New Orleans rapper Dee-1 explains passing on a deal offered to him
by Cash Money Records several years ago.
Initially speaking about his 2009 track “ Jay, 50, and Weezy ” in
which he imagines a political dialogue with the three rappers, Dee-1
went on to share the story of being courted to sign to Cash Money
after the release.
“Cash Money has so many members who are either directly or
indirectly affiliated with them,” he said before explaining the lack
of reaction to the song. “No one whose path I crossed ever directly
confronted me about the song in a negative way because to be
honest with you they know that everything I say is true. Everything.
You have to understand that it’s a type of culture over there to
where just because you’re onboard, just because you’re on that
ship, that don’t mean you agree with everything that the captain of
that ship is doing. You know? So there’s people who are over there
who probably deep down agree with what I’m saying but they might
not be the ones to speak up because they might have a paycheck on
the line. They have their livelihood on the line. If you go against the
boss, you might fool around and not have a job or you might not
have that salary that you get paid that supports your family.
“But me, I’m not tied into that,” he went on. “I have good
relationships with several members of Cash Money. The interesting
part about this is a little bit after I put the song out, few months,
they actually reached out to me. Not Lil Wayne directly but Slim,
who, you know, there’s Baby and Slim who are the CEOs of Cash
Money. Slim reached out and me and Slim were talking back and
forth for several months. They were trying to sign me to Cash Money.
He flew me to Miami. Put me up in a hotel. Put me in a studio where
they do all their recording. It’s crazy...through of all my being in
the city with them, being at the studio where they record, when I
tell you I never directly, through me talking with Slim on the phone
everyday...for like five or six months...I never directly crossed
paths with Lil Wayne. Not one time. It’s amazing to me. He was
probably in the same studio where they had me doing some
recording at. All this type of stuff. I don’t know. I think the fact
that I never crossed paths with Lil Wayne while they were kind of
courting me to sign with Cash Money, I think it’s a sign that
whenever we do finally meet it’s not destined to be just a quick,
‘What’s up man? I’m Dee.’ ‘What’s up I’m Lil Wayne.’ And then we
go our separate ways. I think it’s destined to be a real sitdown. A
real, ‘Let’s talk. Let’s get coffee real quick...and really talk about
some stuff.’ Lord willing I’m really praying that it is the opportunity
I get because at this point I know that I’ve been placed in Hip Hop to
impact people’s lives. Not just fans, but possibly artists lives as well.
Artists who I could wake up and pick their brain and challenge the
way they view life and Hip Hop and their platform. I didn’t end up
signing with them. Obviously I didn’t sign with them.”
During the interview, the Free Lunch And Sallie Mae rapper
explained the decision to not accept the offer.
“It didn’t feel right in my spirit," he said. "It just didn’t. I
couldn't put my finger on it. It’s not like they weren’t gonna offer
me money, of course they were gonna offer me money. Of course
I’m not a millionaire. It would have been like, ‘This is cool, I could
probably do some good with this.’ I never make decisions solely based
on money. I could take a $100 bill and tear it up and then it’s
worthless. You can’t do that with your integrity.”
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