Lil Wayne Producer Hits UMG With $3M Lawsuit Over “Tha Carter III” Royalties

Lil Wayne producer Darius “Deezle” Harrison is taking legal action against Universal Music Group (UMG) in Los Angeles over more than $3 million in unpaid royalties tied to his production work on Weezy’s Grammy-winning album Tha Carter III and Birdman’s Fast Money.

The Grammy-winning producer filed a lawsuit claiming UMG hasn’t paid him a dime in over ten years despite his credited work on hit records like “Lollipop,” “Mrs. Officer” and “Let the Beat Build.”

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According to the complaint, Deezle is owed a 4% royalty rate for each track he produced on Tha Carter III and 3% for his contributions to Fast Money.

“Plaintiffs have not been paid any producer royalties associated with the YME producer agreement or CMR producer agreement for over a decade,” attorney Christopher L. Brown wrote in the filing, per Billboard.

Deezle previously sued Lil Wayne, Cash Money and Young Money in 2011 over the same royalty issues.

That case was settled in 2012, but the new complaint alleges UMG quietly stopped payments shortly after the agreement was reached.

The lawsuit also claims that UMG continues to benefit from the commercial success of the songs without honoring its contractual obligations. “The recordings in question are fully recouped, and over $3 million is owed to the plaintiffs,” the suit states.

Deezle’s case adds to a growing list of royalty disputes involving UMG. In recent months, artists like Salt-N-Pepa have also taken legal steps against the music giant over unpaid earnings.

Tha Carter III, released on June 10, 2008, was a commercial juggernaut. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, moved over a million units in its first week, and became the best-selling album of that year in the U.S. It has since been certified six times platinum by the RIAA.