Lil Wayne's Tha Carter IV Release Date Pushed Back To June 21

Wayne needs time to put finishing touches on the album, Young Money president Mack Maine tells MTV News.
By Rob Markman

Lil Wayne
Photo: MTV News

Lil Wayne's Tha Carter IV is the most anticipated rap album of 2011 thus far, but fans will have to wait just a little bit longer to hear it. The release date has been pushed back from May 16 to June 21 to allow Wayne to add finishing touches on the LP, according to Young Money president Mack Maine.

"He's still perfecting a few things, he's a perfectionist ... changing a few lines," Mack Maine said of Wayne's recording process. "We also have a huge record that wasn't done yet. We're in L.A. right now. We have a little studio time and it should be done probably by Monday."

Just as Tha Carter III had an all-star lineup — featuring the likes of Jay-Z, T-Pain and Robin Thicke &8212; its follow-up is expected to have guests of the same caliber. Unfortunately, waiting on the album's contributors to turn in their features has added to the delay as well. "If you calculate all of that, by the time we would've finished mixing, we wouldn't have met the [original] due date to turn in the album," said Mack. "So we had to push it back."

As far as Tha Carter IV track list that has been making its way around the Internet, Mack confirms that it isn't final. "I'm pretty sure it can't be all the way accurate, because I don't even have all the features back on some of it, and two [of the] songs haven't been done yet," he said.

Wayne's video for "If I Die Tonight" featuring Rick Ross, which leaked online Tuesday and was quickly taken down, also isn't finalized, according to Mack. The video was obtained by some email hackers but wasn't complete, as Wayne and director Collin Tilley are still going back and forth with edits. Mack estimates that fans can expect a completed version of the clip within the next two weeks.

Tha Carter IV's album cover, which also leaked earlier this week, is real, however. The reveal wasn't intentional and happened only a few hours after the Young Money camp approved the image, which features a picture of Wayne in kindergarten with tattoos on his face. "The same day it leaked out, we had just approved the cover that morning. Soon as we approved it, it leaked out within two hours," the Young Money president said.

And that's not all. While trying to remain as tight-lipped as possible, Mack did dish on Tha Carter IV's next single, which he compares to Weezy's 2008 hit "Lollipop," featuring the late Static Major. "It's more along the lines of a 'Lollipop,' " he said. "People call [them] crossover records and all of that, but [it will be] just one of those [records] that will be liked by the masses."

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1662534/lil-wayne-tha-carter-iv-release-date.jhtml

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