Birdman is breaking his silence. Power 105 personality Angie Martinez paid a visit to the Cash Money boss last week at Scott Storch’s former mansion in Miami and spoke to him about YMCMB’s ongoing drama. In Part 1 of the interview, which took place aboard Birdman’s yacht, he opened up for the first time about his fallout with his “son” Lil Wayne, allegations that he was involved in a murder-for-hire plot against Weezy, the alleged drink-throwing incident, and why Drake and Nicki Minaj won’t be leaving Cash Money.
Despite their issues, Birdman still and will always have love for Wayne. “Wayne forever my son. That ain’t gon’ change,” he said. “I think what’s going on is just some business, and my perspective is, I’ma do whatever he wanna do. But he still gon’ be my son. Ain’t nothing gonna change the fact that he my son. … At the end of the day, no matter what he wanna do, I’m with it. That’s my son. I love him to death. He got my blessings and I’ma support him no matter what he choose to do.”
He claims that he still speaks to Weezy and had a conversation with him as recently as two days ago. When Angie asked how it got so bad, he replied, “It’s not considered bad to me,” adding, “I think media makes it worse than it really is.”
But while he will respect Wayne’s wishes, he doesn’t want to see him leave the label. “I’m not gonna let him go, but if he wanna go, I’ma respect his call,” he said. “If he say he wanna go, I’m not gonna stand in his way. If he tell me, ‘Pops, it’s time to move on…’ I haven’t heard it from his mouth.”
As for the $51 million lawsuit? “That’s a conversation that we can work out.”
He chalks it all up to a “big misunderstanding.” “Our business got so big and everybody got in our business, and it ain’t me or him. … It’s all these other motherfu**ers who are in the business.”
He also denies that he threw a drink at Weezy during a recent club appearance. “I would never personally throw nothing on my son. I would never throw nothing on no man,” he said, adding, “Who’s to say it was thrown at Wayne? It could have just hit Wayne.”
He and Young Thug were named in an indictment in a murder-for-hire plot against Lil Wayne. But Birdman denies his involvement. “It’s probably the craziest shit I’ve ever heard in my life.”
He has no clue who was involved in the shooting of Wayne’s tour buses, but he claims it wasn’t him. “I couldn’t even tell you what happened that night ’cause I wasn’t there,” he said. “Hip-hop gets gangsta sometimes and you gotta be prepared for it when it comes to you.”
Weezy is suing for a whopping $51 million, an amount that doesn’t sit well with Birdman. “I don’t feel like I owe him $50 million. I just gave him a $100-plus million contract with $60-70 million upfront. I don’t feel the same way his attorney is saying he feels.”
While the future of their relationship remains unclear, one thing is not: Nicki Minaj and Drake won’t be leaving the label. “Nicki and Drake ain’t goin’ nowhere, regardless,” he said, adding that both artists are very happy. “You’ll never hear nothing out their mouths on no negative about either one of us ’cause we both have blessed their lives. Nicki and Drake, regardless of what goes down with us, they not going nowhere.”
Plus, watch Birdman speak about his legacy (“I sold 500 million records”) and his respect for Nicki in the 24-minute interview below.