Title: Fast Money
Release date: 12 April, 2005
Record label: CashMoney/Universal
Single: Shyne On
Official website: Baby a.k.a. Birdman
Wikipedia: BABY aka BIRDMAN
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When Cash Money Records' flamboyant CEO Bryan "Baby" Williams stepped into the arena of hip-hop music...
... , little did the world
know that he would have such a huge impact on popular culture. As
a co-founder of Cash Money Records, he is responsible for the meteoric
rise of gold and platinum selling artists such as Juvenile, Lil Wayne,
Hot Boys, and Big Tymers, among others. As one half of the
immensely popular duo the Big Tymers, Bryan "Baby" Williams (also known
as the Birdman) literally changed the way we view hip hop
culture. Williams is the man who elevated hip-hop's natural
penchant for balling and flossing wealth to unprecedented
heights. Known and loved around the world as the "King of Bling,"
the Uptown Shiner, the #1 Stunna, the Birdman is still the flyest guy
in hip-hop. And now, with his long awaited sophomore album Fast
Money, the Birdman will take legions of hip-hop fans around the world
to even deeper levels of "stunnin'."
"Stunnin' covers a whole lotta of things," explains Baby.
"Hustlin', shinin', scrapin', ballin', whatever it takes to take make
somthin' outta nothin'. And throughout my life, I've had to do a
little bit of everything just to survive. Some of the things I've
done, I'm proud of and some I'm not, but in the end it was about
getting paid, that's why I call this album Fast Money. You can
take a person out the ghetto, but you can't take the ghetto out
me. I'll never leave my people. I deal with my
people. I see the struggle just like it was when I was going
through it, that's why my music deals with the streets."
Born and raised in New Orleans infamous Uptown area, Baby begin his
career as an artist in 1997 on B.G.'s underground classic It's All On U
Vol. 2, when Baby and Mannie Fresh went into the booth and started
clowning around on the mic for an intro to the album. The result
sounded so good that the two decided to do a whole verse. That
initial verse launched the Big Tymers', five gold/ platinum albums: How
You Luv That Vol. 1 and Vol. II, I Got that Work, Hood Rich, and Big
Money Heavyweights.
With Baby's popularity soaring with each release, it wasn't long before
the public came calling on the hip-hop innovator for a solo
project. In the fall of 2002, the Birdman inaugurated his solo
career with the platinum selling, self-titled debut album Birdman,
which yielded the smash hits "What Happened To That Boy,"
featuring The Clipse, "Baby You Can Do It," featuring Toni Braxton, and
"Do That," featuring P. Diddy and Mannie Fresh.
In addition to jumpstarting, his successful solo career, Baby also
expanded his business empire by signing a partnership deal with
Lugz. The Birdman Shoes/#1 Stunna is one of the top selling shoe
lines at Lugz. "I enjoy working with Lugz because I love their
marketing team," says Baby. Larry Schwartz, Executive Vice
President of Lugz, says Baby is one of the more dedicated hip-hop music
executives. "As the creator of his own multi-million dollar label
he's shown incredible discipline in his business ventures," says
Schwartz. "His success story shows that he never folds and Lugz
is a 'never fold' company."
In addition to the Birdman shoes and sneakers, plans are also underway
for launching a Birdman Clothing line and a line of custom designed
iced-out watches. And if that's not enough, the Birdman is
further exposing his unique branding touch by lending his voice as the
narrator of Midnight Club 3, the new video game in the series.
Rockstar Games (the company that created Grand Theft Auto, the #1
selling video game in the country), is working with the #1 Stunna on
the new video game. But don't think that with all of these new
entrepreneurial ventures that the Birdman is slack on his music.
To the contrary, the Birdman's long awaited sophomore album Fast Money
is proof the artist is more focused on his music than ever.
"With Fast Money, I've matured as an artist," says Baby of his
sophomore effort. "Just putting [this album] together gave me a
different outlook on everything. I grew up in this game so the
distractions that I used to have I don't have any more. I have a
new outlook on this business now."
And Cash Money is about is bringing the platinum heat, which is exactly
what Fast Money does. With production by Mannie Fresh, and
newcomer Darius, Fast Money is layered with the funky, 70's inspired
bounce-oriented beats that have made Cash Money the musical powerhouse
that it is. On his sizzling lead single "Shyne On," featuring Lil
Wayne, Baby updates a Cash Money classic with a funk laden moog-induced
bass line, pounding 808 kicks, syncopated snares, and gothic
strings. "My Territory," a bubbling mid-tempo track that finds
the Birdman laying a heartfelt claim to his home turf while pouring his
allegiance over a read hot club-banging beat. On "Ghetto Life,"
featuring Bun B, Baby delivers lyrics so strong that even his most
ardent fans will be pleasantly surprised at his flow. Other
standout tracks that will surely garner fans attention are "Around the
World," and "Uptown featuring Lil Wayne and "Roll Em Up" featuring CMR
newcomers Chop, Tateeze and Six Shot dropping hot lyrics over reggae
tinged bass laden track.
With hot tracks that harken back to Cash Money golden days, and Baby
crafting some of the best wordplay of his career, Fast Money is
destined to thrive at the top of the charts.
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