BIRDMAN BIOGRAPHY

BABY aka BIRDMAN

Fast Money

When Cash Money Records' flamboyant CEO Bryan "Baby" Williams stepped into the arena of hip-hop music, little did the world know that he would have such a huge impact on popular culture.  As a co-founder of Cash Money Records, he is responsible for the meteoric rise of gold and platinum selling artists such as Juvenile, Lil Wayne, Hot Boys, and Big Tymers, among others.  As one half of the immensely popular duo the Big Tymers, Bryan "Baby" Williams (also known as the Birdman) literally changed the way we view hip hop culture.  Williams is the man who elevated hip-hop's natural penchant for balling and flossing wealth to unprecedented heights.  Known and loved around the world as the "King of Bling," the Uptown Shiner, the #1 Stunna, the Birdman is still the flyest guy in hip-hop.  And now, with his long awaited sophomore album Fast Money, the Birdman will take legions of hip-hop fans around the world to even deeper levels of “stunnin’.”

"Stunnin' covers a whole lotta of things," explains Baby.  "Hustlin', shinin', scrapin', ballin', whatever it takes to take make somthin' outta nothin'.  And throughout my life, I've had to do a little bit of everything just to survive.  Some of the things I've done, I'm proud of and some I'm not, but in the end it was about getting paid, that's why I call this album Fast Money.  You can take a person out the ghetto, but you can't take the ghetto out me.  I'll never leave my people.  I deal with my people.  I see the struggle just like it was when I was going through it, that's why my music deals with the streets."

Born and raised in New Orleans infamous Uptown area, Baby begin his career as an artist in 1997 on B.G.'s underground classic It's All On U Vol. 2, when Baby and Mannie Fresh went into the booth and started clowning around on the mic for an intro to the album.  The result sounded so good that the two decided to do a whole verse.  That initial verse launched the Big Tymers', five gold/ platinum albums: How You Luv That Vol. 1 and Vol. II, I Got that Work, Hood Rich and Big Money Heavyweights.

With Baby's popularity soaring with each release, it wasn't long before the public came calling on the hip-hop innovator for a solo project.  In the fall of 2002, the Birdman inaugurated his solo career with the platinum selling, self-titled debut album Birdman, which yielded the smash hits "What Happened To That  Boy," featuring The Clipse, "Baby You Can Do It," featuring Toni Braxton, and "Do That,"  featuring P. Diddy and Mannie Fresh. 

In addition to jumpstarting, his successful solo career, Baby also expanded his business empire by signing a partnership deal with Lugz.  The Birdman Shoes/#1 Stunna is one of the top selling shoe lines at Lugz.  "I enjoy working with Lugz because I love their marketing team," says Baby.  Larry Schwartz, Executive Vice President of Lugz, says Baby is one of the more dedicated hip-hop music executives.  "As the creator of his own multi-million dollar label he's shown incredible discipline in his business ventures," says Schwartz.  "His success story shows that he never folds and Lugz is a 'never fold' company.”

In addition to the Birdman shoes and sneakers, plans are also underway for launching a Birdman Clothing line and a line of custom designed iced-out watches.  And if that's not enough, the Birdman is further exposing his unique branding touch by lending his voice as the narrator of Midnight Club 3, the new video game in the series.  Rockstar Games (the company that created Grand Theft Auto, the #1 selling video game in the country), is working with the #1 Stunna on the new video game.  But don't think that with all of these new entrepreneurial ventures that the Birdman is slack on his music.  To the contrary, the Birdman's long awaited sophomore album Fast Money is proof the artist is more focused on his music than ever. 

"With Fast Money, I've matured as an artist," says Baby of his sophomore effort.  "Just putting [this album] together gave me a different outlook on everything.  I grew up in this game so the distractions that I used to have I don't have any more.  I have a new outlook on this business now.”

And Cash Money is about is bringing the platinum heat, which is exactly what Fast Money does.  With production by Mannie Fresh, and newcomer Darius, Fast Money is layered with the funky, 70's inspired bounce-oriented beats that have made Cash Money the musical powerhouse that it is.  On his sizzling lead single "Shyne On," featuring Lil Wayne, Baby updates a Cash Money classic with a funk laden moog-induced bass line, pounding 808 kicks, syncopated snares, and gothic strings.  "My Territory," a bubbling mid-tempo track that finds the Birdman laying a heartfelt claim to his home turf while pouring his allegiance over a read hot club-banging beat.  On "Ghetto Life," featuring Bun B, Baby delivers lyrics so strong that even his most ardent fans will be pleasantly surprised at his flow.  Other standout tracks that will surely garner fans attention are "Around the World," and "Uptown featuring Lil Wayne and "Roll Em Up" featuring CMR newcomers Chop, Tateeze and Six Shot dropping hot lyrics over reggae tinged bass laden track.

With hot tracks that harken back to Cash Money golden days, and Baby crafting some of the best wordplay of his career, Fast Money is destined to thrive at the top of the charts.