Lil Wayne Building Monumental Roster with Young Money Artists

Lil Wayne often gets a lot of publicity, whether it is praise or criticism, for his rapping but rarely do you see anyone talking about his position as President of Young Money or his activities since stepping down as president. In 2007, Lil Wayne officially founded the Young Money Label, an imprint of Cash Money, the label he is signed to. He was the President of Young Money from 2007 until 2009, when he stepped down and currently his label mate Mack Maine is serving as acting President. While President he made a lot of moves and is responsible for the majority of the Young Money roster.

As of right now, Young Money consists of Lil Wayne, Jae Millz, Gudda Gudda, Mack Maine, Lil Chuckee, Lil Twist, Tyga, Nikki Minaj, Shannell, T Streets and recent additions Drake and Bow Wow. Lil Wayne was also responsible for the addition of Freeway, Lil Scrappy, Bobby Valentino, Jay Sean, 2 Pistols, Kevin Rudolph, Glasses Malone, Allstar and Dunk Ryder's absorption into Cash Money as well. It is an impressive roster to say the least and is actually exceptionally balanced and methodically structured. For instance, Freeway, Lil scrappy, Lil Wayne, and Bow Wow are all very established rappers in the game who have established track records, millions of longtime fans, and top selling albums. They are more or less the veterans in the group and will be able to offer a lot of assistance to the younger newcomers on the label. Outside of those individuals you have rappers Drake, Tyga, Glasses Malone, Allstar, and the group Dunk Ryders, all of which are relative newcomers to the game but all of which have impressive talent and growing fan bases.

So far we have the group of established veterans as well as the group of relative newcomers. Another group, yet much smaller is the group of "young rappers". This refers to Lil Chuckee and Lil Twist, both barely teenagers. This might seem like a risk for the label but fits in perfectly with the scheme of things when realized that Brian "Baby" Williams signed Lil Wayne when he was only 12. Therefore, Cash Money has an established track record for "growing" artists to their full potential from adolescence through adulthood. Add to that the recent addition of Bow Wow and now Lil Chuckee and Lil Twist have in Lil Wayne and Bow Wow, two rappers who successfully navigated the rap world from childhood, as mentors. Alongside the "veterans", "newcomers" and "childhood rappers", exists a few other sub groups including the females, the singers, and the crossovers. The females in Young Money include Nikki Minaj, who is a rapper as well as Shantrell, who is an R&B singer. The other "singers" include Jay Sean, Bobby Valentino, and 2 Pistols. Kevin Rudolph is a singer as well but has more of a cross over appeal as he is more of a rocker. On top of all of those groups there is one more, the "freestylers". This group consists of the people most known for their mixtapes and freestyles with Lil Wayne such as Jae Millz, Gudda Gudda, Mack Maine, and T Streets, with all but Jae Millz being a member of Lil Wayne's former group "SQAD Up".

Now to put all of that in perspective, Young Money/ Cash Money has within its ranks veteran rappers with established fan bases, relative newcomers with growing fan bases, adolescent rappers who appeal to the younger demographics, female rappers and singers, R&B singers, freestyle rappers, as well as cross over artists. Add to that the fact that the rappers are from every part of the country from New York (Jae Millz), Florida (Dunk Ryders), California (Tyga and Glasses Malone), the Midwest (Bow Wow), the South ( Lil Wayne, Lil Scrappy, Allstar, etc...) and two other countries Britain (Jay Sean) and Canada (Drake). It seems like Lil Wayne has put together a label of epic proportions and great success in its future. He has every region and demographic covered.

Credit has to be given to Lil Wayne for what he has created- a hit factory. His artists cover a very broad spectrum and appeal to nearly every demographic. If Wayne only were to sign a Country singer, he would literally have a label with artists who appeal to everyone. It is amazing that very few people have realized that Lil Wayne has positioned his labels for complete domination of the rap industry. When you look at the roster of artists he has gathered, one can't help but to see imminent success for his label as he more or less has in his possession a music variety pack- if you are looking to buy, he is selling. I look forward to watching the success of his label and its' artists as I truly believe that he has assembled the consummate rap label.