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Can Cash Money, The Label That Launched Drake and Nicki Minaj, Strike Platinum Again?


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ehind the main desk at Avant Gallery just north of Miami, a mustard-yellow Skyler Grey canvas depicts gems overflowing from a tin can alongside the words “DIAMONDS” and “PEARLS.” The $40,000 piece is sure to attract the attention of Cash Money Records chief Bryan “Birdman” Williams, who has just walked in—a man who once bragged that he tries to wear $1 million worth of jewelry every day.

But the rap mogul sees a value buy: a portrait of Muhammad Ali by the Argentine street artist BNS, which he scoops up for $7,000 as his older brother and cofounder, Ronald “Slim” Williams, 54, looks on. It’s the latest addition to a collection that started with a Basquiat given to him by Lil Wayne several years ago. “Art holds more value than some vehicles and jewelry,” says the 49-year-old Birdman, whose rose-tinted sunglasses slightly obscure the letters “RG” (for “Rich Gang”) tattooed on his cheek. “Even to me.”

Deal of the Art

This is the older, wiser, and slightly more understated version of Birdman—not that he can’t still afford extravagant items. He and Slim founded their label in 1992, four years after Berry Gordy sold Motown Records for $61 million. Today, Cash Money is worth several times that amount. Thanks to A-list acts such as Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj and Drake, the label has racked up 130 million album sales and gross revenue of $1.8 billion since 1998. The brothers still control it outright, pushing their combined fortune well into centimillion-dollar territory.

“Their ability to recognize talented artists from the earliest stages and help guide them into superstar status remains unparalleled,” says Monte Lipman, who has worked with the pair for decades as chief of Universal’s Republic Records, which distributes Cash Money. “Very rarely in our business have we seen music executives make a cultural impact of this magnitude.”

But now Birdman and Slim stand at the precipice of perhaps their most daunting act. Lil Wayne, whom Birdman refers to as “my son,” has officially left Cash Money; Drake, the most-streamed artist on the planet, appears to be on his way out. Of the big three, only Minaj is still clearly under contract. Cash Money’s catalog, which generates double-digit millions for the label each year, offers the Williams brothers a firm financial floor. But in order to expand and remain relevant, Birdman and Slim will have to rely on what got them here: the ability to develop a roster of up-and-comers and navigate them through a rapidly changing music landscape.

“The industry has changed so much,” says Vernon Brown, their attorney and business manager. “The one thing about the Williams brothers is they have been able to adapt to this change.”


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irdman may have curtailed his spending slightly, or at least diversified his portfolio, but he still seems to have a weakness for automobiles. After his art purchase, he walks outside to find twin black Mercedes-Maybachs, one for each brother. “The only time I’ve ever been broke in life is when I was born,” says Birdman. Slim, who’s lanky and laconic and has a syrupy Louisiana drawl, explains how he and his brother divide the labor: “I do all the business parts,” Slim says. “He does a lot of the studio parts.”

The Williamses founded Cash Money in their native New Orleans to serve as a home for hip-hop and its boisterous cousin bounce. Their mother passed away when they were young, and they spent much of their youth in boys’ homes. After initially following the “hustler” footsteps of their father, Slim says, they decided to try making a living in music. Early recruits included producer Mannie Fresh and rapper Pimp Daddy, but their best investment was an 11-year-old wordsmith who called himself Shrimp Daddy—later, Lil Wayne. The diminutive rapper flashed his potential even in the 1990s, coining the term “bling-bling.” “It’s in the dictionary!” Slim says proudly.

Time Is Money


Much like Motown’s Gordy, the Williams brothers took a hands-on approach to the recording process, developing a signature sound and teaching their young phenoms how to hustle in the music world. While rivals spent a month or so perfecting a single verse, Cash Money acts would churn out an entire album in half that time. Hits followed, most notably Juvenile’s “Back That Azz Up.” Worried that mainstream audiences wouldn’t understand his accent, Slim and Birdman printed and passed out hundreds of thousands of flyers with the lyrics. By the late ’90s, the label was raking in millions of dollars a month and pushing the limits of its regional record distributors.

Listen: Birdman on Money

The Williams brothers began taking meetings with several major labels, including Universal, with the help of industry veteran Wendy Day. When Universal’s mid-level executives made a lowball offer to buy half their company, Slim and Birdman got up to leave. Then Doug Morris, Universal’s chief at the time, walked in with his colleague Mel Lewinter. “I wouldn’t sell my company either,” Slim remembers Morris saying. They struck a deal promising an advance of $30 million. In return, Universal would receive a 7% distribution fee but no ownership. The company also got to count Cash Money as part of its empire in market share calculations (with the help of acts like Drake, Universal is now bigger than its two closest rivals combined).

“I was pleasantly surprised at how favorable the deal was for Cash Money,” Day recalls. “[Mel] explained to me that the volume of music that Cash Money would put into the Universal pipeline was what gave them tremendous value to Universal: market share.”


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ash Money continued to crank out music in the early 2000s, but for several years it seemed the label might not be capable of launching another mainstream star. Big Tymers, Birdman’s duo with Mannie Fresh, sent “Still Fly” to No. 11 on Billboard’s singles charts, but they never quite crossed over. Juvenile couldn’t match his initial success and left Cash Money after 2003, while Lil Wayne didn’t equal his 1999 platinum debut until 2005. That year, Hurricane Katrina swept through New Orleans. Birdman told me he lost “20 houses, 50 cars, and memories.”

The Williams brothers relocated to Miami—where Young Money, their joint venture with Lil Wayne, launched a new Golden Era. They signed Drake and Minaj in 2009; the pair has since released a combined nine studio albums, all platinum or better. Along the way, the label’s artists started to match their boss’s earning power: Drake has pulled in $257 million since 2011; Minaj ($135 million) and Lil Wayne ($145 million) are right behind Birdman ($156 million).

Cash Money in the Bank

Pretax earnings of the label’s three biggest acts. (Figures in millions.)


Despite that kind of success, many of Cash Money’s early acts left the label after complaining they’d been cheated out of royalties. Mannie Fresh departed over such claims in 2005 (he did not reply for a request for comment), while Lil Wayne spent much of the last five years suing Cash Money over money issues amid the specter of violence. He finally left the label as a multimillion-dollar 2018 settlement cleared the way for the release of his latest album, Tha Carter V (a representative declined to make him available for an interview).

Cash Money’s founders deny any nefarious activity and argue that the contractual conflicts stem from the fact that many of their artists aren’t familiar with the music business when they arrive. “Contracts haven’t been done, producer agreements haven’t been done, samples haven’t been cleared,” Brown says. “Ninety percent of the time, it’s not that we owe them money. It’s that other people worked to get paid that they didn’t know had to get paid.”

To streamline future payments, Brown says Cash Money has upped the distribution fee it pays to Universal by a few points in exchange for having the record giant handle all back-office matters. A spokesperson for Cash Money also points out that artists including Mannie Fresh and Juvenile have returned for collaborations.

Meanwhile, Drake’s status remains something of a mystery. On his 2018 album Scorpion, he declared himself “out of the deal” after fulfilling his contractual obligations; Cash Money’s spokesperson says he’s scheduled for one more. Neither Drake nor Universal would comment on his status. The Williams brothers say they are “forever in business” with Drake, but won’t get more specific.

Listen: Slim on Attitude

They’re likely alluding to the fact that they’ve got a significant interest in his back catalog, as they do with Lil Wayne, Minaj and the other acts that have broken out with Cash Money over the years. Even if none of those performers release another album under the label, their music should add double-digit millions to its bottom line for years to come—and serve as a recruiting tool for new musicians.

“Rappers still clamor to sign to Cash Money, regardless of their business reputation and regardless of the fallout with many of the original artists,” says Day, who says she had to sue Cash Money to get her fee two decades ago. “Would I ever do business with them again? Hell no. But their history and impact can’t be denied. They’re brilliant.”


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s Slim’s car rolls through Miami, following closely behind Birdman, a song about Maybachs blasts through the sound system. It’s by Jacquees, the crown prince of Cash Money, who is waiting at the studio minutes later when they arrive. The 24-year-old Atlanta native signed with label in 2014 and, along with acts such as Caskey and Blueface, represents the future of the label. “Birdman called me on the phone,” Jacquees remembers. “My eyes watered up.”

Upon arriving, Birdman starts dispensing advice to Jacquees, fresh off a big performance where he was admittedly a bit nervous going in. (Birdman’s philosophy for live shows: “Have no fear . . . you just gotta go out there and face it.”) Just as Motown brought along the Miracles, then the Temptations, the Supremes, and then the Jackson 5, Cash Money is grooming Jacquees to be one of its next big acts—a move that’s giving him more confidence. The singer recently declared himself this generation’s King of R&B, much to the chagrin of many observers; indeed, Jacquees doesn’t even have a Billboard Top 40 single. But he does possess a pair of powerful believers in the Williams brothers, who know from experience that talent often takes years to fully blossom.

Royalty check

“I classify him as the King of R&B,” Birdman says defiantly. “I remember Wayne said he’s ‘the best rapper alive’ and [people] thought he was trippin’, but he stood on that ... and became that.”

Birdman is used to spending all his time in the studio to help fulfill such prophesies, sometimes to the detriment of his personal life, he says. But even as he rolls out Cash Money’s next generation, there are signs of a change. Earlier this year, he and singer Toni Braxton got engaged. Birdman claims to have mended his relationship with Lil Wayne. And he’s even thinking of getting his galaxy of face tattoos removed.

“I just think at this point in my life, I don't need that,” he explains. “That stereotypes you. It takes away from the business and certain things.”

After about an hour in the studio with Jacquees, Slim is getting hungry and hops into his Maybach. He’s on a diet that requires him to eat only once a day—whatever he wants—for two hours at dinnertime. He waits 15 minutes in the Miami dusk for his brother before directing his driver to depart. Birdman never shows up to dinner; it appears he’s still holed up in the studio with Jacquees. And Slim can’t blame him—after all, it’s part of their plan.

“These new young artists, I’m excited,” says Slim. “This a chance for me and my brother to do what we did again. One more time.”

Reach Zack O'Malley Greenburg at zgreenburg@forbes.com or follow him on Twitter. Top image by Jamel Toppin for Forbes and Forbes Video Team.