Lil Wayne is currently seeing his hard work pay off, with his prized Tha Carter V album slated to debut at the No. 1 slot on the Billboard 200. While the final numbers won’t be announced until this weekend on Sunday (Oct. 7), Weezy is certainly enjoying talking about the project now that it’s out in the wild and seeing how fans are reacting.

From participating in the viral dance challenge surrounding his standout “Uproar” track to performing on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Lil Wayne is welcoming the deserved spotlight. Most recently, the legendary rapper sat down with TIDAL’s Elliott Wilson for an in-depth interview, taking place in Weezy’s hometown of New Orleans.

During the sit-down, the pair discuss all things #C5, including why Drake was noticeably left off the project, going on to simply explain it was out of his control and solely had to do with a sample not clearing.

“He had a song that didn’t get cleared,” he said, going on to allude to other songs, such as “Believe Me,” that were originally intended to be singles. “The clearances man. The clearances man. People be tripping when they find out who it is or when they found out what the subject of the song is about. They don’t want that to represent their names. You really don’t know why they say no, but that’s my opinion.”

Elsewhere throughout the livestreamed conversation, he also touched on the Young Money status of Drake and Nicki Minaj, explaining how while things may have changed over time and increasing prominence, they’re still the same too.

“They still have their own thing and they’re still with me as well,” Wayne said. “They’ve always had their own thing. Now it’s just that they have the opportunity to let me make their own thing shine brighter than it has. They’re still my artist. Understand, but they have their own things as well, because now I’m in a position I’m in now I’m going to make sure whatever they want for themselves to be, [I’m] going to make sure it’s exactly as it should be.”

Take a look at Lil Wayne’s new interview with Elliott Wilson in full via TIDAL.