Birdman Career and Net Worth

 

Birdman Career and Net Worth  How did Birdman make his money?

Birdman is an American rapper, record executive, CEO and entrepreneur. He has approximately $150 million in net worth. Bryan “Baby” Williams is the CEO and founder of Cash Money Records.
He formed Cash Money Records with his brother Ronald “Slim” Williams in 1991. Cash Money Records has very close ties with notable acts like Lil Wayne, Drake, Nicki Minaj and Blueface.

How did Birdman make his money? – Early Life
Bryan Christopher Brooks was born on February 15, 1969, New Orleans, Louisiana. His parents are Johnie Williams and Gladys Brooks. His parents took close to a month to give him a name. His father refused appending his signature to his birth certificate so Birdman used his mother’s last name instead.
The family were domiciled in an apartment above his father’s bar together with his other three siblings; Kim, Roland and Ray. His mother passed when he was just five years old after she battled with sickness. Birdman and his siblings stayed with their uncle in British Columbia in Canada for sometime.
Birdman and his siblings upon their return to New Orleans were in foster care for two years. When Johnie got hint of the fact that his kids were living in foster care, he filed a lawsuit to get custody of his kids. After quite a protracted legal battle, Birdman went to live with his father and stepmother Patricia in the 1970s.
He changed his last name to his father’s. His father and stepmother lived in New Orleans with his stepbrother, Eldrick Wise. An unholy combination of these two teens was surely a master recipe for misdemeanors and crimes. The two young boys committed robberies and did drugs getting themselves arrested at the age of 16.
These two young-men were incarcerated at the age of 18. Birdman after serving 18 months was acquitted and discharged.

Cash Money Records
Birdman with his brother Ronald “Slim” Williams saw the opportunity in the emerging sub-genre of hip-hop that had taken over nightclubs in New Orleans at the time. The brothers smartly formed their own Record label in 1991 with no prior experience in running a record label or even a stint in the music industry.
They however had a lot of cash for start-up capital. A whopping $100,000 probably drug money given them by their half brother Terrence. Terrence Williams was founder of a very notorious drug gang, The Hot Boys. Taking inspiration from the film, “New Jack City”, Ronald and Bryan suggested the name “Cash Money”.
The film featured Wesley Snipes playing a wealthy New York City gangster who ran a crew known as the “Cash Money Brothers”. It was only within a very short time that the duo got very busy catching acts at nightclubs as well as looking for artists to sign their new label.
The first artist to sign on to their record was a rapper named Kilo G. whose horrorcore album “The Sleepwalker” in 1992 was Cash Money’s maiden work. After scouting for artists for a while, Birdman managed to convince his friend, DJ Mannie Fresh to be the in-house producer for Cash Money.
By the mid 1990s, Cash Money had grown to be one of the popular independent record labels in the south. Birdman was introduced to a young, local, 12 year old boy called Dwayne Carter best known as Lil’ Wayne in 1995. Notwithstanding success at the regional level, the death of Kilo G., Pimp Daddy and Yellas in the 1990s proved a major blow for Cash Money.
Birdman and Slim recruited Turk and Juvenile in their bid to rejuvenate their almost dimmed light of fame. They formed the new band called Hot Boys, which later featured Lil Wayne and B.G. The single move was a very important one. The period between 1994 and 1997 saw Cash Money by sheer hard-work and tact sign many more artists. How did Birdman make his money?
Their translated into commercial success as their albums sold between 25,000 and 50,000 copies with no distribution and promotional deal. Hot Boys also had their debut making 300,000 sales in its first two months.

Universal Records
Partnership and possible acquisition deals came in droves in 1998 from a number of record companies. Cash Money eventually signed with Universal Music Group at the time when Sony and Universal Music were a face-off for market share.
Birdman and Ronald were offered a $30 million deal. The brothers being very shrewd and knowing the times they were in really bargained for a very good deal with Universal Music. The deal gave them $3 million in cash plus guaranteed $1.5 million per album.
The brothers also as part of the negotiation had the right to own their masters, a mind-boggling deal that even the likes of Beattles will only dream having.

Personal Life
After his mother passed in 1975, his step-brother Eldrick Wise was also killed in a murder case that remains unsolved till now. In 1996, his dad was killed in a gory car accident. He had 10 brother and 12 sisters.

 

Read More about Birdman Career and Net Worth