When Young Thug came into the rap game
a lot of people called him a Lil Wayne clone.
They had a similar sound,
and Thug made it clear
that Wayne was a huge influence.
At one point
they was on the same label
and Thug was even mentored by Birdman.
But then they started beefing and Thug allegedly
tried to have his idol killed!
Here’s what went down.
It all started back in 2014
when Thug announced
he was going to name his debut album Carter VI to pay homage to Wayne.
At the time,
Weezy was talking about retiring after dropping Tha Carter V
so it sounded like Thug was just trying to show his respect.
They performed together at South by Southwest
just a few days before and everything seemed cool,
but the name of Thug’s album soon became a big problem.
Around the same time,
Thug was linking up with Wayne’s mentor Birdman
and it was rumored he signed with Cash Money Records.
Eventually it was confirmed that Thug
ain’t actually sign with him,
but Birdman, Thug, and Rich Homie Quan
created the group Rich Gang together.
Birdman and Wayne been locked in
since Wayne was just 12 years old.
Birdman took him under his wing
and helped him become a superstar,
But their relationship got complicated
and around 2014
they started having major issues.
Tha Carter V kept getting delayed
and Weezy got tired of waiting for Cash Money to drop it,
so he went on a huge Twitter rant
and aired out Birdman and the label.
One of the tweets said
“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 he said
“I want off this label
and nothing to do with these people
but unfortunately it ain’t that easy,”
“I am a prisoner and so is my creativity
Again, I am truly sorry and I don’t blame ya if ya fed up
with waiting 4 me & this album.
But thk u.”
At this point
Wayne only had problems with Birdman and Cash Money,
but then Thug’s label 300 Entertainment
announced on Twitter that his album was going to be called Carter 6 -
and this is when the problems between Thug and Wayne really kicked off.
After 300 broke the news,
Wayne’s daughter Reginae Carter said
“Is he trying to be funny with this Cater 6?
Cause it’s pretty childish to me.
Try again if you’re even trying to get on my fathers level.”
Wayne went after Birdman and Cash Money
with a $51 million dollar lawsuit,
and then he started sending shots at Thug too.
By this time the Carter 6 cover art was revealed,
which showed Young Thug naked!
During a performance at a club,
Lil Wayne told the crowd
“Stop listening to songs of n****s who pose naked on their motha****** album covers.”
He ain’t call Thug out by name,
but everyone knew who he was talking about.
I want y'all to do me a favor,
and stop listening to songs that
a n**** that pose naked on their motha****** album cover.
The next day,
Thug got on Instagram and made it clear
that he ain’t have beef with his idol.
He said
“I understand Lil Wayne is frustrated about his career
and I feel him on that
but this is my idol,
I won’t ever swap words with him or beef with him about nothing.
This is a person I look up to.”
I understand that Lil Wayne is frustrated about his career,
and I feel him on that.
But this is my idol.
I won't every in my life swap words with him or beef with him, nothing.
This is a person I look up to.
Then the situation took a weird turn the next day
when Thug posted a video on Instagram
promoting his album where a voice over said
“Big killa, young n****, young f***** money.
F*** you I kill you.”
It ain’t clear what it really meant,
but two days later
Thug made a more direct threat towards Wayne.
On April 14, 2015,
Thug announced he was changing the name of his album to Barter 6
just three days before it was scheduled to drop.
Supposedly Wayne was ready with a lawsuit
if Thug kept the Carter 6 title,
so Thug switched it to avoid any legal drama.
Can't name the mixtape the Carter 6
cause they f***** n**** tryna sue.
(Inaudible)
Big old blood so I'm going Barter 6.
But that same day,
he made another post to Instagram that showed him pouring up lean
and announcing a show in Hollygrove –
the hood Lil Wayne’s from in New Orleans.
At the end of the video,
Thug made a interesting threat and said
“Beat me there.
With them d**** too, n****.”
Yeah YSL,
Carter 6 coming out,
Friday first show.
New Orlean Hollygrove f*** n****
Meet me there, bet he'd beat me there.
Over the course of a couple of days
Thug went from saying Wayne was his idol
and that he’d never beef with him,
to sending serious threats.
Later that same day
Thug posted another video where he said
“If you’re going to be a founder or a leader
and respect when people look up to you, be that.
If you’re going to criticize, be that.
But don’t mix your feelings, n****,
that s*** weak.”
He eventually deleted the video,
but at this point it was clear
that Thug and Wayne wasn’t cool.
Barter 6 officially dropped on April 17
and Thug took a subliminal shot at Wayne on the track Can’t Tell, rapping
“P**** boy I leave you dead and call it dead-ication,”
which most fans thought was a shot at Wayne’s Dedication mixtapes.
Wayne clapped back a few days later at a show where he said
If there were any other albums that dropped recently,
tell ‘em I said ‘suck my d***.’
Ain’t no motha******’ such thing as Carter 6…
you let ‘em know Tunechi said, ‘suck my d***.”
The beef was heating up
and it was clear that Thug and Wayne wasn’t gonna back down.
Then on April 26th, 2015,
things got deadly when Lil Wayne’s tour bus got shot up in Atlanta.
That night, Young Thug was performing at Southern University in Baton Rouge,
Louisiana, but the crowd obviously wasn’t taking his side in the beef.
They started yelling “Weezy” and “f*** you” at Thug and booing him!
(Booing/yelling)
He told the crowd “I still love you,”
but Wayne’s home state wasn’t rocking with him.
At the same time,
Wayne was performing in Thug’s home city of Atlanta and he got it even worse.
After his two tour buses left the venue,
someone pulled up and shot them up.
Lil Wayne and a bunch of his affiliates were all riding together in one of the buses,
but luckily the shooter missed and no one was hit.
The police ended up arresting a dude named Jimmy Winfrey for the shooting
and charged him with aggravated assault,
terroristic threats,
possession of a firearm by a felon,
and criminal gang activity.
Winfrey was Thug’s road manager at the time,
and police say he was trying to move up the ranks with the bloods
by “committing a high profile shooting of a rival rap artist.”
According to the police,
Winfrey confronted Wayne outside of the club after his show and told him
“This is my city,
keep f***** around I’ll spray the bus.”
Then the Atlanta police separated them
and rushed Wayne’s crew onto their bus.
They tried to arrest Winfrey right there,
but he managed to get away and hop into his Camaro.
The tour bus had a police escort for a minute,
but they broke off when the bus hit the interstate
and that’s when Winfrey pulled up and started dumping shots.
According to some sources,
Young Thug called Winfrey 8 times in the 12 minutes leading up to the bus shooting
and Winfrey called Birdman right after.
In a leaked phone convo Birdman says to Winfrey
“come out and get your money”.
Young Thug and Birdman never got charged with being involved in the shooting,
but the bus driver from that night ended up suing both of them
for causing “pain, anguish, suffering,
discomfort, medical expenses, and lost wages,” -
but it’s not clear how the situation ended up getting settled.
Then out of nowhere,
The Game hopped into the beef and said
“My n**** Tune [Wayne]
ain’t never been Hollywood,
he’s just Hollygrove.
Anybody f*****’ with Tune got a problem with me.
I will f*** Young Thug up.”
My n**** Tune ain’t never been Hollywood, he’s just been Hollygrove. n****.
You know what the f*** it is n****,
west side in this mother******
Anyonebody f***** with Tune got a problem with me.
I will f*** Young Thug up.
Thug clapped back at Game on Instagram and said
See you used to be a cripp, now you’re a blood.
So I don’t want no smoke with you— you’ve got bloods and cripps on your team.
And you was a male stripper once before.
So I don’t want to fight you—I don’t want no germs from you, p**** n****.
And you know I’m in L.A. more than Arnold Schwarzenegger
and he’s the governor, f*** n****.
Then Game shot back threatining to have Thug taken care of, saying
I just seen your little video, you h** ass n****.
You paint your nails like a f***** girl.
You call your n****s ‘bae.’
And you a h** ass n****.
Keep f*****’ around, n****s gonna drive by that nail shop and light that motha***** up.
The beef between Game and Thug only lasted a day,
then JoJo Capone stepped in and helped them squash it.
After the tour bus shooting
things cooled off for a minute.
Then Thug came out and confirmed again
he wasn’t actually signed with Birdman and said
“I’ma drop one more mixtape before my album.
The album is called Hy!£UN35.
I’ma drop one more mixtape.
I’ll probably name it Tha Carter V
’cause the original Carter V still ain’t came out yet.
I don’t know what the f*** they doing, slowcoaching.
So I’ma put that motha***** out for ’em."
Most fans thought the beef was only going to get worse from that point,
but a couple of months after getting shot at,
Wayne said in an interview
I mean when Slime came out and said that
I’m naming my album such and such because of,
props and because I'm such a fan,
that's a total different approach you know,
I had to be some kind of monster to just be like I don't believe you.
If he said it’s from the heart and he said that he’s some kind of fan, then
I love him.
Thanks bro, I appreciate everything about it if he’s a fan.
After that,
the beef just kind of died out.
A few years after everything went down,
Thug and Wayne officially squashed it
when Thug was featured on the track Out West
from Wayne’s mixtape No Ceilings 3.
Recently Thug, Gunna,
and 26 other YSL affiliates got hit with a massive RICO indictment.
The 56 count indictment
names Jimmy Winfrey as the dude who shot Wayne’s tour bus,
but it don’t mention if Thug was actually involved.
It seems unlikely
that Thug’s road manager would go after a superstar like Wayne
without permission from his boss,
but nobody really knows what led up to the shooting.
More info will probably come out when the trial actually starts,
and we might finally get the full story.
Did Thug really try to have his former idol murdered over a petty beef?
Or was Jimmy Winfrey just looking for a way to get clout with the bloods?
Thug’s trial is scheduled for January 2023,
and that’s when all the details will become public.
This story is still developing
so make sure ya’ll tap in for updates.