Bow Wow to Cash Money: Hip Hop’s Publicized Label Moves
Yesterday’s announcement that Bow Wow is signing with Cash Money Records (to perhaps be kissed by Lil’ Wayne?) came somewhat of a shocker. It seemed like yesterday when Bow Wow was “retired” from the game but this news really throws a wrench into that retirement business. While the details are still yet to be disclosed, let’s take a look at some other label moves that had me buzzin’ way back when…
With the collapse of Death Row Records following Dr. Dre’s departure, the death of 2pac and the incarceration of Suge Knight, Snoop was desperate to leave the Row. In came Master P screaming “Uggghhhhhhhh!!!” Reception of Snoop’s first album off the No Limit label, Da Game Is To Be Sold, Not To Be Told, was lukewarm at best (see “Still a G Thang”), among Snoop’s worst efforts. Thankfully, him and Dr. Dre reunited for his second No Limit release on No Limit Top Dogg.
After a five-year hiatus finding God as Pastor Mason Betha, Ma$e found his way back to Bad Boy Records with his 2004 release, Welcome Back. It wasn’t entirely exceptional but he kept his message close to the message he had been preaching as a pastor (I’m guessing to love God you must breathe, shake, stretch, let it go?). When that didn’t go as planned, the devil called in the form of G-Unit and 50 Cent and Mase was convinced the best move for his career was to join G-Unit. Mase’s G-Unit Mixtape surfaced were he proceeds to diss longtime friend Puffy and Mase’s Bad Boy lazy-flow replacement (and fellow Harlem World member) Loon. Bad Boy never really did release Mase from contract though, and now he is currently inking a deal with the I.N.C., which is sure to be just as righteous as the defunct move to G-Unit.
Once Fiddy figured he wouldn’t be able to pay for Murda Mase, he set his eyes on underground legend Mobb Deep. I suppose he figured he needed people on his side who were familiar with hip hop beefs. In their first video off Blood Money, Mobb Deep donned “G Unit Game Over” shirts as a way of taking shots at The Game and his G-Unit departure. Although their album sales didn’t go as well as they planned for their G-Unit release, they remain members of G-Unit to this day.
Do I really need to explain this one?
During his stint in prison for a sexual abuse charge (that up to his death still claimed he did not commit), 2pac met with Suge Knight via prison phone where the two talked of making heads turn in the hip hop world. At the end of the day, Pac agreed to join the Death Row family. Once out, Pac eagerly and proudly claimed Death Row Records while taking (lyrical) shots at Sean “Puffy” Combs, former friend Notorious B.I.G. and their record label Bad Boy Records, thus creating the Great East vs. West War of 1996-1997 which ended with two of hip hop’s greatest deceased with both murders still unsolved.
But before the drama of Death Row Records, there was the drama of N.W.A. After N.W.A.’s huge success in Straight Outta Compton, Ice Cube sought royalties for writing more than half the lyrics on the album, as well as Eazy-E’s solo album Eazy-Duz-It. When negotiations turned sour, Cube left to create his own label, Lench Mob Records. Shortly after, the remaining members of N.W.A. took shots at Cube for leaving the group, which lead to Cube’s many responses in his sophomore release.
Dr. Dre would later leave N.W.A. for Death Row Records, which sparked another war of words, this time between Eazy and Dre. This included the “Dre Day” music video in which Dre depicts Eazy as a cowardly hip hop star doing anything for money, and the “Real Muthaphuckkin G’s” music video in which Eazy brings up Dre’s old World-Class Wrecking Crew pictures (in which Dre wears clothes resembling something less of a street thug and more of Prince).
Did I miss something? Leave a comment…
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