Lil Wayne Says Drake Was Left Off Tha Carter V Due to Clearance Issues

Evan Minsker
Updated
He also discussed XXXTentacion and Kendrick’s features, Birdman’s apology, and more in his “CRWN” interview with Elliott Wilson

Lil Wayne finally delivered his new album Tha Carter V to the world last week after years of legal limbo. To mark the occasion, Wayne sat down with journalist Elliott Wilson in his hometown of New Orleans for the latest installment of Wilson’s long-running “CRWN” interview series. It live streamed on Tidal; watch it below.

In the conversation, he repeatedly revealed that he hasn’t listened to Tha Carter V following its release. He said that after he heard his mother’s emotional introduction, he couldn’t listen again. He also revealed that Mack Maine was responsible for the album’s tracklist and sequencing. When asked about his Kendrick collaboration “Mona Lisa,” he replied, “That song old, man.” He said that XXXTentacion’s inclusion on the album was Mack Maine’s idea, and he said that he “didn’t know who XXXTentacion was” until he heard the feature.

While he reiterated multiple times that the songs on the album are old, he revealed that his Nicki Minaj collaboration “Dark Side of the Moon” is actually a newer song. He also revealed that a planned collaboration with Drake didn’t make it on the album due to clearance issues. “A few of the singles that [Drake and I] released throughout the years—those were Carter V songs,” he said, citing “Believe Me” as one of the songs they released instead of holding them back.

He also opened up about Birdman’s onstage apology, revealing that he didn’t realize it happened until later on. “I was on stage, I was in performance mode, I was trying to remember the words,” he said. “Somebody actually had to tell me, ‘Oh he apologized to you onstage tonight.’” He said they talked about it later and regularly text about sports.

When Wilson asked why the album was so long, Wayne responded, “That’s short.” He also revealed that he’s sitting on another album’s worth of songs, and at one point, there was a discussion about turning Carter V into a 40-song album.

Last night, Wayne performed and sat down for an interview on “The Tonight Show.” During his interview with Wilson, he apologized for flubbing some of the words during his “Fallon” performance.

Tha Carter V arrived on Friday after about six years of delays from label issues and even legal drama. The 23-track LP features Kendrick, Travis Scott, Nicki Minaj, Sampha, Snoop Dogg, and many others. The last installment, Tha Carter IV, was released in 2011.

Read “5 Takeaways from Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter V” on Levels.

See the video.

This article was originally published on October 3 at 8:51 p.m. Eastern. It was last updated on October 3 at 11:11 p.m. Eastern.