We reported last week that Lil Wayne was rumored to be working on Tha Carter V, thanks to a tweet from Drake. Now it seems that the album has been given an official release date, thus confirming it's really happening.
Drake made the announcement last night during a set at New Orleans' House of Blues as part of the NBA All-Star weekend. He said that Lil Wayne will drop the highly anticipated fifth installment of his Tha Carter series on May 5, 2014. It is unclear whether he was given the go-ahead to make the announcement or if he just let it slip, but Weezy was present and hit the stage for a performance of his own.
But as MTV News points out, the announcement directly contradicts what a Cash Money executive had teased in an interview with Buffalo, New York college paper The Griffin.
"We're very close to dropping the album," Cash Money Records Vice President of Promotion Mel Smith told the site in an interview published Thursday. He continued, "It's going to be a huge surprise to everyone; it's an incredible album. ... I can't release the date because [Wayne] wants to surprise people; he wants his true fanbase to get excited but he's worked extremely hard on it and you won't be disappointed."
Maybe the Drake announcement was the surprise he was talking about. And if the May 5 release is correct, it will come nearly three years after the double-platinum Carter IV. Weezy previously told Sway Calloway that the fifth installment would be his last album, which is why he was putting it off and decided not to mark his album I Am Not A Human Being with the Carter stamp. He appeared ready for retirement saying, "Man, I've been rappin' since I was 8 years old. I'm 30 now, man. That's a long time, man."
Check out the announcement below, and let us know what you think in the comments section!
