Cash Money Records co-founders Bryan “Birdman” Williams and Ronald “Slim” Williams stopped by Brooklyn Law School to give the raw truth to lawyers in training.
The CMB brothers joined their long time attorney Vernon Brown on Thursday (April 21) at the school to talk about how they’ve built their Cash Money empire which now includes books and sports, with film plans in the near future.
In the candid talk, that was transcribed by Billboard, Birdman and Slim told the crowd of future attorneys that every contract can be re-negotiated and that it’s a practice that they employ regularly.
Birdman says:
Any contract could be re-contracted. I swear to God every deal I do, I’m about to re-do this in a moment. [Class laughs] I’m a real gangster with this bullshit. Any deal I do, like, hey Vernon, sign that sh*t. Let’s get this guap. Two in the morning and them numbers ain’t right, man, switch that shit up. Don’t get me wrong, as a businessman, everybody open to doing business … You gotta benefit yourself, your family and your life so when i do my thing, I don’t want to hear that sh*t.
Contracts are made to be re-negotiated. That’s just the nature of the business so whatever you might deal with now, don’t mean you have to deal with it later. And if you prosper, doing a contract is that much easier for you. I just think what you deal, whatever you enter don’t mean you going to end that way.
That philosophy seems to explain the many lawsuits and complaints that Cash Money has faced over the years from artists and employees. Their flagship artist Lil Wayne is currently suing them in the state of Louisiana.
Birdman didn’t shy away from being raised in the streets and taking that mentality into the music industry.
When I got in this business, I was real, real young and I didn’t give a fuck about any one of y’all in this business. I only gave a fuck about if I died this night and this morning so I became a person that learnt the fact that business and personal are totally different. I grew up in the streets with no momma, daddy. I grew up in a boys’ home so I had to learn the hard way what this sh*t really about so once I understood what this was about, I understood that I had to use my mind more than my body. Physically, I can f*ck you up. Mentally, I can still f*ck you up. I just learned to be a smart man, a wise man, an intelligent man. What would it take to survive in the business that I chose. In Hip-Hop, people do die. We lost a lot of people in Hip-Hop so I just wanted to figure out a way I could be a somebody without being a nobody.
Birdman and Slim also told the audience what they look for in attorneys and they revealed their interest in producing Gospel music.
Check out the entire talk at Billboard.
