XXL NEWS HIGHLIGHTS ’08: The Empires Strikes Back At Lil Wayne, “I Got Your Records From Somebody That Sits Next To You On Your Bus.”

No hard feelings. Despite being called out by Lil Wayne for putting out his unauthorized The Drought Is Over series, The Empire isn't mad at Weezy. However, he does have some sound advice for the rapper.

"I've never been to a Lil Wayne studio session," Empire told XXLMag.com. "He gotta look at his inside camp and understand that I got those records from somebody that sits right next to him on a bus...That's co-signing him while he's talking about me. I'm not gonna put his name out there, but it's one of those guys. They're sitting next to him every day."

As previously reported, Weezy phoned into DJ Drama's Shade 45 radio show to clear up comments he made about mixtape DJs in Foundation Magazine. Apparently, Wayne wasn't pissed at DJs in general, but at Empire in particular. "For all DJs, just letting y’all know, that whole shit was meant for that Empire nigga," Wayne declared during the phoner. "I don’t fuck with [him]. This nigga puts out a CD on me every month. I couldn’t [even] tell you what he looks like.” Empire has a different story.

"I spoke to Wayne," the DJ assured. "After [The Drought Is Over] Pt.2, I spoke to him. We were supposed to work out a situation where we can work together. Wayne hosted my first Empire joint, so for him to say he don't even know who I am, that was wrong." He made the comments that I dropped CDs every month," he continued. "That's wrong. I dropped five CDs in two years. I made sure all of them were quality. My CDs are known for having the new music. These kids are running around putting stuff out like stuff I played or whatever leaks on the internet, I think that's wack and I've been not feeling that. I feel like I did more good than bad. Those have been the hottest CDs in the streets for the past year and a half."

To let him tell it, leaking Tha Carter III was wrong as well. Though he's featured leaked records from earlier Carter III versions, Empire doesn't agree with the DJs who leaked the CD in protest. "I could have took Tha Carter and put out a new Drought, but that's not what I'm about," he explained. "The kids that did that, that's wack. They're just trying to look for press."

He didn't leak the record and he won't say if he profited from the Drought series, but he does have an opinion on Tha Carter's third act. Actually, Empire thinks The Drought Is Over Pt.2 is a better record than Tha Carter III."It's not what I expected," Empire confessed. "There's definitely some records on there. The Dought Is Over 2, a lot of those records were samples that would have been really good if they could have been cleared. It would have been very costly to clear. That "Mr. Carter" record on Tha Carter III, that record is crazy. No records on none of my tapes equal that joint. But I don't know, The Drought Is Over 2 is just crazy to me." --Carl Chery