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Say what you will about his much-maligned rapping skills (or lack thereof). But for Brian “Birdman” Williams, the millions keep coming in, and with albums from the Young Money All Stars, Lil Wayne and Drake on the horizon, they won’t stop any time soon.
“I could be doing a lot of other things,” Birdman told the Associated Press. “But I love being an artist. I love the other things like dealing with my son Wayne and his music. It’s half and half.”
With one half of that equation, multi-platinum artist Lil Wayne, headed to jail in 2010, Birdman says his advice to his surrogate Hip Hop son was more about life than music.
“Forget rap; it’s about him right now,” Birdman added. “I got to deal with a situation I’ve never had to deal with in my life. It ain’t cool with me, but we have to live through it…Music, that’s the only thing that gets the stress off your mind to make you feel better. It’s how good it sounds after you’ve done it. The enjoyment of it.”
With album sales in the tens of millions, dating back to their first distribution deal with Universal in the ’90’s, the man formerly known as “Baby” says both he and Wayne have hopes of Drake becoming a household name and being “bigger than anyone else” on the label.
In the aftermath of Roc-a-Fella, Death Row and former rival No Limit, the landscape for the boutique Rap labels that have joint venture deals with major labels has changed drastically.
“Now, I don’t see any top labels,” Birdman said. “I look around and see all those people who did it before me. To me, the labels, I don’t see no company with constant success with a clique. At some point, there was a lot of people doing this. It used to be crowded. I see a lot of people who have done it, and now don’t see them.”
Birdman’s Priceless album is in stores now. Lil Wayne’s Rebirth is scheduled for a December 21 release date along with a collaborative album from Young Money. Meanwhile Drake’s official debut, tentatively titled Thank Me Later, is due to be released during the first quarter of 2010.
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