 
|
|
|
Page 1
|
|
|
An afterparty is foiled and a stage set is (almost) destroyed. ...
|
|
|
Page 2
|
|
|
Clowning with Lil' Wayne, Baby takes on Nelly in PS2 and a meeting with 'the Old
Tymers'? ...
|
|
|
Page 3
|
|
|
"Baby's biggest pleasure, endless nights and Cash Money survive a near-miss. ...
|
|
|
Photo Galleries
|
|
|
Cash Money: On Stage & Behind The Scenes
|
|
|
|
Browse Bands by Name
|
|
Or enter a band name below to search:
|
 Bands Main
|
|
|
|
|
|
-- Shaheem Reid
"Cash Money is a Army — better yet, a Navy."
OK, maybe comparing the crew to the armed forces — as former clique member B.G. once did — is a bit of an exaggeration, but the crew does run deep. And while they're not running scared from Connecticut hotspot the Pyramid on this October night, they're not wasting any time leaving, either. The second brawl in less than an hour has erupted, and it's clearly time to go. With their own afterparty ruined by rowdy locals, the Cash Money Records members — minus Baby, who has ridden two and half hours back to New York to master his album, The Birdman — are forced to find entertainment at their hotel.
"That's how it be sometimes," says longtime Cash Money superproducer Mannie Fresh, riding in one of two vans that are transporting the musical familia back to their lodgings. Fortunately, when they jaunt from state to state, they have much more comfortable means of transportation — five tour buses. At least seven people ride on each, with names that range from Joe, Greg and Christina to Gillie the Kid, Mikkey and Boo and Gotti. The drug of choice on most of the rolling homes is PlayStation 2's "Madden 2003." The most common outfit is jeans, a fresh pair of kicks and a white T over a tank top. An athletic jersey, throwback or current, over that is optional.
"My barbershop is in my hotel room," Cash Money singer TQ explains about staying fresh and clean on the road. "I do my sh-- myself. I have to. I got a big ass bag of dirty clothes I need to hook up. Them some questions I can't really answer right now. You get it how you live. A lot of times you gotta throw sh-- away and buy new sh--. That just irks me."
One of the cardinal rules is not to ruffle the feathers of the Birdman or his big brother, especially when they're giving directions.
"If you're f---ing around, if you're bullsh--tin', we pullin' your song," Cash Money co-CEO Ronald "Slim" Williams warned his crew in his laid-back New Orleans drawl as they were gathered onstage at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in Virginia Beach a few days prior. It was a little after 10 a.m., and Cash Money were rehearsing for the Nellyville tour just hours before it would commence, with Nelly and the St. Lunatics, Fabolous and Amerie sharing the bill.
"This is important to us. This is what we made our name on," Slim continued. He owns and runs the label with his just-as-easygoing — but younger and way more flamboyant — brother, Bryan "Baby" Williams, the #1 Stunna. Or, as he's calling himself on his solo debut, The Birdman.
While Slim was dropping jewels on the troops, Baby, Lil' Wayne (the last of the remaining Hot Boys), Mannie Fresh (who is also Baby's Big Tymers partner) and R&B singer TQ were onstage going over how they would segue into Wayne's "Way of Life." The plan was to have TQ sing a cappella behind the stage and walk on, but he needed some sort of intro.
"How y'all wanna do this?" Baby asked.
"Fresh gonna say something," Slim responded.
"We gonna say, 'Where that dude from California with that soft-ass voice?' " Wayne interjected, joking on his friend.
The jesting stopped when an FX engineer insisted that everyone step off the stage. There were a few bugs left in the pyrotechnics, apparently, as flames were burning in the back of the set like a disco inferno.
"See what I'm talking 'bout, you can't be bullsh--tin'?" Slim asked. "That fire get you, you're in trouble."
"You get in that fire and be like, 'Aaaggghhh! Aaaggghhh!' " Baby chimed in, laughing and exposing a mouth full of platinum teeth.
"That n---a is acting like he's working the [George] Foreman grill," Mannie Fresh interjected, provoking laughter from the camp as the FX engineer continued testing the pyro.
That night, the fans dancing and singing along with "Still Fly" and "Project Chick" during the kickoff show didn't detect any mishaps. The Cash Money Millionaires, however, weren't satisfied.
|
|
|
|
Photo: Jeff Moore
|
|
|
|
|
