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Did Lil Wayne sell Drake and Nicki Minaj's masters to Universal in $100M deal? Internet says 'number's too low'

The ‘No Ceilings’ hitmaker, who helped catapult the careers of Drake and Nicki Minaj under his label Cash Money Records, has apparently sold their entire catalog

Hip-hop icon Lil Wayne recently made headlines when he revealed that he sold his masters to Universal Music Group (UMG) for $100M, back in June. However, it is now being revealed that the much-secret deal also included the masters of Drake and Nicki Minaj.

The ‘No Ceilings’ hitmaker, who helped catapult the careers of Drake and Nicki Minaj under his label Cash Money Records, has apparently sold their entire catalog. TMZ had reported that Lil Wayne was recently sued by his former managers Ronald Sweeney and Avant Garde Management for more than $20 million over unpaid commissions. According to Music Business Worldwide, the suit reads, "Plaintiffs are informed and believe… that, subsequent to (Sweeney’s) termination (as Wayne’s manager), specifically in or about June of 2020, Lil Wayne was able to sell the Young Money Masters to Universal Music Group for an excess of $100 million.”

The website also reported that apart from the 38-year-old rapper’s own catalog, the deal also included Drake’s hit albums such as ‘Take Care’, ‘Nothing Was the Same’ and ‘Views’, up until 2018’s ‘Scorpion’, which was his last project under Young Money/Cash Money. Drake’s latest records, including 2020’s ‘Dark Lane Demo Tapes’, were released by his own label, OVO Sound, under exclusive license to Republic Records. UMG reportedly now owns Drake’s pre-2018 catalog as part of the Young Money acquisition. If we speak about Nicki Minaj, her albums released under the Cash Money Records include ‘Pink Friday’, ‘The Pinkprint’ and ‘Queen’. Her most recent single titled ‘Yikes’, released in February 2020, is also credited to Young Money/Cash Money.

The news quickly made it to Twitter as a lot of fans were left stunned with the latest reports. A lot of social media users then expressed their opinion on the matter. One user said, “Lil Wayne sold drake and nicki minaj s**t too lol the game dirty.” Another expressed, “Ain’t no WAY wayne sold Drake and Nicki’s masters for 100-400mil and they’re both so cool with it?? They’re worth at least upwards of 800mil.”

One individual added, “Wayne got finessed not only did he sell his catalog (worth at least 1 billion) he sold drake and Nicki as well smh. Dawg need a financial advisor he gone end up broke @LilTunechi.” One asserted, “I refuse to believe Wayne sold his, Drake, and Nicki masters for $100 mill... that number too low.” Another said, “Lil Wayne sold Drake and Nicki’s masters in typical junky fashion like a crackhead does with a tv and vcr.” One posted, “100 million is way too low especially for Drake and Nicki.”

Recently, Kanye West was in the news for his masters when he particularly had a hard time trying to buy his masters back from Universal. And when nothing happened, he took to social media to rant about the same. He had tweeted, “I need to see everybody’s contracts at Universal and Sony. I’m not gonna watch my people be enslaved. I’m putting my life on the line for my people. The music industry and the NBA are modern-day slave ships. I’m the new Moses.” He also added, “My kids gonna own my masters.”