Birdman

Bryan Christopher Williams (' Brooks; February 15, 1969), better known by his stage names Birdman or Baby''', is an American rapper and record executive.

Birdman was born Bryan Christopher Brooks on February 15, 1969, at Charity Hospital in New Orleans, Louisiana, to Johnnie Williams and Gladys Brooks.

Williams did not sign the birth certificate, which led to Bryan initially taking his mother's surname.

For almost a month after his birth, he did not have a given first name and was simply referred to as "Baby", a nickname he retains to this day.

As a small child, Brooks and his family lived on top of a bar owned by his father.

His mother, Gladys, died when he was five years old.

After their mother's death, Birdman and his siblings Kim, Ronald and Ray were taken in by their uncle and spent two years living in Prince George, British Columbia, Canada, followed by two years in foster care upon their return to New Orleans.

After Johnnie learned that they were in the foster home, a long legal battle took place in the mid-'70s which eventually ended with Johnnie and his wife Patricia gaining full custody of the children and Bryan's name changing to Bryan Williams.

He and his siblings moved in with Johnnie and Patricia and lived in the Magnolia Projects in Central City in the 3rd ward of Uptown New Orleans, where Bryan developed a close friendship with his step-brother, Eldrick Wise.

While living in the Magnolia, Williams and Wise soon began committing robberies and sold heroin together before both getting arrested at the age of 16.

At 18, both were again arrested for drug possession and sentenced to three years in Elayn Hunt Correctional Center.

Williams served 18 months before he was acquitted of all charges.

After Bryan was released from prison, he and Slim both began paying attention to the emerging bounce sub-genre of hip-hop, a sound that was quickly becoming popular in nightclubs all over New Orleans.

By the mid-1990s, Cash Money had grown to a popular independent label in the south, with most of their fanbase located in New Orleans and the surrounding areas.

Despite their regional popularity, the label suffered many setbacks in the mid-1990s, with a number of the "first generation" of Cash Money artists leaving the label citing financial issues as the main reason.

In addition to this, Kilo G, Pimp Daddy and Yella Boy were all murdered in the mid-90s.

He is the co-founder and public face of Cash Money Records, which he co-founded with his older brother Ronald "Slim" Williams in 1992.

In 1992, Bryan came up with the idea to form their own record label, and wanted to name it "Cash Money Records".

Bryan and Slim would then travel to nightclubs all over Louisiana to see who was playing and try and recruit artists to the fledgling label.

Their first signed artist was a local rapper named Kilo G, who released the label's first ever project, a horrorcore album titled "The Sleepwalker" in 1992.

Bryan and Slim continued to recruit more and more artists, and Bryan was able to convince his friend and local DJ Mannie Fresh to become Cash Money's in-house producer.

In 1995, Cash Money artist Lil' Slim was introduced to 12-year-old Dwayne Carter at a local block party, and after hearing him rap, brought him to Baby's attention, and soon after Carter was signed to Cash Money as the youngest artist on the label.

Carter was placed into a group with another young rapper, 14-year-old Christopher Dorsey, and the two would be known as "Baby D" and "Lil Doogie" respectively; The B.G.'z.

During this time, Baby himself also began to rap as a member of the group 32 Golds, going by the name B-32.

The only two artists to remain were Baby D and Lil Doogie, who renamed themselves Lil Wayne and B.G. respectively in 1997.

The same year, Baby and Slim recruited two new artists, Turk and Juvenile, and the four were placed together in a new group, known as the Hot Boys.

The Hot Boys soon took Cash Money to new heights, and the label was able to sign a $30 million deal with Universal Records in 1998.

After Cash Money's nationwide success, Baby and Mannie Fresh formed their own group, dubbing themselves the Big Tymers.

Big Tymers debuted in 1998 with the album How Ya Luv That? and went on to release I Got That Work in 2000 and Hood Rich in 2002.

I Got That Work contained the popular singles "Get Your Roll On" and "#1 Stunna".

Although the singles failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, I Got That Work was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for selling over 1 million copies in the United States.

Hood Rich contained the hit single "Still Fly", which was nominated for a Grammy award and peaked at #11 on the Hot 100.

Hood Rich was also certified platinum in the US.

Birdman released his eponymous debut studio album in 2002, and released three follow up albums—Fast Money (2005), 5 * Stunna (2007), and Priceless (2009)—to moderate commercial success and mixed critical reception; in 2020, he announced the latter as his final.

Along with his solo career, he is a member of the hip hop duo Big Tymers with producer Mannie Fresh, as well as the supergroup Cash Money Millionaires.

Big Money Heavyweight followed in 2003, and was again successful, being certified Gold in the US.

Many artists were signed in conjunction with Wayne's Young Money Entertainment (branded as "YMCMB"), a label which ran as an imprint of Cash Money from its formation in 2005 until 2018.

Apart from his solo work and five releases as part of Big Tymers, Birdman is best known for his mentorship of fellow New Orleans rapper Lil Wayne, whom he discovered and took under his wing at age eleven—also releasing a collaborative album in 2006.

As label-head of Cash Money Records, Birdman has been central to the career and commercial success of Wayne, as well as future signees including Drake, Nicki Minaj, and Tyga.

Birdman has also founded the spin-off project Rich Gang in 2014, a loose-knit collective assembled from core signees of both labels, which was joined and soon led by then-upcoming Southern rappers Young Thug and Rich Homie Quan, as well as other artists not directly signed to the labels.