Lil Wayne sues Cash Money for $51m as Birdman feud spirals out of control

Lil Wayne's long standing feud with former mentor Birdman just reached boiling point.

TMZ reports that after months of clashes, the rapper is suing his former music mogul and label Cash Money Records for a whopping $51m (£35m).

According to the site, the Lollipop hit maker has requested that Manhattan Federal Court terminate his contract with Cash Money, claiming that the company violated the terms of his contract by withholding millions of dollars.

The suit goes on to claim Cash Money did not pay Wayne the $8m advance he was due for the album and also failed to file royalty reports for another artist it handles from Lil Wayne's Young Money imprint, Drake.

"Cash Money has failed to provide a single accounting in respect of the exploitation of the Drake recordings, despite Drake being one of the best-selling recording artists in recent years," the suit says.

The 32-year-old star (born Dwayne Carter) is hoping that with the law on his side his chances of recuperating some of the missing funds will be improved significantly.

The first sign of a rift came at the end of 2014 when Wayne took to Twitter to voice his frustrations about his highly-anticipated eleventh studio album, Tha Carter V's delayed release.

In a series of tweets, the star apologised to fans and claimed that his new material was being held hostage.

"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 [sic]," he added.

Tha Carter V, which was initially due to be released in May 2014 before being delayed until December 2014, is still yet to materialise.

Although Wayne has not released an official album since 2013's I Am Not a Human Being II he did unveil a mixtape entitled Sorry 4 the Wait 2 on 20 January.