Is Quality Control Music The New Cash Money Records?
In New Orleans, Louisiana emerged a record label called Cash Money Records, founded by Bryan Birdman Williams and his brother Ronald Slim Williams, that was so strong, that in 1998, they signed an unheard of $30 million pressing and distribution deal with Universal Music Group. In addition, they received a $3 million advance contract, entitling Cash Money to 85% of its royalties, 50% of its publishing revenues, and complete ownership of all of its masters. This deal was more lucrative than other boutiques hip hop labels at the time, including Roc-A-Fella Records and Ruff Ryders.
With the Hot Boys, Lil Wayne, Juvenile, B.G., and Turk, being the young flashy Southern hip-hop super group of their time, that Migos is 20 years later for Quality Control Music, Cash Money Records was on a roll, especially acquiring Drake, Tyga, and Nicki Minaj later on. But, now with growing pains and growing lawsuits, Cash Money Records is struggling to maintain the shine that would make modern rappers beg to sign with them like they used to. This seems to raise the question of how did Quality Control Music come in and become the contemporary Cash Money Records, even while Birdman's label still competes for the Billboard charts? With the number one superstar artist Lil Wayne no longer wanting anything to do with Cash Money Records, this raises a huge red flag of caution to everyone in the music industry.
It was back on December 4th, 2014 that Lil Wayne called out Birdman about the delay on Wayne's highly anticipated Tha Carter V album. Then about a month and a half later, on January 25th, 2015, Lil Wayne shocked the music world by announcing a $51 million lawsuit against Cash Money Records, along with the desire to leave the label and take his artists Drake and Nicki Minaj with him.
After dissing Birdman and Cash Money Records publicly, Lil Wayne's tour bus was mysteriously shot up in Atlanta following a performance at the Compound nightclub on April 26th, 2015. An associate of Young Thug, the flamboyant rapper that was rolling with Birdman at the time, was arrested for the shooting, immediately causing authorities to point the finger at Cash Money. Unfortunately, Lil Wayne wasn't the only recording artist signed to Cash Money Millionaires that had to live that lawsuit life in order to address Birdman's infamous business methods. It all began with Lil' Slim, who is the one who introduced Lil Wayne to Birdman, who left after feeling slightly out of his fair share of his album sales. Wendy Day, the non-profit Rap Coalition founder, who actually helped negotiate the $30 million dollar deal for Cash Money with Universal, was allegedly told by Birdman, "Sue me. When I have to pay you, you'll get paid," when she attempted to claim her 5% finders fee.
Along with Lil Wayne, other members of the Hot Boys sued Cash Money. Juvenile took home $11 million after getting a lawyer and Turk sued for $1.3 million and ended up settling out of court for an undisclosed dollar amount. Raised in a single-parent household in Indianapolis by a mother who worked at an RCA Record pressing plant, Coach K grew up in a house filled with music fresh from the factory. He remembers his mother bringing home records and tapes, mostly R&B and jazz.
One day she bought him a copy of the Sugarhill Gang's Rapper's Delight, which sparked a lifelong obsession with hip-hop music. "I was hooked on rap immediately," he explains. "Me and one of my friends, "his parents had bought him two turntables, "so we just started spending our money buying records."Then, my cousin, he DJed so I got engulfed"in buying records." After studying economics at Saint Augustine's University in Raleigh, North Carolina on a basketball scholarship, Coach K returned to Indianapolis and started a record label called Universal Stars with some friends. With an A&R department and a management section, the business provided Coach K with his first music business experience, but it didn't pan out.
Looking to make a new start, Coach K moved to Atlanta in January 1997, less than a year after OutKast had released ATLiens and months before Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz would drop their debut full-length, Get Crunk, Who U Wit: Da Album. Atlanta's hip-hop community was brimming with talent waiting to be exposed. Luckily, Coach K arrived with some helpful connections. A childhood friend of his, then-Atlanta Hawks power forward Al Henderson, was starting a record label and wanted Coach K to run the A&R department. From there, he started managing Pastor Troy, Young Jeezy, and Gucci Mane and establishing himself in the city's rap world, developing his identity as a tastemaker who could take regional artists and repackage them for a larger audience. In 2013, he and business partner Pierre Pee Thomas formed Quality Control Music. They inked an innovative deal with 300 Entertainment and Quality Control became one of the most successful indie record labels in the music industry.
QC signed the Migos, OG Maco,Rich the Kid, Johnny Cinco, Young Greatness, Skippa Da Flippa, and a host of other talented upcoming acts. By 2016 the Migos had dropped No Label 2, Young Rich, and Yung Rich Nation, and we're gearing up to release Culture. They came swinging with brand new slang, with bando replacing the word trap, and Versace replaced other luxury brands in the way that Kanye West bigged up Louis Vuitton early in his career. They made mega-hits like Fight Night, Hannah Montana, Look at my Dab, and rapped with refreshing cadences that grabbed everyone's attention.
Even golden era and modern age legend Q-Tip from A Tribe Called Quest hopped on Twitter and showed his love for the Migos which prompted Drake to hop on the remix of Versace. Migos were the hottest rappers in the game and Quality Control Music was riding high off of the Migos, like Cash Money Records were rising to the top with the Hot Boys back in the late 1990s. Migos represented the young, fancy, new Atlanta and that's exactly what QC needed.
Unfortunately, by this time QC's deal with 300 Entertainment had soured. "300 was the biggest hurdle," Offset told Complex. "They tried to hold us against our will. "It wasn't never no in-house hurdles we ever had,"like where it had been a problem. "With 300, that was the biggest thing, "going through times and situations with them. "And we still did them right.Left them a nice piece of work." Pee, whose words were typically measured, added, "I'm gonna stand behind him on that. "Because for 18 months, we couldn't sell no product. "Whatever that was already out, that was already "on iTunes or whatever, that was cool, "but anything that we were putting out, "it was like we were getting shackled down. "They created that whole movement," Pee continues, referencing Look At My Dab when it sparked. "It was one of the biggest songs of that year. "We had the athletes doing it. "You had the kids, everybody was doing it. "But you ain't see it on iTunes, you see what I'm saying? "We couldn't sell it, we couldn't stream it, "because we were in a battle," he told Complex.
While Coach K and Pee were embroiled in their year-long struggle with 300, they kept looking for the next talent to draught to their roster, the next big bet to make. In Yachty, they found an unlikely candidate. A tall, dark-skinned teenager with beaded braids the colour of fruit punch, and music that sounded like candy-coated trap music. Yachty first came to prominence in December 2015 when the SoundCloud version of his song One Night was used in a viral comedy video. In February 2016, Yachty debuted as a model in Kanye West's Yeezy Season 3 fashion line at Madison Square Garden, and Yachty's debut mixtape Lil Boat was released in March 2016. In April 2016, Yachty collaborated with DRAM on the hit song Broccoli, which peaked at number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100, which was his biggest hit to date.
Lucky for QC the label's releases were now distributed through Motown and Caroline, subsidiaries of Capitol Music Group. Quality Control Music appears to move like a family unit, without any signees having to sue their way into getting paid their justified amounts. Quality Control Music has only been around since 2013, but they have already put together a profitable roster. Migos have dropped 13 mixtapes, 2 collaborative albums, and 3 studio albums.
They hand-picked Lil Yachty, Lil Baby, City Girls, and Johnny Cinco to name a few. And if that wasn't enough, the label is also managing other rap stars like Cardi B, Stefflon Don and Trippie Redd.
Written by: Alex Rozen