Cash Money Records co-founder Birdman was on set at the Young Thug cover shoot with Complex magazine recently and decided to take some time out to speak with the magazine about his hopes for the young rising Atlanta rapper.
Before relating to Young Thug’s upbringing, Birdman stated that Cash Money has embraced Young Thug as a little brother. Birdman says,
“I know he a big fan of Wayne. And we embrace Thug as our little brother. We come from the projects, New Orleans. That lifestyle we come from. I wanted to do better for me. To do better for them. To do better for us. When I see Thug he come from that same cloth. From these streets. And I see an opportunity to help him change not just his life, his family’s life, his homies’ life. And make a difference in this world. And it’s through music, something that I’m powerful in. And I wouldn’t do nothing but bless him in every way possible. I’mma do everything within my powers to make him as big as he possibly can be and want to be.”
Birdman later talked about the potential Young Thug has to create records without even having to rap.
He went on to compare Young Thug’s potential to that of Drake and Lil Wayne’s prior to their hit success.
“I think a lot of rappers—niggas now just rapping a lot. And it don’t take a lot of rap to make a hit record,” Birdman said. “You know, you got the Wayne and the Drakes who really take songs and don’t rap at all. Might sing on a song. Might do just a little rapping. That’s what I see in him. He one of them that can do that. You know, Wayne developed into doing all these different things. And you got these young artists who really, Wayne is the mold for them. They watched Wayne. They studied Wayne. And he coming in the game like that. To me that put him on a higher level. Our plan as YMCMB and Rich Gang is to make him a superstar, a rock star.”
On several occasions, Young Thug has expressed his admiration for the Young Money boss, Lil Wayne. During an interview with Fader, he referred to Weezy as his idol, and later revealed his plans to name his upcoming album Carter VI.
You think Thugga will continue to get bigger?
Watch Birdman's interview with Complex below.