Lil Wayne blasts label over album delay: ‘I am a prisoner’

Lil Wayne is quite unhappy with his label.

Two weeks before the scheduled release of his long-gestating “Tha Carter V,” the superstar rapper blasted his longtime label, Cash Money, in a series of tweets Thursday.

In them, he not only blames Cash Money for delaying the project but claims the label is refusing to release it.

“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,” Wayne tweeted early Thursday morning. “I want off this label and nothing to do with these people but unfortunately it ain’t that easy.”

Wayne apologized to his fans, his family and himself for “putting us in this situation.”

“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,” he wrote before asking his more than 19 million followers to pray.

The news was a shock to the hip-hop community, especially considering the tight-knit operations of the label. The 32-year-old rapper has spent more than two decades affiliated with the label founded by brothers Bryan “Birdman” Williams and Ronald “Slim” Williams.

Wayne signed with the label at the age of 9 and help put it on the map as a teenager in the group the Hot Boys before breaking out as a solo marquee act. Throughout, Wayne and Cash Money have been tightly linked.

Complicating matters further is Wayne having launched his Young Money imprint -- responsible for launching Drake and Nicki Minaj to stardom -- through his longtime label.

Rumors of rifts between Cash Money heads and some of its artists have dogged the label for years, especially as Drake’s profile rose, but Wayne’s grievances come months after Young Money-signee Tyga claimed a similar issue behind his album delay.

Wayne has previously said that “Tha Carter V” would be his final album.

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