Lil Wayne reportedly sold his masters to Universal Music Group for $100 million in a supposed deal that includes Young Money’s entire catalog. The sale was revealed in a lawsuit filed by Tunechi’s former manager Ronald E. Sweeney.
According to the legal filing, published by MusicBusinessWorldwide.com, Sweeney claims that Wayne quietly sold his masters earlier this year.
“Specifically in or about June of 2020, Lil Wayne was able to sell the Young Money masters to Universal Music Group for in excess of $100 million,” reads the complaint.
If true, Drake and Nicki Minaj’s music was included in the deal.
In the $20 million lawsuit, Sweeney — a manager and former executive at Sony — accuses Wayne of failing to pay him a percentage of the money that he received from suing Cash Money Records, and the sale of “any master recordings” owned by Weezy’s Young Money imprint.
Sweeney was hired as Wayne’s “personal manager” in 2005 after he was successful in getting him out of a “terrible contractual agreement”with Cash Money Records and negotiated a better deal, the suit states.
Sweeney says that he made himself available to the rapper 24 hours a day for 14 years.