Lil Wayne Producer, T-Minus, Responds to Beat Theft Allegations

Lil Wayne is no stranger to lawsuits. Just last week, Birdman, Jr. was hit with legal action for allegedly stealing the instrumental to his current smash hit, “How to Love” off of Tha Carter IV. Wayne’s follow-up single, the Drake-assisted “She Will,” has also come under fire, but it’s yet to yield a lawsuit—perhaps because the plaintiffs don’t have a case.

On August 12, Canadian singer-songwriter Jim Guthrie took to Twitter to question whether “She Will” illegally sampled his single, “The Cloud.” “Did I just get sampled by Lil' Wayne,” he tweeted.

T-Minus, who produced “She Will” in addition to other hits like Nicki Minaj’s “Moment 4 Life” and DJ Khaled’s “I’m on One,” says Guthrie's record came out months after Wayne's single was recorded.

“That record [“She Will”] was done before his [Jim Guthrie's] was even released so there’s no way I could have sampled it.,” T-Minus told XXL.

Guthrie’s “The Cloud” was released on April 5, 2011 and T-Minus told Complex the record would be featured on Tha Carter IV on January 5, 2011.

On August 17, upstart Atlanta rapper J-Lie accused Wayne and Drake of stealing the “She Will” instrumental from his single, “Letting Go.”

“I recorded that song probably five months ago,” J-Lie said in a YouTube clip. “I can’t go at them. I mean, I’m not mad. That’s the industry and all that, but that’s crazy.”

According to J-Lie, “Letting Go” was recorded around March, still three months after T-Minus first announced the record’s arrival. J-Lie apparently isn’t the only rapper trying to eat off T’s plate. Several other rappers have accused Wayne of stealing the track.

“The beat was in circulation 'cause I’ll give a beat to somebody to give to an artist and that will end up somewhere else and just passed around,” the Toronto producer explained. “I sent that beat out to a few artists. I gave it out to [Young] Jeezy, I gave it to a few people, but it so happened that it got to some local artists. They got a hold of it and I told ‘em before the Wayne record had come out, do not put the record out, but they still decided to put the record out."—Carl Chery

Tune in to XXLMag.com later today (September 2) to read about Lil Wayne's new producers, including T-Minus, speak on their involvement on Tha Carter IV.