When Drake released his “playlist” More Life in March, 2017, there were wide speculations that it will mark the end of Drake’s deal with Cash Money Records. Drake has been signed to a joint venture between Lil Wayne’s Young Money, Birdman’s Cash Money Records, under the parent label of Republic Records/UMG since June 2009. But that did not happen.
It’s no secret that Birdman and Wayne had been in vicious legal battle for past few years, with Wayne claiming Birdman has been holding Tha Carter V hostage from being released and owed him over $40 million in unpaid royalties. That case was recently resolved with strong indication that Wayne was now off Cash Money for good and directly signed with Universal Music.
Although, Drake has always shown his allegiance more to Lil Wayne than Birdman these past couple of years, the latter told Angie Martinez in 2015 that even if Wayne was to leave Cash Money Records, “Nicki and Drake ain’t going nowhere regardless.” It now looks like Drizzy will be leaving the label with his latest album Scorpion marking end of the contract.
On the song ‘Is There More’, Drake raps one interesting bar: “Yeah, soon as this album drop I’m out of the deal / In the house playin’ D’Angelo, ‘How Does It Feel?‘” which is a strong hint that he is very well out of the current label situation following the release of Scorpion.
The exact details of the business deal are not known of course. There could be multiple scenarios:
1. Drake will only be signed with Young Money.
2. He will be signed with Young Money and parent label Republic/UMG.
3. He will be only have a deal with Republic/UMG directly.
4. He will go independent on his own with distribution from Warner Bros. which handles OVO Sound’s artists as well.
5. He will sign with another major label.
We should have an answer on the situation in the next few weeks, maybe even days. Stay tuned.
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