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Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
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Battle Continues Over Lil Wayne Documentary

LOS ANGELES (CN) - Rapper Lil Wayne filed a third lawsuit against the makers of "The Carter," the critically acclaimed documentary about him.

Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (Lil Wayne) says the filmmakers admitted in depositions that they knew they didn't have the rapper's permission to use his music in "The Carter," which Brandon Perkins of the Huffington Post called "one of the top-five greatest hip-hop documentaries of all time."

"In fact, both Krause and Jones have admitted in deposition testimony in a related proceeding that they were aware that they needed to secure clearances, licenses and authorization to use Plaintiff's copyrighted works, but failed to do so," the complaint states.

The music in question is from "Tha Carter III," Carter's 2008 album, which Rolling Stone magazine ranked No. 437 of all time. The chart-topper "Lollipop" was one of four singles from that album.

In the lawsuit, Carter enumerated eight of his songs that the defendants allegedly used without permission in the film, including "La La," "A Milli" and "Stuntin' Like My Daddy."

Carter and his record label, Young Money Entertainment, filed a copyright infringement complaint in Federal Court on Thursday against filmmakers Joshua Krause and Jared Freedman, Digerati Holdings, the son of legendary "Thriller" producer Quincy Jones, Quincy Delight Jones III and his company, QD3 Entertainment.

Carter demands a restraining order against the distribution of the movie, as well as the defendants' profits from the film.

Carter has said he initially cooperated with the making of the movie, granting in-depth interviews with the crew, handing over his childhood photo albums and talking family and friends into participating.

But the affair turned into a legal mess in 2009, when Carter sued Digerati, complaining that the company showed the movie at the Sundance Film Festival without allowing him his promised right of final approval.

The movie showed Carter smoking marijuana and guzzling bottles of cough syrup while he was on parole, which he said lead to complications in his then-pending criminal trial on felony gun charges.

Carter ended up serving eight months on Rikers Island for those charges.

He asked the Los Angeles Superior Court for $50 million in lost sponsorships and damage to his reputation.

Carter's second lawsuit sought an injunction against Digerati to prevent future screenings of the movie. Digerati countersued, accusing Carter of reneging on his obligation to promote the movie through press interviews.

Carter's most recent album was "Tha Carter IV," which he released in 2011.

Carter's legal team includes William Briggs II, Henry L. Self III and Michael Mancini of the Los Angeles law firm Lavely & Singer.

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