In August, former Hustle Gang member Spodee ruffled more than a few feathers during his interview with DJ Smallz when he stated, "I have the potential to be bigger than Tip or if not, just as big." Grand Hustle chief T.I. didn't let this sit quietly, he took to Instagram to address Spodee’s claims of outgrowing the label and going against the Grand Hustle family.
Every family has their ups and downs. Hip-hop crews and labels, often as close as families, are no different. With a mix of personalities and egos all playing a hand, the odd inter-familial fallout is inevitable, with some leading to an outright hostile split, and others coming to more amicable parting of the ways.
With the Lil Wayne and Birdman drama back in the news, we take a look at six artists who have cut ties with their former crews.
Frank Ocean & Odd Future
Frank Ocean and Tyler, The Creator crossed paths back in '09 while Ocean was trying to navigate his way through the L.A. scene. The pair became good friends. Tyler was always fully supportive of Ocean's writing and along with the help of producer Tricky, Ocean inked a deal with Def Jam as a solo artist. He began to collaborate frequently with OFWGKTA, eventually becoming an official member in 2010. Soon after, Ocean dropped his Nostalgia, Ultra mixtape without Def Jam's knowledge, as he felt the label was unsupportive of his craft, and quickly rose to fame alongside Odd Future.
Even then, many questioned his place in the collective as his brand of smooth, sensual r&b/soul is in stark contrast to Tyler, The Creator’s hell-raising, roach-eating antics. In 2013, Tyler released his second studio album, Wolf. Ocean worked on several of the album's tracks, but by this time, an already-reclusive Frank Ocean had begun his subtle withdrawal from the group. The following year, Frank fired his management and publicist (who also managed Odd Future and continued to do so), hiring a fresh new team. As for his affiliation with Odd Future? All seems relatively peaceful, with both Frank Ocean and Tyler The Creator continuing to focus on their brands.
When asked about Frank’s departure during an interview with Fader magazine, Tyler had this to say; "He's a different case… He could care less about the spotlight type shit, which is cool. I wish I took his route and just disappeared from social media for the past year."
The Game & G-Unit
Former G-Unit member, The Game, catapulted into the limelight after signing with 50's crew. We all expected it to be smooth sailing after his meteoric rise, but following The Game’s debut album release, The Game was ejected from the G-Unit camp and the pair were involved in a very public feud. The fact that 50's The Massacre was reportedly delayed to make room for The Documentary had 50 feeling salty. 50 Cent questioned his loyalty and was salty about not getting sufficient credited on the rising rapper’s album The Documentary-- 50 had a large role in the creation of "Hate It or Love It," but the two were already on bad terms when the music video was being shot, and thus it's rumored that the 50 Cent refused to sit in the front seat of the car beside The Game, hence why he's in the back seat in the visuals.
Diss tracks were exchanged, and despite the beef, gems like, The Game’s "Stop Snitchin’, Stop Lyin’" campaign made for hilarious viewing. Plus who could forget Fif’s “Piggy Bank” video starring The Game as Mr. Potatohead.
Juvenile/Lil Wayne & Cash Money
Louisiana rapper Juvenile signed to Cash Money back in 1997 and was the label’s first artist to go Platinum with album 400 Degreez. Juve left in 2003 amidst rumors that he had persistently been shorted and not paid royalties. Last year, Juvenile re-signed with Cash Money after coming to a substantial settlement with his former label. But tensions still remain in the camp.
Although Juvie has since returned to his former crew, Young Money leader, Lil Wayne, has been trying to break free from Cash Money. What was at first whispers of his unhappiness quickly turned into thunderous roars when a disgruntled Wayne took to Twitter to air his frustrations, pleading to be set free. Weezy is currently in court proceedings with Baby, whom he claims owes him $51 million, a claim that Birdman emphatically refuted during his perplexing interview with Power 105.1’s Angie Martinez. Refusing to acknowledge Wayne’s public outbursts, Birdman maintains that all is well between them and that Wayne can leave anytime he wants, but he doesn’t owe him any money, and he will not be taking Drake and Nicki with him if he does decide to jump ship. At present, the end is nowhere near in sight: earlier today we received new details in the lawsuit, stating that Cash Money and it's founder have been ripping off Young Money artists, and that Birdman has interfered with Weezy's signing of Chanel West Coast. Whatever happens, Wayne is solely repping YM these days, cutting himself off from the CMB.
Freddie Gibbs & CTE
Back in 2011, Midwest rapper Freddie Gibbs signed to Jeezy’s imprint, CTE (Corporate Thugz Entertainment). It obviously was not a match made in heaven, as Gangsta Gibbs left CTE the following year, stating the split was amicable before eventually doing a U-turn and outright dissing the Snowman. Gibbs didn’t feel that his music was a priority for CTE and was tired of being a sitting duck. Jeezy claimed that he invested a lot of money to try and kick start Gibbs’ career and inferred that he was not as hungry as he would have outsiders believe. Last year, Gibbs put everything on wax when he released “Real”; a blatant Jeezy diss track off Piñata, his collaborative album with Madlib.
Rich Homie Quan & Rich Gang
Rich Gang trio (Young Thug, Rich Homie Quan & Birdman) were revelling in the success of their Rich Gang mixtape, that is, until RHQ decided to distance himself from the group. Rich Homie Quan announced in February that he would be taking a break from Rich Gang to focus on his solo music, however the break seems to be (indefinitely) permanent.
His claims that the split was amicable were quickly called into question after Young Thug openly dissed Quan by calling him "Bitch Homie Quan" during a live performance. The "feud" fizzled out rather rapidly as Quan responded to the diss with integrity, saying of Young Thug, "I wish Thugger the best, success…. Just gon' leave it at that."
Dr. Dre & Ruthless Records
West Coast rapper Eazy-E was one of the driving forces behind the legendary rap group N.W.A.’s success. The label enjoyed critical acclaim with the releases of Straight Outta Compton, Eazy-Duz-It and Niggaz4Life, but there were grumbles behind the scenes about how the profits were being divvied up (or, weren't being divvied up at all). N.W.A. slowly began to crumble, with Dre naming the group's manager Jerry Heller as the issue: "The split came when Jerry Heller got involved. He played the divide and conquer game. Instead of taking care of everybody, he picked one nigga to take care of and that was Eazy. And Eazy was like, 'I'm taken care of, so fuck it'."
Dr. Dre wanted to leave Ruthless, and enlisted then-pal Suge Knight to step in and allegedly force Ruthless Records into releasing Dre. Ties were not entirely severed though, as Eazy-E was holding on to a portion of Dre's publishing rights. Dr. Dre took aim in his video for “F*ck With Dre Day” featuring Snoop Dogg, in which his Sleazy-E character pokes fun at his former business partner by depicting him as a money hungry puppet .
Eazy-E fired back on track “It’s On” taking shots at Dr. Dre's past get-ups for World Class Wreckin' Cru. Dre eventually walked away from all of his publishing rights (and his once-crew) but the bad blood continued on. Nonetheless, before Eazy-E passed away from AIDS, both Dr. Dre and Snoop made amends with Eazy-E.