Lil Wayne is under new management.
The Young Money rapper parted ways with his longtime manager Cortez Bryant last year, it was recently revealed. According to The Blast, Wayne “terminated” Bryant and his Blueprint Group sometime in 2018. The split reportedly occurred prior to the release of Tha Carter V in September.
While neither has publicly addressed their relationship, Wayne alluded to problems during an interview with Jimmy Fallon on “The Tonight Show” back in October. “I’m so into what I’m doing every day, meaning my craft, that when I have to go too far into something else, I put somebody else in charge of it when there’s somebody else that was in charge of it that messes up, then everything blows up,” he said. “And that’s how everything blew up. We just needed the debris to clear.”
Fans had become unhappy with Wayne’s management team following the lengthy delay of Tha Carter V, which was in limbo for several years while Wayne was involved in a legal battle with Cash Money.
Wayne is now reportedly being managed by his former assistant Devon Diaz and Young Money president Mack Maine. The rapper’s former lawyer, Ronald Sweeney, is suing Bryant and Maine, claiming they conspired to get him fired in order to keep money for themselves. Sweeney is suing for defamation and seeking unspecified damages for the millions he believes he lost from future Wayne commissions.
Nicki Minaj also recently split with Bryant, who along with Gee Roberson, managed her as part of Blueprint/Maverick Management.
Earlier this week, Wayne announced a co-headlining tour with blink-182. The 38-city trek kicks off June 27 in Columbus, Ohio, before hitting cities including Toronto, Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles, Detroit, and Chicago.
UPDATE: Despite The Blast’s initial report, Lil Wayne is still being managed by Cortez Bryant. A rep for Bryant tells Rap-Up that he is “100% still his manager.”
