Things aren't looking good for Cash Money Records. Lil Wayne expressed frustration with the delay in the label releasing Tha Carter 5, and really opened the floodgates when he brought a $51 million lawsuit against the label and its boss, his former mentor and pal Birdman. It continued to pile up as it became evident that Wayne's Young Money roster, including Drake and Nicki Minaj, wanted to follow him, at least out the door (Drake's If You're Reading This It's Too Late is believed to be the last record he contractually owes Cash Money). Even Tyga is looking to buy his way out of his current contract just to get away from the struggling imprint.
The question, now that this huge mass of talent is looking to escape, is what does Cash Money have left to bring in record sales? Here are the five best options at this point.
Birdman
We'll get the obvious option out of the way first. Honestly however: Many have forgotten that Birdman rapped at all, as he know gets most of his face-time as the CEO of Cash Money thanks to the success of Lil Wayne and all of his Young Money pals. He's been preparing his return to shelves for a while but it has become all the more urgent now that his label's major moneymakers are going elsewhere. The emcee/owner reportedly has two records on the table due for release during 2015: One is Bigga Than Life, his first solo release since 2009's Priceless. A second Rich Gang album was also implied, but who knows if that's still a reasonable possibility, considering that a "Rich Gang" release requires some contribution from the Young Money posse, which will probably soon be nought. Bird might even want to reach out to his old buddy Mannie Fresh for a Big Tymers reunion at this point.
Bow Wow
Yeah, seriously. It's understandable that you forgot about Bow Wow, considering that Shad Moss has been playing the Hollywood card for a while, appearing in, uh, classics such as Scary Movie 5 and Madea's Big Happy Family. Perhaps realizing that he may never get to the sort of esteem accomplished by The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift, Moss went back to Cash Money Records and has been preparing Underrated, his first album-like Birdman-since 2009's New Jack City II. At some point we have to accept that Bow Wow is no longer a child, in fact he's two years older than Chris Brown. Few people even realize the self-censored bars Lil Wayne dropped as a wunderkind, so perhaps now is when Bow Wow reinvents himself as a street-hard emcee? Cash Money can only hope.
Austin Mahone
Although Bow Wow probably shouldn't be pushing raps that appeal to middle schoolers anymore, Cash Money's future may rest on the huge market that is teenage girls. Austin Mahone has absolutely no potential as a gangsta in the same vein as Juvenile but the label will have to take a spoonful of sugar to help this saccharine-sweet pill go down, if it keeps record sales up. Mahone has only dropped one LP so far, 2014's The Secret, but it sold well enough to suggest there's potential for a huge boost in popularity if Cash Money is willing to pay Ne-Yo or someone of similar talents to craft a platinum single for the 18 year-old semi-star. Cash Money as a pop label might sound like suicide to some, but remember that Def Jam released Slayer's best albums as well as those of the Beastie Boys.
Limp Bizkit
It seems odd that Limp Bizkit isn't the weirdest candidate on this list. All we can say is that although Fred Durst's flow may be generally awful, at least he curses (unlike Mahone at the moment) and at least he and the rest of the band have a very firm grip on what's important: Money, not artistic quality (what, you think the band name its last album Gold Cobra with nothing but sincere intentions?). The hardest rocking band on Cash Money's lineup has another great title on the horizon—Stampede of The Disco Elephants—which will honestly generate a lot more sales than most of the other Cash Money signees at the moment. Birdman needs to convince Kevin Rudolf to get back on the stage, and maybe open on tour for Bizkit.
Ace Hood
This is about as sincere a hope as Cash Money has at the moment for returning to any spot of repute among the hip-hop scene. We don't believe, in our heart of hearts, that Bow Wow is going to make a huge sales splash upon his return. Nor will Birdman by himself as an emcee. Ace Hood has had the best, lasting single in the last few years for Cash Money (strictly Cash Money, not counting the Young Money contributions) with "Bugatti." Unfortunately, the rest of the album Trials & Tribulations could have used some touch-ups. So do it, touch it up, and make Beast of The South a breakthrough album. Get DJ Khaled back on board, invest as much money as you need to to make Hood a star and the flagship. Birdman currently drives a Bugatti and if he wants to continue waking up to it, he needs help from his roster. Hood may be the best bet.
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