Birdman’s Net Worth
Bryan “Baby” Williams or simply Birdman is a famous American rapper, entrepreneur, CEO, and record executive. Actually, in 1991, he founded Cash Money Records together with his brother Ronald “Slim” Williams.
What is Birdman’s net worth?
At the time this article is written the rapper Birdman has a net worth of $150 million.
Earnings highlights
Birdman amassed a net worth of $40 million by the time he was only 22 years old.
Below you will find Birdman’s earnings during 2007 – 2019.
- 2007: $12 million
- 2008: $10 million
- 2009: $9 million
- 2010: $10 million
- 2011: $15 million
- 2012: $20 million
- 2013: $21 million
- 2014: $24 million
- 2015: $18 million
- 2016: $18 million
- 2017: $20 million
- 2018: $20 million
- 2019: $20 million
Total earnings: $217 million
Childhood and teenage years
Birdman by his full name Bryan Christopher Brooks was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on February 15, 1969. His parents needed around one month to name him as his father didn’t sign the birth certificate. So, Bryan used his mother’s last name, Brooks. Bryan has three other siblings, Ryan, Ronald, and Kim. They lived in an apartment above the bar their father, Williams, owned.
When Birdman was only five years old his mother, Glady, got sick and died. After this unfortunate event, Birdman and his siblings lived a few years in British Columbia, Canada with their uncle. Once returned to New Orleans they lived in a foster center for two years. But their father launched a lawsuit to get custody of his children. In the 1970s after a long legal battle, Birdman moved with his father and stepmother into the Magnolia Projects, New Orleans. By this time Birdman had changed his last name to Williams.
You might also like our articles on the net worth of Rick Ross, Lil Baby, and Kodak Black.
As a teenager, Birdman had some problems with the law and spend 18 months in a correctional center.
Cash Money Records
In 1991 Birdman and his brother Ronald “Slim” Williams founded their own record label, Cash Money Records. None of them had any experience working in the music industry or running a record label. However, they had around $100,000 in startup capital.
The name of this company was inspired by the movie “New Jack City”. In the movie, Wesley Snipes plays the role of a rich New York City gangster who runs a crew named “Cash Money Brothers”.
The two brothers started to travel around Louisiana to catch acts at different nightclubs and to find artists to sign with their record label. The first artist who signed with Cash Money Records was Kilo G. Cash Money’s first project was Kilo’s 1992 album “The Sleepwalker”. Birdman succeeded to convince his friend, DJ Mannie Fresh to be Cash Money’s in-house producer.
In the middle 1990s, Cash Money Records become one of the most popular independent record labels in the South. In 1995 Birdman signed with the 12-year-old rapper Dwayne Carter, who now is known as Lil’ Wayne.
Even though Cash Money was very successful in the South, it had some problems. For instance, in the 1990s Yella, Pimp Daddy, and Kilo G, all Cash Money artists, lost their lives. Birdman and his brother were so desperate for success, that they recruited Juvenile and Turk to create a new band named Hot Boys, which soon also featured B.G. and Lil Wayne.
Between 1994 and 1997 Cash Money Records signed with dozens of artists. Their albums sold 25,000 to 50,000 copies. For instance, Hot Boy’s debut album sold 300,000 copies in only two months.
Universal Records Agreement
Thanks to its popularity, in 1998 Cash Money Records was pursued by several record companies for a straight-out purchase or for some kind of partnership.
The timing was perfect for this company as Universal Music and Sony were aggressively fighting for market share. Cash Money decided to sign a $30 million deal with Universal Music Group. According to this contract, Birdman and Ronald received $3 million upfront and were guaranteed $1.5 million per album.
For this deal, Universal Music received only a 7% fee for distributing Cash Money singles and albums, but they did not receive any ownership in the label. But with the rise of artists such as Drake, Nicki Minaj, and Lil Wayne, Universal Music would soon reach a value of more than twice its two most important competitors together.
Success
In 1998 Birdman formed a group with DJ Mannie Fresh named Big Tymers and got into the rapping game. That year they released their debut album “How Ya Luv That?” and after that followed “Hood Rich” and “Got That Work”.
Birdman was forced to return to his solo work after Juvenile and B.G. departed Cash Money. So, in 2002 Birdman released his debut album, named “Birdman”, which peaked on the Billboard 200 at #24.
In 2004 Cash Money’s biggest artist, Lil’ Wayne released the album “Tha Carter” which was very successful.
In 2005 Birdman released his second album called “Fats Money” and in 2006 released his first collaborative album with Lil Wayne, called “Like Father, Like Son”. This album peaked at number 3 on the Billboard 200.
At its peak, Cash Money made $100 million per year in revenue. This company is the most commercially successful label in the hip-hop music industry with 50 million records sold.
In 2010, Birdman and his brother launched an energy and oil venture called “Bornald Oil”, with the aim to explore and develop oil resources in Oklahoma Osage County and U.S. Gulf Coast. It is not clear if this business actually discovered oil or became successful.
Real estate
When he was very successful, Birdman owned a condo in Miami worth $30 million, plus two other properties. Also, he had a large mansion in New Orleans.
In 2012 Birdman bought a mansion on Palm Island in Miami for $14.5 million. However, in 2019 he sold the house for only $10.9 million.
Personal life
Birdman has twelve sisters and ten brothers.
His mother lost her life in 1975 due to an illness and his father in 1996 because of a car accident.
Birdman has two biological children, Bria born in 1998, and Bryan Jr. born in 1997.
Birdman lost 50 cars, including four Ferraris and two Maybachs, and 20 houses during Hurricane Katrina.
In 2011, the only Maybach Exelero was bought by the American rapper Birdman for the sum of $8 million. The star also owns a Maybach Landaulet and a Bugatti Veyron.
The Maybach Exelero was designed in 2005 together with tire manufacturer Fulda for promotional purposes. The coupe model has a 5.6-liter V12 bi-turbo engine capable of delivering 700 horsepower at 5,000 rpm and a torque of 1,020 Nm at 2,500 rpm.
With a total mass of 2.93 tons, the Exelero can accelerate from 0 to 62 miles/h in 4.4 seconds and can reach a maximum speed of 205 miles/h.
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