Tweet
You would think having Lil Wayne in jail for the majority of 2010 would have a negative effect on the Cash Money/Young Money squad— apparently it hasn’t. First there was Wayne’s rock project Rebirth which dropped in February and has since produced gold plaques for the label, and then there was Drake’s platinum debut Thank Me Later. Encouraging sales from Kevin Rudolph’s To the Sky, Wayne’s foray back into rap, I Am Not a Human Being and Nicki Minaj’s Pink Friday albums, have all also been positive gains for the New Orleans based rap label.
More good news came earlier this week when the nominees for the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards were announced. Cash Money racked up six nominations, including four from Drake alone. XXL caught up with Cash Money founder and CEO, Birdman to talk the success of 2010 and expectations for 2011. All they do is win!
XXLMag.com: A congratulations is in order because the Grammy nominations came out and you guys have a number of nods.
Birdman: Aww man, this is what we worked hard and put all of these years in for. It feels good; it’s beyond words. We look at it like this, next year we have to have more, so we have to work harder. This is just giving us different ways to motivate ourselves.
Last year Drake was nominated and he didn’t win, did you give him a pep talk or any advice after he didn’t win last year?
We take it as we have to go harder. It ain’t no feelings caught up in this shit, our feelings are in our music. So we just take it as we gotta go harder. We gotta prove, we gotta do more. It’s a win-win across the board. It’s a win that we are nominees and it’s a win that if we don’t get it, we’ll keep goin’ ’til we go get it.
Do you expect to win? You must have some expectations.
With these type of events, we never put no feelings in ‘em. We hope to win, but we’ve been coming to ‘em for a minute, so if it don’t happen we know how to keep it movin’. It ain’t no big thing.
How was Cash Money/Young Money able to accomplish so much this year considering that Wayne was away for most of 2010?
We had to just buckle down. Losin’ [Wayne], that was big, so we had to go and get another motivation and that was our motivation. We wanted— just when he came home, to show the young boy what we’ve accomplished. Everybody played their part, as a team. Everybody supported each other as a team. It really brought a lot of us closer. And with [Wayne] being home, we’re even closer. [Losing Wayne] was a gift and a curse. The curse is that young’n had to do the time; the gift is that we united up and everybody came to the table.
And it’s not just Drake and Nicki; Tyga got his nomination too. We expected Drake and Nicki to be there, nobody really expected Tyga to be here at the end of the year. Imagine if Tyga wins a Grammy.
Believe that and all of them work hard bruh. In some kinda way, everybody be working hard. Tyga did it off a mixtape, that’s how you how his grind is, he be grindin’ hard. And Drake, you just gotta give him the ball. We all expected this from Drake and he did what he was supposed to do. And Nicki is phenomenal with what she’s doin’ so. [Wayne] is home now, so we’re just looking for next year to be better. We should have more nominees next year.
Nicki’s Pink Friday sold around 375k in it’s first week. Were you satisfied with the results?
It’s cool, she accomplished more than— it’s been 10 years man, 15 years since anybody did that. I think that’s great though, how we did it and how everybody buckled down and grinded. I love her. I got the utmost respect for Nicki because she is a hard worker and she is dedicated and she’s smart, she’s intelligent and she’s a student of this shit. Nicki gonna keep growing. She has that mindset and what she is reaching for is high in the sky, so you’re gonna keep seeing Nicki grow. We’re proud of what she did and we’re going to expect next time to be even better.
Who’s next for Cash Money/Young Money? You got Bow Wow in the fold now; Lil Twist is developing nicely. Going into 2011, who’s next to come out the machine?
We’re just gonna keep grindin’ and puttin’ out music, you know we got Tha Carter IV, Khaled is a new signee, Bow Wow, Lil Twist and Chuck doin’ their thing. Glasses Malone, Brisco, myself, Jay Sean, Kevin Rudolph. You can expect another one from Drake, and Nick is comin’ around again. And some new signees. As a brand that’s what we got to do is grow. We’re focused on growing as artists and growing our brand. YMCMB, we’re trying to grow that shit.
And that I read that you also tried to sign Jay Electronica— who is from New Orleans, but ultimately going to Roc Nation.
I know the little homie, maybe later on we’ll get a chance to do something, you never know. I wish him the best and hope he gets to accomplish everything that he wants to.— Rob Markman
More good news came earlier this week when the nominees for the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards were announced. Cash Money racked up six nominations, including four from Drake alone. XXL caught up with Cash Money founder and CEO, Birdman to talk the success of 2010 and expectations for 2011. All they do is win!
XXLMag.com: A congratulations is in order because the Grammy nominations came out and you guys have a number of nods.
Birdman: Aww man, this is what we worked hard and put all of these years in for. It feels good; it’s beyond words. We look at it like this, next year we have to have more, so we have to work harder. This is just giving us different ways to motivate ourselves.
Last year Drake was nominated and he didn’t win, did you give him a pep talk or any advice after he didn’t win last year?
We take it as we have to go harder. It ain’t no feelings caught up in this shit, our feelings are in our music. So we just take it as we gotta go harder. We gotta prove, we gotta do more. It’s a win-win across the board. It’s a win that we are nominees and it’s a win that if we don’t get it, we’ll keep goin’ ’til we go get it.
Do you expect to win? You must have some expectations.
With these type of events, we never put no feelings in ‘em. We hope to win, but we’ve been coming to ‘em for a minute, so if it don’t happen we know how to keep it movin’. It ain’t no big thing.
How was Cash Money/Young Money able to accomplish so much this year considering that Wayne was away for most of 2010?
We had to just buckle down. Losin’ [Wayne], that was big, so we had to go and get another motivation and that was our motivation. We wanted— just when he came home, to show the young boy what we’ve accomplished. Everybody played their part, as a team. Everybody supported each other as a team. It really brought a lot of us closer. And with [Wayne] being home, we’re even closer. [Losing Wayne] was a gift and a curse. The curse is that young’n had to do the time; the gift is that we united up and everybody came to the table.
And it’s not just Drake and Nicki; Tyga got his nomination too. We expected Drake and Nicki to be there, nobody really expected Tyga to be here at the end of the year. Imagine if Tyga wins a Grammy.
Believe that and all of them work hard bruh. In some kinda way, everybody be working hard. Tyga did it off a mixtape, that’s how you how his grind is, he be grindin’ hard. And Drake, you just gotta give him the ball. We all expected this from Drake and he did what he was supposed to do. And Nicki is phenomenal with what she’s doin’ so. [Wayne] is home now, so we’re just looking for next year to be better. We should have more nominees next year.
Nicki’s Pink Friday sold around 375k in it’s first week. Were you satisfied with the results?
It’s cool, she accomplished more than— it’s been 10 years man, 15 years since anybody did that. I think that’s great though, how we did it and how everybody buckled down and grinded. I love her. I got the utmost respect for Nicki because she is a hard worker and she is dedicated and she’s smart, she’s intelligent and she’s a student of this shit. Nicki gonna keep growing. She has that mindset and what she is reaching for is high in the sky, so you’re gonna keep seeing Nicki grow. We’re proud of what she did and we’re going to expect next time to be even better.
Who’s next for Cash Money/Young Money? You got Bow Wow in the fold now; Lil Twist is developing nicely. Going into 2011, who’s next to come out the machine?
We’re just gonna keep grindin’ and puttin’ out music, you know we got Tha Carter IV, Khaled is a new signee, Bow Wow, Lil Twist and Chuck doin’ their thing. Glasses Malone, Brisco, myself, Jay Sean, Kevin Rudolph. You can expect another one from Drake, and Nick is comin’ around again. And some new signees. As a brand that’s what we got to do is grow. We’re focused on growing as artists and growing our brand. YMCMB, we’re trying to grow that shit.
And that I read that you also tried to sign Jay Electronica— who is from New Orleans, but ultimately going to Roc Nation.
I know the little homie, maybe later on we’ll get a chance to do something, you never know. I wish him the best and hope he gets to accomplish everything that he wants to.— Rob Markman
Don't know if this is posted already couldn't see it anywhere, but if it is Delete it
Comment