Drake, Nicki Minaj, and Lil Wayne had lucrative starts to their respective careers under Birdman’s Cash Money Records.
Birdman recently sat down with Nick Cannon for Cannon’s Class, where the music exec discussed just how much all three rappers made between them while signed to his label.
“Two billion dollars between Drake, Nicki, and Wayne,” Baby said at around the 55:00 minute mark. “Two plus billion dollars,” adding, “Hundreds of millions of dollars, guaranteed.”
Drizzy was signed to Cash Money from 2009 to 2018, releasing his debut album, 2010’s Thank Me Later, under the label. He would go on to drop four more albums with Cash Money: 2011’s Take Care, 2013’s Nothing Was the Same, 2016’s Views, and 2018’s Scorpion.
Onika also signed to the label in 2009, with her contract expiring in 2017. She released four albums through Cash Money, including her debut, 2010’s Pink Friday. She also dropped 2012’s Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, 2014’s The Pinkprint, and 2018’s Queen.
Weezy was signed the longest of the three, joining Cash Money in 1997. He released 11 albums under the label—including his debut, 1999’s The Block is Hot—three compilation albums, one EP, and six mixtapes before parting ways with Cash Money in 2018.
Back in 2021, Birdman shared on the Big Facts Podcast that he gave the three artists a combined $1.4 billion after signing his Universal Records Deal.
“When Universal gave me a bag, brother, I could honestly say I gave Wayne about $400 to $500 million, Drake got about $500 million, and Nicki got about $300, $400 million out of my pocket,” Birdman said, per HipHopDX. “No cap. If you don’t believe them, ask ’em.”
