Birdman is trending after a video surfaced showing his controversial response to a group of inmates seeking help to obtain books for their prison library. The video, posted by Worldstar, captures Birdman dismissively responding to an inmate’s request: “If you think reading books is gonna help– no disrespect to reading books,” before the clip abruptly ends. The location of the incident remains unclear.
In the comments section, fans expressed their disappointment with Birdman’s attitude. One user quipped, “Birdman wants to make sure no one knows how to read them contracts,” while another added, “This guy went to jail and made things worse SMH.” Some fans were more serious in their criticism, with one stating, “This just pissed me off.. does he NOT know the power reading & literature holds?” Another comment read, “Disappointing that he just went in there to flex power and ain’t listening to real cries for help.”
The Cash Money CEO recently did an interview with SiriusXM and recounted a story of how he and business partner Slim allegedly once blindfolded a Universal Music Group executive who wanted to sign them, took him to the New Orleans projects, and placed a gun on the table during negotiations to make their intentions clear.
“We were telling everybody to get the fck out our face; they were trying to take our sht,” Birdman said, emphasizing the pressure they felt to protect their work.
“They wanted to offer a joint venture, and we didn’t know what the f*ck that was,” he continued.
“We picked him (the executive) up at the airport, put a blindfold on, and brought him to where we was at, and he started to sweat,” Birdman recalled.
Birdman, real name Brian Williams said that thereafter, Universal’s then-CEO Doug Morris became integrally involved in their careers and “made us do whatever we wanted to do.”
Cash Money Records founded in 1991 by brothers Ronald “Slim” Williams and Bryan “Birdman” Williams rose to prominence in the late 1990s by signing and releasing albums for New Orleans-based artists Juvenile, B.G., and Hot Boys. In 1998, Cash Money became an imprint of Universal Records and later Republic Records.
The company which got its name from the Cash Money Brothers gang from the 1991 film New Jack City is responsible for the careers of Lil Wayne, Drake, Nicki Minaj, and Tyga and has 12 number one albums on the Billboard 200 and seven number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100.
On April 5, 2017 Birdman announced that Cash Money had officially sold over one billion units.
The plaque shown in Birdman’s Instagram clip reads, “Presented to Bryan ‘Birdman’ Williams to commemorate worldwide sales of more than 1 billion units.”
In the video, Birdman celebrates, saying, “Big boy sh-t right here baby. A billion units. I mean to say this, to all you d–k-sucking f–k n—-s, like, forreal, forreal. I don’t give a f–k about selling no records b—h, I accomplished what I never thought I could accomplish. This sh-t bigger than McDonald’s, b-tch.”
