(Photo: XXL, June 2011)

Bryan "Baby" Williams has had a hand in developing some of hip hop's biggest acts over the past 15+ years as a founder of Cash Money Records; from the Hot Boys in the '90s to Drake and Nicki Minaj today. In the next issue of XXL magazine, Editor-in-Chief Vanessa Satten speaks to the veteran mogul about outlasting his peers and changes in the game.
“When I look around, through my years and my time, you know, the game, it was a lot in the field, a lot of people doing it,” Birdman says. “And I look around, and it’s like, where the fuck did everybody go? I ain’t never understood that, but the game like that sometimes, that muthafucka’s gon’ keep ya or it’s gon’ leave ya. It’s all on you.”
Speaking on the birth of Young Money, Baby says letting Lil Wayne, whom he often refers to as his son, take the reins of the label was his shrewdest business move.
“He wanted it. I been with him since he was seven years old, eight years old. I been in his life all of his life, and he was like, “Let me handle, it.” At the time, me as an artist, losing my sister and everything I was going through personally, I was just like, ‘Go ahead, I’ma just support what you gon’ do. You can handle it.’ And I took a step back. Probably was the smarted [sic] move I ever made in my life was to let him go ‘head,” he says.
Read more from the interview when the June issue of XXL hits stands on June 7th.