Getty Lil Wayne attends a game.
Lil Wayne’s album Tha Carter V was originally set to come out on Friday at 9 p.m. Pacific time or midnight Eastern time. However, it appears the album has been delayed, as it has yet to appear on streaming platforms. We will provide updates on the album’s status heading into the morning.
Generally, albums become available around midnight Eastern time on streaming platforms like Apple Music and Spotify. This was the case for Wayne’s last studio release, 2011’s Tha Carter IV. On occasion, however, these platforms will throw a curveball at listeners.
Take Kanye West’s album ye for example. It was originally scheduled for release at midnight on June 1, but it wasn’t made available until the following afternoon. A similar thing happened with Drake’s recent double album Scorpion. While it was released at the proper time on Apple Music, the album wasn’t made available until 3 a.m. EST for Spotify users.
To learn how to stream the album, check out the link below.
Tha Carter V has acquired a mythic status among rap fans. It was originally set for release in 2014, but legal drama and label issues with Cash Money owner Birdman have resulted in several false starts. On June 7, Cash Money and Wayne settled their respective lawsuits for an undisclosed sum. According to Billboard, each side retained their stakes in Young Money, Wayne’s subsidiary label, and Wayne was paid what he said was owed him.
As a result, Tha Carter V will be the first album in his career to not have the Cash Money logo on it. Wayne told Billboard that he and Birdman are back on speaking terms, but that he’s made a point of separating friendship and business.
“Not even just with him, but my relationships with a lot of people have become different, just because of how different I work now,” he explains. “I’m submerged in everything about myself, trying to be better at who I am. It’s something where you have to cut some things off.”
A stellar list of artists and producers have worked on the album over the years, including Drake, Kendrick Lamar, DJ Mustard, and Wayne’s old Cash Money associate Mannie Fresh. Several tracks have been leaked online, as well as several tracklists, but Wayne has said that he will be tinkering with Tha Carter V up to the last possible moment.
“I’m very much a perfectionist,” he said. “I don’t know what it’s setting me up for — some big comeback, or maybe some big fall back or whatever — but it’s setting me up for something, and I’m ready.”
Despite his cautious outlook, Wayne is optimistic about the future and the reception to his album, which he says will conclude Tha Carter series. “I must be a hell of a motherf**ker,” he said. “In football, when a motherf**ker hasn’t been playing one year, we expect him to be nothing. Thank God I’m in music, and they still expect me to be up there with no one touching me, other than my own Young Money artists.”
