Cash Money Records
Cash Money Records is a hip-hop label from New Orleans . The company is a subsidiary of the Universal Motown Records Group . Cash Money is one of the most important labels on the Dirty South rap scene.
The story of cash money
Cash Money was founded in 1991 by Bryan "Baby" Williams and his brother Ronald "Slim" Williams and started as a local label. The first release was The Sleepwalker by Kilo-G, which sold 13,000 copies in the New Orleans area. In the next few years they produced other artists from the area, including Pimp Daddy, UNLV (Uptown N **** z Living Violently), Ms. Tee, Mr. Ivan, Lil 'Slim, Big Man (PxMxWx), BG Das Label sold four million records during that time without ever having a Billboard hit or promoting songs with the help of music videos.
The US-wide breakthrough came in 1997. The Hot Boy $ aroused the interest of a Universal manager who was particularly interested in Juvenile : Juvenile had sold over 600,000 copies with Soulja Rags without a major label in the background. Ronald "Slim" Williams and Brian "Baby" Williams signed a contract with Universal in 1998 that brought them $ 30 million, 85% of future producer royalties, 50% of the label's revenue, and let them own the masters and tapes related rights.
Between 1998 and 2001, Cash Money was able to place 18 top 5 singles on the Billboard charts and produced 11 platinum and multi-platinum albums. The first problems arose when the first artists left the label in a dispute. The two Hot-Boy $ members BG and Juvenile accused "Baby" Williams of embezzlement and serious financial errors. BG accused him of not getting royalties for any publication before 1998; under his contracts, he would be entitled to about $ 3 million. Juvenile filed three lawsuits against the label at the same time: he accused the label of having only paid him half of the due tour revenues and of having withheld massive amounts of money from the four-platinum album 400 Degreez . His claims totaled more than $ 5 million, but his lawsuits were all dismissed for lack of evidence.
Although the two most famous artists up until then had left, Cash Money was able to celebrate further records. Between 2001 and 2003 the label sold seven million albums and received two nominations for a Grammy Award . Juvenile returned in April 2003; According to press reports, he got $ 4 million upfront to record the album Juve the Great . It sold three million copies and became the label's third most commercially successful album.
The co-founder “Baby” Williams used the proceeds to distinguish himself, like many hip-hop producers, as a street fashion designer or at least as a promoter. He signed contracts with various fashion companies: including the Lugz shoe company , where he sells six different series of shoes, contracts with Sean John , the fashion company of Sean Combs (Puff Daddy), a contract with Jacob the Jeweler and one with Aire Watch Co. Also with He earned tens of millions of dollars in these deals.
Former Hot Boy Lil Wayne is now President of Cash Money Records and CEO of Young Money Entertainment . This gave him full artistic control over the two labels at the age of 23.