During the interview with host Ebro Darden and co-host Laura Stylez, Birdman addressed rumors about his sexuality, talks of a feud with Rick Ross and Trick Daddy, and his ongoing dispute with Lil Wayne. See highlights from the 35-minute conversation below.
ON RICK ROSS: “Me and Ross was like brothers everyday, hanging together. They one of the reasons we came to Miami, because them nias embraced us so strong when we came out here. I don’t know what his call was to even get into me and my son business. [Wayne’s] my son…That shit gonna work itself out. I have the utmost respect for Ross. We come up and I taught him a lot of game in this shit. He watched my pimpin’ and did his own thing with it being a hustler, but it threw me off.”
ON LIL WAYNE BEEF: “It’s more of a misunderstanding than a money issue. If you knew me, I always gave Wayne any and everything he ever wanted. Our train is still moving. Drake just put out an album. Nicki is in the studio. The train is still moving. I think it’s a lot of misunderstanding and me and him talk, but you best believe this situation is gonna work itself out.”
ON VIEWS : “I think Drake got the album of the year, man. In three hours, he did like 400,000, man. He’s something special. Hip-hop has to keep going. We need this.”
ON BUSINESS MISTAKES: “I came in the game real young with a lot of money. I ain’t have nobody to teach me, bro. I learned from my mistakes. I’m not perfect. I’ve made a lot of mistakes and I’ve tried to correct my mistakes as time went by.”
ON HIS TUMULTUOUS RELATIONSHIP WITH ARTISTS: “I have corrected my mistakes as time went by. You can see it because I’m still doing major business. You think Drake would be putting out an album? You think Nicki would be back in the studio? We done had a lot of fall-ins and fall-outs, but that’s just the nature of our business. You’re just looking at me because I’m a street black man, but if you go into any one of these buildings, they all have the same problems.”
ON TRICK DADDY SAYING BIRDMAN IS GAY: “Come on, man. I’m a straight gangster. That nia’s been in my hood. He knows what’s happening with me. I guess nia wanna get on the radio and be funny or something but nia know what’s happening with me. Google me, man. Call anything in the 504 and ask about me. Google me, man. Watch what comes up: straight G.”
ON HIS UPBRINGING: “It’s the first time I ever really opened up about my personal life growing up. As a kid, my moms passed when I was two. My pops passed when I was young. My sister took me away to Prince George [in Canada]. I lived out there for [a few] years. I came back. I was in boys home for a few years…And once my step mother got us out the boys home, I was just a wild animal. I didn’t give a fuck about nothing, nobody, not even myself.”
ON HIS BIOPIC : “The name of it is Before Anything. [When] I signed my deal with Universal, I was maybe 19 years old turning 20 with $30 million. It was before that. It was life before that.”
ON CASH MONEY’S BIOPIC: “Also I’m doing the Cash Money story. I thought that what Dr. Dre and [ice] Cube did was some real genius shit. Big shouts to them, just keeping hip-hop alive, just doing what they do. I feel like my Cash Money story should be as bigger because I feel like we super irrelevant in music.”
ON HIS MOTHER, MS. GLADYS: “I was two when she passed…My mom passed after she had me. She got shot and she died from complications. That shit be fucking with me a lot. I decided I’ll never speak on my momma. I speak about her a lot, but I never get in-depth about nothing with my family. So with this album, I’m really in-depth with it.”
ON GUNS: “I keep a lot on me. That’s just how I live my life. I live my life with no fear for no human. I also believe in self protection.”
