Transcription
Some viewers may find this disturbing. Your discretion is advised.
Hi my loves, it's Destin Swift. Are you watching Choice TV? So in today's video, I feel like it was appropriate for me to get on here and talk about Lil Wayne and Birdman's odd and awkward relationship. That's my son. You remember he was right here. I'll kiss him again. And all the things a lot of us never talk about.
Now, as you guys know, the conversation regarding Lil Wayne and Birdman's odd relationship has been a common conversation since the early 2000s, and it's really crazy how this conversation always resurfaces every year. Now, let's be honest, guys, during the early 2000s, we all know there was a lot of weird, odd, and creepy things that we saw. The early 2000s was also the era where things were more sensationalized through the social media, and also the early 2000s was also the era where conspiracies came out left and right about all of our favorite celebrities being satanic puppets and doing a lot of ritualistic things. But we'll talk about that later in this video.
Social media in the early 2000s not only destroyed society, but it also mostly brought everyone together. And it also created some insanely memorable, yet controversial, conspiracies that people still to this day can't let go of. And that, my friend, is the "quote-unquote" gay agenda. Now, for those y'all who are too young, that conversation came into fruition during the early 2000s in rap music. Many rappers and entertainers have spoken out about it, and in many cases, it's brought up a lot of negative connotation.
If I were to ask you right now, who was the floor fund, who's the reason why these conversations regarding the gay agenda in hip-hop even started, and these ritualistic, symbolic gay things popping up in the music industry, specifically rap music? Most of y'all may know that the obvious answer is Lil Wayne and Birdman. Lil Wayne and Birdman oftentimes behaved in a manner that gave off the vibe that they were in an intimate relationship. And Lil Wayne was known for pushing the envelope with his questionable wardrobe, not to mention a plethora of other things.
Lil Wayne got his start in the music industry, as we all know, at the tender age of 12 years old, when his mother, Justina Carter, allowed her minor child to live with a 25-year-old Birdman in order to pursue his ambitions and his artistic beliefs. Lil Wayne, as you all know, was taken on Birdman's wing, and Birdman pretty much raised him from when he was 12 years old up to adulthood, raising him to be the star that we all know today. And Birdman, as we all know, is a music mogul blueprint, and he's the reason why many legendary artists exist today. Before starting Cash Money Records in the year 1993, Birdman was most notable for being New Orleans' biggest drug dealer and thug. But for Birdman, a life of crime and chaos was just a crush to help him elevate himself and his entire family out of the hood and to be in a place of comfort.
Lil Wayne caught Birdman's eye when Wayne privately auditioned for him in a record store, and he quickly saw Wayne's potential. Brothers, y'all know Baby and Slim. I'm at, um, my baby when I was 11. May 13, 1993, Friday the 13th. Never forget. Which led him to getting a record deal at 12 years old. Birdman pretty much played the role of Lil Wayne's father because he knew that Wayne needed guidance, and he also didn't want Wayne to end up like him. Birdman stated in an interview with Hot 97, "I just wanted to help him because I didn't want him to live my life. I just saw some young bro with some talent, and I wanted to help him, and that's what I did."
Even though Lil Wayne was signed at 12 years old, his initial job was to pretty much take notes, watch, and learn from the older people. Lil Wayne finally started to step into his element, and once he turned 14 years old, Birdman felt that he was finally ready to prove himself, and Wayne was introduced as a group member of the highly favored and short-lived rap group, The Hot Boys. The Hot Boys were something completely different than what most people were used to because Lil Wayne and The Hot Boys are often credited for popularizing oversized clothing, putting trap music on the map, and of course, the infamous sagging epidemic. And we all know what sagging truly means. We were interested in other male prisoners would wear their pants like this so that the buttocks is a little both so that everybody knows, "Hey, you know, I, I would like some action." Especially what it actually means spelled backwards. And we all know where Saturn actually stems from. And anyone that grew up in those times when sagging was a huge, big deal, we all know how influential it was and how it really stemmed from rap music's popularity.
On top of that, I understand why a lot of conscious people have their conspiracy theories about the whole gay agenda in rap music because Boondocks famously tackled this subject. And let's just say they pretty much broke down how a lot of times kids can be very much influenced by their favorite rapper. "Oh boy, what the hell are you wearing? Is that a bra?" "What? It's just a white beater." "Where's your pants?" "Why are you wearing a skirt?" "No, Granddad, these are Gangsta-licious shorts for thugs." "See, they got an extra flap with a pocket so you, you know, you hide what you wanna hide from the police." "Kinda hot, right?" "You want to see if you got your side?" "But you came in the purse." "Come on, Granddad, this ain't no purse. It's a Gangsta-licious man bag." "What? What's wrong?" "Nothing."
The Hot Boys consisted of four members and later narrowed down to three members and then eventually narrowed down to one member because of Birdman's gritty ways. But we'll talk about that later in this video. The Hot Boys developed a massive fanbase all across their hometown, New Orleans, and built a major fanbase all over the South. And of course, Lil Wayne became the fan favorite. The album kind of posted them into underground success with their debut album selling over 400,000 units across the U.S. The debut album spawned the major hits such as "I'm a Hot Boy" and "We On Fire." The group faced lots of scrutiny because of how low energy their music was and the glamorization of gang violence and debauchery. Not to mention, Lil Wayne was only 14 years old, and most of the things they were rapping about wasn't even a reflection of their actual lifestyle.
On top of that, for those y'all who are old enough to remember, let's not forget that there was an infamous campaign against rap music. "I've said from the beginning that this music is drug-driven, red-driven, and violent-driven. Rap music, rap music, gangster rap songs that debase women, degrades the value of life, promotion of drugs and violence, violent, pornographic, derogatory lyrics about women and minorities. This offends me as a black woman, still calling us hoes, [ __ ], and [ __ ]. It's calling us [ __ ] and now it's also defaming our faith."
In spite of all the controversy, The Hot Boys still managed to shine and utilize their new fame as an opportunity to build their brand and get out of Louisiana the best way that they could. But it wasn't until 1998 where they would officially become household names and officially make history. Juvenile was making waves as his own brand and his own artist because, as we all know, Juvenile had his hit single "Back That Ass Up," and The Hot Boys were starting to win and be awarded major awards for their accolades. But the song that really solidified Lil Wayne and The Hot Boys was their single "Bling Bling." The single made The Hot Boys household names, and on top of that, the term "bling bling" was even inducted into the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
In the early 2000s, The Hot Boys were on top of the world. But unfortunately, once the 2000s came around, it all pretty much went downhill, and The Hot Boys actually started to realize how money was the root of all evil. But everything pretty much went downhill in terms of the group's finances and their management. I.E., Birdman was being a greedy ass [ __ ], and the group pretty much wasn't making as much money as they thought they should be making, especially because they're the ones who helped build the empire to what it is today. "Do you ever wish that that you guys didn't break up and stay in a unit or you just weren't getting paid from them?" "They weren't cutting the checks. That was that's what it was, man. You know, I wanted to stay. Oh man, my contract was for life, and I had to work my heart out. Yeah, I had to work my heart out for nothing. I, I was on an impression. I, part of the company was mine, you know, because we all started together. So it, it kind of got, you know, once the success came, things started switching up. And I respect money, and he didn't cherish it like that, man. Like a lot of people might think that those cars that was in the video wasn't for us. They wasn't for us. They was for Baby. You know, and at one time, as I can remember, he had 50 cars at one time. That's my concept. I wouldn't have no problems whatsoever with Cash Money, but I, as long as y'all in existence, y'all gonna have to break bread with Mannie Fresh, you know what I'm saying? Like when we got that moment."
In spite of the group breaking up in 2001, everyone leaving Cash Money behind, Lil Wayne pretty much sadly kept his loyalty with Birdman because Birdman was basically his father, and he was blinded by his loyalty, considering Birdman pretty much played a role in where he is today. So blinded by his loyalty to Birdman that Lil Wayne pretty much manifested something that many of us still to this day side-eye. But for some reason, it's always swept off the internet or pretty much always thrown under the rug.
In the early 2000s, in the Y2K era, music was starting to move in a different direction. And luckily, that didn't stunt Lil Wayne's or Cash Money's growth. The Hot Boys were no more, but Lil Wayne had just released his debut album entitled "The Block Is Hot," and the year 2000 became Lil Wayne's year and his prime. That was the year where everybody and their mom knew who Lil Wayne was, and we started to see more and more of Wayne and Cash Money in the Y2K era. Two years later, in the year 2002, that's when things got a little bit fishy. But let me further elaborate.
When Lil Wayne was working on his third studio album, "500 Degreez," which then became the biggest album of his entire career, Lil Wayne and Birdman made an appearance on Big Ticket's talk show, Rhapsody, that appeared on BET. And they were pretty much discussing upcoming projects, and Birdman was also promoting his new group, The Big Tymers. Big Ticket pretty much invited the rest of the entourage from backstage to onto the stage, and from there, that's when things got a little [ __ ] weird.
If you look closely at this resurfaced clip that's very rare, Lil Wayne managed to reach forward and basically kiss Birdman on stage as he was greeting him. Yeah, wait, wait. Tell me about to wipe it down. [Music] All right. Shockingly enough, nobody nudged, flinched, or did an awkward gesture at all. People just pretty much ignored it and acted like it was too casual and too normal. Now, considering Rhapsody isn't really known for airing reruns, and it was also in some cases live on television or pre-recorded within the same day in most cases, a lot of people didn't really catch it on television at the time. So if you weren't old enough to actually see it back then, watch it right then and there, you probably didn't get a chance to see it unless you had already recorded it on VHS back in the day.
Now, this, however, did not initially make headlines because social media wasn't really a big deal back then. On top of that, MySpace hadn't been created, YouTube hadn't been created, and video sharing just wasn't a thing people did. They discussed it in chat rooms, but it wasn't really a big deal to the point where people spread it around because again, social media wasn't around to sensationalize things and make things more intense than what it actually was. But not many people really know about this particular clip because this was the first time anyone's ever seen Birdman, Lil Wayne kiss. And yes, I said the first time anyone ever seen Lil Wayne and Birdman publicly kiss.
The same year, in 2002, Birdman, Lil Wayne, and the whole crew went on a live television series called 106 and Park. Out of nowhere, the conversation went into kissing, dating, and relationships. And out of nowhere, Lil Wayne casually propped up and said that he's the only one that can kiss Birdman. And of course, the camera framed over to Freekey Zekey's reaction. "They want to see this." "Yeah, he kissed." [Music] "Okay, now huh? Ain't no fruit. We just roll like this. Hello." So ultimately, no one said anything, and the media didn't care enough to blow it up. Now, people thought it was weird back then, but no one really said anything back then because of them. They just dusted off and thought it was just an innocent little joke.
Now, many Lil Wayne fans who've seen these clips usually enable the situation and usually enable it away by saying things such as, "Oh, it's just how guys play around. That's just how guys play around," or "It's just straight gay play. Oh, it's just straight gameplay. They're just straight gay playing." Now, that is a constant word that is constantly thrown around, and people oftentimes use that word as an excuse to justify their behavior when they usually do something that the world will perceive as gay. Now, the term "straight gay play" is usually a word used to describe heterosexuals who jokingly partake in homosexual acts, although the homosexual acts can usually go pretty far. And it usually starts off with young men play fighting, and some men even going as far as sexually assaulting one another, but playing it off as fun and games, considering it's just all finding games in their own personal head. "Have a good one." "You killed them." "What you mean, bro?" "I said, have a good day."
Most men usually go out of this mentality because they realize how toxic and how childish it is. But other men typically carry it into their adulthood because these men are usually in the closet or are usually bisexual and use gay play as a means to take out their inner demons on their "quote-unquote" straight friends, and they usually disguise it with, "Well, I'm just playing. I'm just playing. I'm not really gay. I'm just playing." A lot of times, a lot of men usually use it as an excuse to sexually assault other men. And considering in their heads everyone's straight, they think it's not really a big deal, or someone did it to them, so they think it's okay. It kind of reminds me of the initiation act that you should go on in the military, like sodomize one another as initiation.
Once the mid-2000s came around and social media pretty much hit the net, social media became wall immersed with society. As social media platforms such as Hi5, YouTube, and MySpace started to pretty much take over the world single-handedly, and of course, like I said earlier in this video, destroy society. But that's another video. Social media making its mark on society put us in a world where things are now pretty much heightened and sensationalized. The world was able to share their opinions, photos, and videos without the media getting involved. And back in the day, if a reputable company had access to a video or a photo, especially if they were a media platform, it would typically get scrubbed away if the celebrity had enough power and influence to do so. But with social media, the mainstream media's full grip on society pretty much dwindled and dwindled and dwindled over time. Something social media, we became the media, and the power got turned over to the people.
If I were to ask most y'all watching this who are actually old enough to remember the year 2006, most of you would probably remember a plethora of things. Most people probably remember how much of a wild year it was for music, mainstream news, and world events. The year 2006 was the year Lil Jon became the biggest rapper in the world. Hannah Montana became the biggest show on Disney Channel, then took on the more extreme side. The president of Iraq and global terrorist Saddam Hussein was sentenced to execution by being hung due to just corrupt ways and crimes across the globe. Jill Marie Jones left "Girlfriends," and everyone stopped watching it because it got boring. Then we can't forget about when YouTube and MySpace went hand in hand and single-handedly dominated the airwaves and single-headedly dominated social media.
But speaking of MySpace and YouTube, y'all remember when Lil Wayne and Birdman got caught kissing and the whole world went crazy about it? Even though they've done this multiple times, this is single-handedly the most viral and most talked about scandal in all of the early 2000s, especially 2006. People talked about it the entire year and refused to let it go because most men who idolize these rappers couldn't fathom the possibility of their favorite rapper being gay. To be honest with you, Lil Wayne and Birdman have been doing this for years, and the fact that it finally caught on due to social media's rise was baffling. The whole world would not shut up about it, and it was subject to so many memes, so many music parodies, spoofs, skits, and was even discussed on VH1's Top 100 OMG Moments in Pop Culture of the 2010s.
Former members of The Hot Boys and members of their team have been consistently asked about it for the past 16 years, and 99% of the people associated with Birdman and Wayne did everything they can to pretty much dismiss it. "Man, you know what I'm saying? You know, Baby being able to get one to do that, you know what I'm saying? Let's [ __ ]. I was brainwashed at one time, you know what I'm saying? I would have did anything the [ __ ] said do. I probably wouldn't have went there. Oh, you know, after I would have been like, you know what? You're tripping off or whatever. But, you know, Sean ain't don't know no better, you know what I'm saying? Whole thing. You don't know no better though. I mean, you know, what could I say? What could I say? I'm trying to give him some credit at least. I'm trying to, you know what I'm saying? Say he ain't know no better. Well, I'm at now, I wouldn't even kiss my son, you feel me? I wouldn't, I wouldn't do it. But right at a time when you young, back in those days, it was like, [ __ ], you love me, [ __ ], you love me, kiss me in front." "You know what I'm saying? Was like that. So we'll do it in front of a female or some [ __ ] like that. Like it'd be a pet. Like, [ __ ], I love you." "You know what I'm saying? And I didn't seen a few dudes do that, and I understand, bro. I don't look at, I don't look at you as gay, uh uh, you like dudes because you did that because I understand the love that you have for your homeboy. I understand that, you know what I'm saying? You ain't, you ain't doing no intimate [ __ ], bro. But if you're not, if you're not no real [ __ ] though, you won't understand that. You won't understand the love that [ __ ] have for their home. It's not like I say, let me tell you what about that kids, okay? I'm gonna tell you, yeah, the kids too. Multiple. Let me tell you. If you could tell, he got his New Orleans accent. But Birdman really, Birdman was having bricks at 16, 17, so he got that. He really think he might feel tight. Like, like for real. He go, no, no, they do like this. They do like this. And when they get listened, it was like when they give you the kiss of death. When they give you the kiss to death, they kiss you on your forehead. That's why some of them don't make it out. Go look at, uh, Gotti. I know that Gotti. When he got, when they do like that, they do mouth-to-mouth versus recesses. I understand. He said that. No, I'm saying he, he raised Wayne since he was 12, you feel me? So that's his son. He look at him like his son. Now, I'm not gonna put, I'm not gonna put gay on him because that's a bad thing to say. And put writing and gay remarks is a bad thing to say about somebody. And I don't know. But what he showed me is like, I know, I know Birdman think way deep, bro. They've been in a cell with BG. And I asked him, bro, like, how Birdman now, never like, you know what I'm saying? Never like. But the talk and the, and then by seeing them since childhood, seeing them, how he, that [ __ ] is a strong, mighty individual. But he trained himself. Everything like the mafia. If you, if you look, listen to his conversations, if you listen to his conversation, everything is nothing but mafia talk. If you actually look up the symbolism and the meaning behind mafia members kissing each other on the cheek or on the hands or on the cheeks or on the foreheads, it's usually a sign of friendship, peace, and brotherhood. And that was the narrative that they were all basically trying to run with."
To this day, only two people have ever dispelled the rumors regarding the whole mafia narrative and alluded to the fact that Birdman and Wayne are actually gay. Iconic rapper Juvenile and former member of The Hot Boys pretty much dispelled the rumors by saying that he has no idea what everybody else is talking about and that he thinks that those dudes are both suspect. "We don't rock like that. I don't know what kind of pictures they was trying to paint. This ain't no mountain, right? That was cool. Cash Money wasn't no mafia, you know what I mean? And you definitely wasn't a mild boss or not like that. So I don't understand why the whole kissing situation came in. You know what I mean? That's why that's I'm just here to entertainment. I'm gonna get rich. All punishing Cash Money, that's my game. Ain't playing. I'ma put y'all in there. So y'all better quit now. Y'all notice they just stopped kissing all of a sudden, man? Skip put a song, I'll call a hoe, man. What kind of [ __ ] kissing another man?"
But to be fair, Juvenile could have been just saying that because if we didn't know, Juvenile was a victim to Birdman and Cash Money because Birdman and Cash Money were trying to steal from him, and they owe Juvenile millions of dollars in royalty checks and in publishing because Juvenile was a victim to Birdman's shady and greedy contract. Not to mention, Gilly the Kid, Gilly the Kid was a very famous conscious rapper who's still pretty popular to this day, but he infamously left the label due to financial he was dealing with on Cash Money. And he infamously got on the radio and dragged Cash Money. And he even went as far as calling Birdman and Lil Wayne suspect. Then he went as far as saying that he thinks that Birdman molested Lil Wayne. "He had to be about 36-37 when he met Wayne. At what age did he tell Wayne, 'We gonna start kissing?' That's what I want to know. I want to know at what age did they had a first kiss? You know that, you know that he molested that voice." "Oh man."
Now that explains why everybody left but Wayne. Uh, you hear me? Wow. I mean, that's just the question. At what age do a 35-year-old man tell a 12-year-old boy, "We gonna start kissing?" Birdman pretty much ignored the speculations for years, but it wasn't until 2009 when Birdman went on a radio show and was asked on live radio about the kissing scandal. Nearly three years later, this was the first time Birdman ever addressed it. "That's my son. You remember he was right here. I'll kiss him again. You remember? Against my daughter. I kissed my other son. I mean, you got, you got children. I haven't, I shoot blanks. All right. Well, if you got a child, you understand where I'm at with it. I think people just took that too far, man. You know, it must have frustrated you as well because it was like, come on, man. He was like, you know, that's my son, man. I do it again. Do it tomorrow. I'll kill for him. Ride."
It's really unfortunate because a lot of males who actually look up to them wanted a clear answer, and a lot of males that look up to them don't really feel comfortable looking up to rappers that are actually gay. And that's just a sad, cold-hearted truth because of the things that they rap about in their music. They talk about the finding lemon, smashing women, getting head from women, women doing nasty things to them. So it was unfortunate to hear them rap about one thing and then be doing something else.
Now, I'll be honest for a second. Kissing your child on the lips has been a very controversial debate since the beginning of time. Kissing your child when they're young on the lips is seen as acceptable because it's a form of affection. But after a child hits a certain age, most people realize that it's just plain [ __ ] weird and inappropriate. Let's be honest, it's one thing to kiss your baby on the lips because they're literally under the age of 10 years old and they're young, and it's not that deep. But it's typically inappropriate to kiss your child on the lips when they're of a certain age. When your child gets to an age where they're 10, 11, 12, and they're starting to go through puberty or they become full-blown adults, that's when it becomes a little weird. Considering Lil Wayne was 18 years old when we started seeing clips of them kissing each other on the lips, all people could pretty much do is speculate.
Once the media blew the situation up into a frenzy, the infamous conversation of hip-hop's gay agenda became a popular topic and was officially born. These conversations are oftentimes brought up because most people associate LGBT activity in music with ritualistic beliefs and conspiracies due to many people's traditional values and homophobic values. And the conscious community oftentimes demonizes anything involving gay because the conscious community believes that there's an agenda to pretty much wipe out manhood and to pretty much brainwash people into being gay, which is nonsense in my opinion because you can't brainwash somebody into a certain sexuality. They are or they aren't.
Birdman obviously succeeded at making Lil Wayne a big star because by 2004, Lil Wayne became the biggest superstar in the world, and he was more than just music. Lil Wayne was in cinemas, he was in music videos, he was doing features with almost every artist, he was in his rock face, and so much more. In 2004, Lil Wayne released "Tha Carter," a critical and commercial breakthrough that debuted at number five on the Billboard Hot 200. And Jay-Z, who was the biggest rapper in the world, and his name pretty much preceded him and was more than just music at this point. Jay-Z was the president of Def Jam at this time, and Jay-Z pretty much set his sights on bringing Lil Wayne to his label. At one point, the move appeared to be such a done deal that Wayne announced from the stage during a performance, "I'm a Def Jam artist now. Next time you see me, I'm gonna be with my boy Jay-Z." Evidently, Lil Wayne jumped the gun, and Birdman lured him back into Cash Money. And Lil Wayne later admitted that the decision was very, very tough for him to pretty much give up on Jay-Z, but he said, and I quote, "But you know, I'm a loyal dude, and I stick with the fam."
"All right, so I asked a question in the last segment regarding the rumors about Little Weezy potentially signing to Def Jam and Rockefeller, and I asked him whether or not Birdman would have gave his blessings over to that situation to happen." "I can't believe everything with you here. Oh yeah, that's why I asked at first. And, um, I mean, Wayne is in my heart, homie. And that's Cash Money for life though. I can't send nowhere. Rocks or whatever it is, Def Jam, none of that. Dang, what's up with me? You know what I'm saying? I see Wayne. It's Cash Money. He the future. That's why he the president of Cash Money. Everybody, he got a lot of things. He got to do. I ain't got a lot of expertise. He won't exploit. And I feel his best situation was here. That's why I put it on the table for him."
Birdman offered Lil Wayne a multi-million dollar deal, and he also offered Lil Wayne more creative control. And he even offered Lil Wayne a major record distribution deal with Universal, which basically granted Lil Wayne Young Money. And he decided to pretty much renew his contract with Birdman, which was an odd mistake, but we'll get into that later in this video. But it came with a catch, and it came with a price. Birdman ended up having a 51% ownership stake in the Young Money label, and he also said that he would grant Lil Wayne 49% ownership in the Young Money label. And if it weren't for that deal, we probably would have never got Nicki Minaj and Drake or even Tyga when we did. "I go by today with Drake, Jimmy Valentino, Jersey, Drake Rogers."
By 2008, Wayne became a solidified legend at the age of 26 years old. And that unfortunately became the era where he spotted out of control with his frequent drug use, and the era where Wayne got his infamous permanent grills drilled into his mouth. But I'm not really going to go down that rabbit hole and tell you guys how powerful and monumental that era was because most you guys already lived it. That whole era of Young Money, Cash Money was monumental to the point where it really changed the world, and it really changed music for the better. That era was also the era where cities were going down the drain, and music downloads were pretty much prevailing more than ever. On top of that, labels like Bad Boy Records were heavily failing on top of Murder Inc., Death Row, and plenty of other labels because again, music was shifting and changing. But for some reason, Young Money and Cash Money were for the times, and they're still here to this day. And everything was really great in the 2010s until they weren't.
As we all know, Lil Wayne and Birdman had their nasty fallout. I think it's the rock. Birdman did make a lot of people rich, successful, and he did make a lot of people millionaires. But he is a reason why a lot of artists aren't making as much money as they should have been making, considering he gave a lot of people some greedy, evil, and shady contracts. A prime example is Juvenile. Juvenile, just like many artists, sued Cash Money, and he actually won. Juvenile stated, "I wanted 4 million, and I didn't want to go to trial, but they felt like they didn't owe me anything." Juvenile also claimed that in a complex interview in 2012, that he tried his best to warn everyone on that label to leave immediately or else they would all be screwed over. He claimed that everyone on the label pretty much used the same lawyer and didn't know anything about litigation. Juvenile said that considering he's a wise and smart man, he went out of his way to pretty much get an entertainment lawyer. In an interview with Complex, Juvenile stated, "What's crazy is I got wise, and I tried to be a Good Samaritan to my group and warned them and say, 'Hey man, my paper working out right. Didn't y'all receive the paperwork? What kind of lawyer do they have?' Most of them literally said, 'Yeah, I got a lawyer.' And I'm like, 'Do you, you have an entertainment lawyer or a criminal lawyer? There's a big difference. Criminal lawyers don't know [ __ ] about contracts. You might want to get a real lawyer.'"
In spite of Juvenile trying to warn everyone, it didn't really work in his favor. Juvenile also stated, "When I left Cash Money, I left not liking anybody. I tried to be good to y'all, and y'all tell the [ __ ] what I said. I'm trying to show y'all where y'all getting ripped off at. It's all love now. They came to me now, even Mannie Fresh, and he's like, 'Man, you told me. You tried to tell me.' He tried to warn everyone in the group, but of course, they all turned on him and immediately alerted Birdman, and that's when things went downhill." Juvenile's lawsuit was for 4 million dollars, and it later went up to 11 million dollars. Juvenile ended up winning the court case, but unfortunately, Cash Money Records is no stranger to lawsuits. According to the former attorney of Cash Money, Wendy Day, she made it very clear that Cash Money always has to go through lawsuits in order to pay artists because of Birdman's greedy ways. "You got them their deal, and they didn't want to pay you. It was frustrating. They, you know, in order to get paid, you have to sue them, and they're kind of known for that, and it's a sad way to do business, but it's what they've built, and it's their legacy. You know, um, I ended up suing them. They paid me before we got to court. They paid me what they owed me, so I was happy."
In late 2014, Tyga went on a very popular Twitter rant, blasting Cash Money for withholding his album and refusing to release it from his shady deal. Then two months later, Lil Wayne also followed suit and did the same thing in a 2014 rant exposing all the evil endeavors he's endured in terms of releasing his new album and how he wants to be disassociated from Birdman because he was tired of the shadiness and the bad antics, tweeting back in 2014, "To all my fans, I want you to know that my album won't and hasn't been released because Baby and Cash Money refuse to release it. I want off this label and nothing to do with these people." But unfortunately, it ain't that easy.
Angie Martinez, the popular radio personality from New York City and the famous podcaster, famously tried to press the issue to Birdman on a radio show back in 2015, and of course, Birdman completely deflected and accused everyone else of being greedy. And Birdman did the same thing amongst all other interviews addressing how everyone else is greedy and pretty much wants more money than they actually deserve. But things got even worse when Lil Wayne went out of his way to file a 51 million dollar lawsuit against Birdman and Cash Money. On top of that, we found out that Birdman was actually stealing money from Lil Wayne. And from there, Lil Wayne went on a massive tour where every time he did a performance, he shouted out "Free Weezy" and then he also said, "[ __ ] Cash Money." [Applause] [ __ ] [Music] [Applause] and [ __ ] Birdman. [Music] [Applause] Holla back.
The same year, during a press run, Karen Civil, also known as Superhead, did an interview with Vlad TV. And as you guys know, Karen Civil has been on and off dating Lil Wayne for decades, for years. She's known Lil Wayne for a very long time, and she did an interview on Vlad TV addressing how Lil Wayne and Birdman have a very toxic relationship. She also talked about it in her book, "How to Make Love to a Martian," how she noticed that every time Lil Wayne tried to do something, he always sought for Birdman's validation. "It's a son relationship. I think it's kind of like how a pimp would want you to call him daddy. I think it's very psych a lot. I think it's deeper than that. I think it's very, um, I think Baby is a great pimp. I think Baby understands psychology of the human being and how to make someone, um, feel indebted to him forever." And of course, Birdman was furious because this was bad for business.
That same year, 2015, Lil Wayne almost lost his life because his private bus got shot up, and Birdman was suspected to be a part of it, considering Birdman and Lil Wayne were having a public fallout. But of course, Birdman did deny it and claimed that he would never try to hurt Lil Wayne because Lil Wayne is damn near his son. But just to break down the gist of their entire lawsuit to help you guys understand why Lil Wayne was very upset, a lot of it had to do with the fact that court documents revealed Lil Wayne was supposed to get 33% of Drake's first six album sales, considering Lil Wayne was the one that brought Drake to Cash Money because at the time Drake was blowing up on MySpace, and there was a huge bidding war for Drake. So Lil Wayne was supposed to get 33% of Drake's first six albums, and Cash Money also, Birdman never followed through with that deal. Lil Wayne pretty much gave Cash Money and Birdman a lot of control because he's used to them just handling things. So because he's just used to people handling things, he initially didn't even think that they would probably steal from him because Lil Wayne made the bad decision to make a lot of verbal agreements with Birdman, so he never really went through a lot of paperwork, hence why Birdman was able to [ __ ] him over so easily.
On top of that, Lil Wayne was also supposed to own 49% of Young Money, all while Birdman was supposed to get 51% of the Young Money brand. But come to find out, Birdman never actually fulfilled his promises and purposely misfiled the paperwork. So instead of Lil Wayne actually getting co-ownership of Young Money, he ended up not even earning Young Money to begin with. Lead court documents reveal Cash Money breached fiduciary duty by knowingly failing to register the copyright of the Young Money label recordings in both Cash Money and Young Money LLC in Lil Wayne's name, knowingly failing to properly account and pay royalties and profits for the Young Money label, and they refused to even show Lil Wayne the books and the expenses that were paid and even budgeting. On top of that, that Cash Money failed to register Lil Wayne as the owner of his "I Am Not a Human Being II" album and his album that hadn't been released yet, "The Carter V."
So, in a nutshell, due to Lil Wayne trusting Birdman and trusting Cash Money Records, he was swindled out of his own publishing by not owning the rights to his two recent albums, and then on top of that, they tried to take the rights to his upcoming album that hadn't even been released yet but was instead shelved. Additionally, he was also swindled out of the royalties that he was supposed to get off of Drake. So there was so much money that Lil Wayne could have made but didn't make, and that's where the whole 50 million dollars even came from. So when all that came to fruition and the loss that came into fruition in 2015, Lil Wayne refused to release any music until Birdman provided him the following an explanation, all the money he feels that he's rightfully owed, and he also wanted to be off of the label for good and wanted to be completely disassociated with Cash Money and Birdman.
In spite of all the people who felt swindled and robbed by Cash Money, Lil Wayne always maintained his loyalty. And in my personal opinion, I think the reason why he maintained his loyalty and accepted these multi-million dollar deals and didn't sign to Jay-Z but instead signed to Birdman all over again and stayed on the label, I feel like a lot of it came from the whole parental figure relationship. Oftentimes, some parents can't let go of their children, especially when they're doing business with their children. Some parents who are doing business with their children, I.E., a good example is Matthew Knowles and many more, have a habit of making sure that children are dependent on them as much as possible. So it's probably why he lured Lil Wayne back into Cash Money instead of letting him go out to go sign to Jay-Z. And it makes a lot of sense why Lil Wayne let Birdman get away with so much, like one, swiping away his whole entire Young Money brand and making sure he himself was a sole owner, and also getting away with not paying Lil Wayne his rightful royalties, even though that's his quote-unquote son, but yet bragging about the fact that he put Lil Wayne on.
Finally, after a three-year legal battle, on June 7, 2018, Lil Wayne and Birdman reached a settlement in their litigation. It was reported by Rolling Stone and Forbes that after coming up with a settlement, Lil Wayne and Birdman managed to rectify their relationship. Birdman not only did the right thing, but he also granted Lil Wayne ownership of the Young Money brand like he should have before. He granted Lil Wayne millions of dollars that he felt like he was owed, and they came up with an undisclosed settlement that Birdman later bragged about two years later in an interview. "In 2020, I went to his house, New Year's Eve, two years ago. And I went to his house. I said, 'Let's, let's put this [ __ ] behind us. How much you want?' Don't even say a 50. All right, you had that [ __ ] in the morning, and we did that, and that was over with. But that's what's up. Kenny Max for 50. I gave him a 50. Oh my God. He ain't actually 50. Actually like 30. All right. I put another dub on it just because that's facts. Accent. You ain't got to believe me. Ask him."
And from there, Lil Wayne and Birdman got to a point where they were finally making music together, and they were finally on speaking terms, and they officially made amends, which is [ __ ] dumb as hell because Wayne went through a three-year legal battle just for him to circle back, stay with Cash Money, stay with Young Money. So I do find it kind of odd that Lil Wayne gave Birdman a second chance to rectify something that shouldn't have even happened in the first place.
As of now, there are still speculations regarding Birdman's sexuality and Lil Wayne being groomed by him, considering all the unanswered questions regarding the frequent kissing. "My own born son, yes, I went kissing, right? I know you got a child. You better kiss him. You probably got a son and you kiss him. Yeah, I always looked at Wayne as my son, and I always looked at it like because I was in the streets and I thought this might be the last time they ever see me. Damn, because I was living like that, right? So I was like, that's what that [ __ ] really started from because I thought that every night I leave, I might not never come back. Yeah, that was my mindset because I go from where they was at, because I had them in the studio for then, I'm going in the streets. Yeah, so that's where that [ __ ] came from. Started from. And always today, look at Wayne's my child. I was his father when he didn't have a father since he was nine years old, right? And I love him like my own. You know, this gay thing and that gay thing, what's what? What do you mean? I don't understand. He was saying that you was gay? Come on, man. Come on, man. I'm a straight gangster, man. That [ __ ] been in my hood. He know what's happening with me. I guess [ __ ] get on the radio, I'm gonna be funny or something, right? Right. [ __ ] know what's happening with me, man. Google me, man. Watch what come up."
But if we're being honest here, all these conversations are just really dragged on and really talked about for justified reasons. But I really feel like we really should be talking about Lil Wayne's molestation and how we oftentimes ignore men getting sexually abused. I noticed the "quote-unquote" conservatives in the conscious community always has something to say about their favorite rappers being presumed as gay and all these upcoming rappers doing gay things and wearing dresses, but barely anyone ever had this energy when Lil Wayne came out back in 2009, 2010, addressing how he was basically sexually assaulted by a grown-ass woman. "Thanks to Birdman, I got raped when I was 11. Twists, and I loved it. I ain't never pressed. Child, I'm gonna do you like Baby. Yeah, I know. Forget that day. I know there was all in the kitchen. I was scared. It was cool. Everybody this many [ __ ] and [ __ ] too in that bed. I never forget the word circular. Why ain't that dick suddenly wearing that dick? Yeah. Why don't we ever have these conversations?"
The real conversation should really be about grooming. And our Lil Wayne's mother didn't protect him, but instead left him in the hands of the same man that enslaved him in a shady contract. But who knows? Maybe Lil Wayne has an odd relationship with Birdman that we to this day will never understand or fully grasp. "That's my son, man. I'll do it again. Do it tomorrow. I'll kill for him."
That was after this video. Hope you guys enjoyed it. Hope you guys enjoyed my conversation regarding the "quote-unquote" gay agenda, Lil Wayne's odd relationship with Birdman, and much more. Hope you guys enjoyed this video. Be sure to like, comment, subscribe. Let me know your thoughts in the comment section down below. Please give me your thoughts. Let me know what you guys thought. Who should I talk about next? I'll talk about Diddy. She'll talk about this. Just give your thoughts down below. And yeah, that's that. Choice out. This [ __ ]. [Music] Dirt spots, head says chips, pop, pay phones, clean house. Uh, uh. I'm headed to the laundry mat. Oh, I can't take it no more. Oh no. I'm gonna try it. I've been putting up with your [ __ ]. I'm headed to the live stream. That's all you get for free. Comment what song I should sing next. Thank you.