Yet another rapper is leaving Cash Money Records, as Bow Wow declared this week that he'll be heading back to work with Snoop Dogg and Jermaine Dupri instead of Bryan "Birdman" Williams. The performer, formerly known as Lil Bow Wow, says that everything is cool between himself and the label's boss...but is it?
"I've got so much respect for Birdman," he said. "This is a man who took the risk on signing me, not only that but a person who opened up his space to me. We had so many ill conversations that I learned from, that I take to heart. Anytime you get to be around somebody as smart as he is, who I consider a musical genius, you've got to be some sort of genius to put out the artists he's put out over the last couple of years... I want to thank that man for that."
Nonetheless, another quote he dropped during the post seemed to suggest that indeed the label modus operandi had begun to grind on him.
"I wanna dictate when my music comes out," he said. "I'm tired of going to the studio to make records and then I listen to them. 'Cause they get old... I just can't be held up by nobody. It's as simple as that."
That is, essentially, exactly what started the now infamous beef between Williams and his label's biggest star, Young Money CEO Lil Wayne. The emcee alleged that the company wasn't allowing him to release Tha Carter 5, despite it being done. The frustration with the delay led Weezy to file a $51 million lawsuit against his soon-to-be former boss. Are the same release-delay issues behind Bow Wow's choice to skip town?
There may be a less cynical explanation. The rapper, when working at the peak of his popularity, was teamed up with Snoop and Dupri. Bow Wow hasn't yet released an album on Cash Money—and hasn't released an album since 2009's New Jack City II at that—and perhaps he got feet at the last moment...not wanting to mess with a winning formula.
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