Back in 2015
Winfrey accused Birdman of being involved,
but nothing has been proven yet.
Wayne almost getting taken out was the biggest headline of the beef,
but the rest of 2015 was just as wild.
Wayne still had his deal with Birdman
but he signed a streaming deal with Tidal that summer.
He dropped an album called Free Weezy,
and on the track He’s Dead Wayne rapped
“Rest in peace to the Cash Money Weezy,
gone but not forgotten.”
Around a week later,
Birdman allegedly threw a drink on Wayne during his set at Club LIV in Miami.
And just three days later
he dropped a $50 mil lawsuit against Jay Z and Tidal
for streaming Free Weezy exclusively.
Wayne and Birdman ended up squashing the beef for a little while in 2016,
but then Wayne filed a new $40 mil lawsuit against Universal
and sparked a lot of new tension.
He dropped a couple more disses against Cash Money like
“I just popped five Percocets and only caught a buzz
And if that label try to stop me
There gon’ be some crazy Weezy fans waitin’ in the lobby.”
They went back and forth for two more years,
and at one point it seemed like the beef and lawsuits would never stop.
But then in June 2018,
they finally settled everything
and Wayne allegedly made it out of the situation with an extra 10 mil in his pockets.
Fans got Tha Carter V a few months later,
but that wasn’t the end of the story.
Everything's been chill between Young Thug, Lil Wayne, and Birdman -
but that is probably all about to change.
There’s no telling what kind of wild info will break
about the night Wayne’s tour bus got shot up,
so tap in for updates when the news breaks.
Wayne and Birdman might have squashed their money issues,
but if Birdman did put the greenlight on his “son”
then things are about to get wild.