Listening to Bryan “Baby” Williams speak, you get a sense of a man who is at one with his inner and outer self. And if you’ve ever visited New Orleans, you’ll quickly see that he doesn’t lie when he tells you he is his city. He doesn’t ever get too agitated about any topic, even when it’s obvious he’s passionate about the subject. His laid-back Louisiana drawl, peppered with the signature drawn out “baaaby,” makes everything he talks about just seem cool and unforced. “Even the ease with which he refers to protege Lil Wayne as “his son” and expects everyone to know exactly who he is talking about. But at the same time, take one look at his track record and you know that he is a man about his business.

The more visible of the two brothers behind Cash Money Records, Baby made his major label debut as an artist as one half of the Big Tymers with Manny Fresh in 1997, six years after he had released his first and only independent album, I Need a Bag of Dope. Since then, he has consistently stayed in the limelight, with an uncanny longevity powered by appearances on hit after hit. Still, his success hasn’t come without its fair share of controversy.

The “5-Star Stunna” spoke to AllHipHop.com about what keeps him in the game.

AllHipHop.com: So what are we calling you these days?

Baby: I’m still Stunna, Birdman, whatever you feel. Baby, Bryan, whatever.

AllHipHop.com: We’re gonna call you Bryan today, is that okay?

Baby: That’s cool. Birdman would be even better. Bryan kinda more like… I don’t get to hear that a lot.

AllHipHop.com: Do you miss Bryan?

Baby: Really, I left Bryan about 20 years ago.

AllHipHop.com: Do you have days when you wish you could go back?

Baby: Not really, ‘cause Bryan lost a lot. So I try to keep moving. What I mean by lost [is] how I grew up. Somebody who grew up with me, they’ll know by Bryan. But besides that, I don’t really rock with it like that.

AllHipHop.com: Is there a difference between Birdman and Baby?

Baby: To me the names came with time and what we was doing. I always been Baby, that’s been like my real name. That’s all I ever knew is Baby, that’s what everybody call me. Birdman is just what you see on TV.

AllHipHop.com: So Baby is the evolution of what Bryan used to be?

Baby: Believe that.

AllHipHop.com: You’re about to drop your fourth solo album…

Baby: That’s my fourth one? It feel like more. I come from a group, so I look at all those albums too. It seem like a long time to just be done put four solo albums out.

AllHipHop.com: How is this one different from everything else that you’ve done?

Baby: I think everything we do, we try to grow with it. We wanna show progression and growth. That’s the only way, really, to survive. That’s the main reason why we survive: we show growth, we never dry, we try to be spicy, we try to be creative. With this album, ‘cause we been doing it so much, just tryna be creative, tryna stay above the rim. Growing. Still growing and letting the label grow; and us growing with the experience of life, we bring that to our music.

Birdman f/ Lil Wayne – “Always Strapped”

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AllHipHop.com: When Cash Money first came on the scene, it was almost like adding a chapter to Hip-Hop history. You guys played a big role in bringing Southern Hip-Hop to the mainstream. All these years later, how do you keep the sound fresh?

Baby: Doing new stuff, not trying to do what we done did. We let the “Bling-bling” era go. That’s one thing we had to do. We had to let go what we already accomplished. You know everything you did last year don’t count for what you have to do this year. And our motivation is that we really have a love and a passion for what we do. My son wanna be the best, I wanna be the best at what I do. So, just having them ambitions and feeding our family and loving what we do… We don’t like to be like everybody else, we wanna be us, just in ourselves. And we know music. We been doing it a long time. We try to stay in the club with our music, that’s one thing we do. And just keep upgrading it every chance we get, and bring new talent in.

“We know Youngin’ [Lil Wayne] is a beast, and that’s well accepted. But when you look at it collectively, we doing a lot. If you look at it individually, you missing the whole picture.”

-Baby

AllHipHop.com: How much of a role do the people who work with you on the music play in keeping the sound fresh?

Baby: Nowadays, when people work with us, they bring their best. Back in the days, we used to bring the best out of people. Nowadays, people coming to you with they best and they be having beats for days. Everybody wanna work with you, that feel good. And everybody give you they best. It makes you wanna go that much harder when people feeling what you doing.

AllHipHop.com: Who worked with you on the new album?

Baby: My son Wayne, you know I don’t never work without him. I did a song with Lil’ Mack Maine, Drake. Just the family, I worked with people on our roster.

AllHipHop.com: How about on the production side?

Baby: Some new cats. Mr. Beats, that’s the one that did “Strapped.” I did one with Timbaland, Alchemist, Kevin Rudolph. Just some new people that we feel that’s hot. That’s something we always do.

AllHipHop.com: What do you think is gonna surprise people most when they hear the album?

Baby: Growth. People been following us so long. I don’t think if you progressing people not gonna [notice]. When you hear our music, you always hear better than the last one. That be our whole thing: to do it better every time. Just great music. We keep the foundation as what it is, and we just work around it and try to do better than what we did.

“And my son [Lil Wayne] and ‘em, they keep me youthful. And I don’t look old, you know. So I guess people might think I’m younger than what I am. I feel like I’m younger. I don’t ever feel to be getting old.”

-Baby

AllHipHop.com: When you mentioned the roster, you didn’t make a distinction between Young Money and Cash Money. We know they’re two separate entities, but do you consider them one and the same?

Baby: Of course. [Wayne] is my son. He the president of Cash Money Records, we do everything together.

AllHipHop.com: So who’s actually just on the Cash Money roster these days?

Baby: Of course Wayne, myself. G. Malone, Kevin Rudolph, Jay Sean, Ashley, Two Pistols, Lil’ All Star. A lot of new acts. The whole Young Money roster. We just tryna branch off into not just Hip-Hop. We wanna do crossover music. We growing. That’s the whole process with us. We have room to grow. Jay Sean has the biggest record out right now with Wayne, it’s called “Down.” He from London, he’s a pop act, real big. Kevin Rudolph had a big record out, “Let it Rock,” with him and Wayne. For us it’s just growing, being able to do different things and expand the label. I want Young Money to grow, we growing, and really be the biggest company dominating the industry.

AllHipHop.com: When you decided to expand outside of Hip-Hop, what made you specifically choose those two artists?

Baby: I really liked their talent. And I think for Young Money/Cash Money as a brand, we have to be into different music. That’s why you see Wayne doing records with different types of artists. As a whole, we have the luxury of working with different artists. And I think that’s a big motivation for us because we never worked pop acts and crossover. We only doing it now just as much as we into rap.

AllHipHop.com: What’s the biggest thing you’ve learned so far from navigating that arena?

Baby: I’m learning you have to have a system to work that music. We working with [Universal] Republic on that, and they have a great system. To me, it’s the same as rap, but it’s a different form. If music good, people gon’ tap into it; and that’s what we believe in. I think it’s about having artists who can be around; who got showmanship, not just in the studio. I believe in you still doing it in 10-20 years. And if you got it like that, you could be.

AllHipHop.com: How much longer do you think you have in the game as an artist?

Baby: My son [Lil Wayne] makes it a luxury for me: I can do it until I feel like [stopping].

AllHipHop.com: Have you thought about how much longer it’ll be before you move on to something else?

Baby: I’m just having fun. I mean, I’m always moving to something else. Just ‘cause I do this, doesn’t mean I don’t do that. With me doing the rap thing, I do it ‘cause I love it, I like going on the road. But that’s just one part of the hustle: I do the CEO thing, I do movies, we into everything. For us to grow, Young Money gon’ grow and everything that’s attached to us. And that’s why we doing this. We wanna be the best to ever do it.

Lil Wayne f/ Birdman – “Leather So Soft”

AllHipHop.com: We all know you ain’t 20. You came into the game already a seasoned individual with your life experiences, and now you’ve been in music in the public eye for the last 15 years. Obviously there’s a history behind it and you didn’t start at 12 like Wayne. But for some reason, you don’t get as much flack about your age as some other rappers do. Why do you think that is?

Baby: Maybe ‘cause they really don’t know. And my son [Lil Wayne] and ‘em, they keep me youthful. And I don’t look old, you know. So I guess people might think I’m younger than what I am. I feel like I’m younger. I don’t ever feel to be getting old. I don’t ever wanna feel like I’m old. And I don’t think I’m old. I run with my children. And I been doing it 21 years. I started when I was 18 turning 19.

AllHipHop.com: Coming from that standpoint, as an artist and as someone who could catch some of that criticism, do you feel like there’s an age limit to being an artist?

Baby: Nah. Never that. Look at Jay-Z and Dr. Dre.

AllHipHop.com: Right! But people are getting on Jay constantly these days. He even made the jab at himself. People do look at it, and Hip-Hop culture doesn’t seem to want to see people get older. Do you feel like there’s a time limit on how long you can make a certain type of music even?

Baby: To me, long as you making money in it, it doesn’t matter. If you ain’t making no money, you ain’t doing nothing but talking. If you making money, who could say anything if you’re progressing. To me, money makes sense.

AllHipHop.com: Do you feel like the Young Money brand takes away from what you’re doing on the Cash Money side?

Baby: No indeed baby, we one. I’m so proud of my son and what he doing. We the machine behind the brand. I wanna see it be as big as possible. I want my son to do better than what I did. That’s the plan. That’s why he took over, to do what he doing. The bigger he is, the bigger we is. I’ll never look at it like that. I wouldn’t be a father, I wouldn’t be a business partner, I don’t even think I’d be a man if I wouldn’t accept whatever goes on with my child.

AllHipHop.com: How involved are you in the day-to-day operations when it comes to Young Money?

Baby: We involved with each other day-to-day, every day, ‘cause we partners. Cash Money, we work the records together. We in the studio. That’s just what it do. It’s blood forever.

AllHipHop.com: Across the board, with most of your artists being newer artists, who are you most excited about?

Baby: I’m real excited about all my acts, I ain’t gonna say no one particular act. Some just be hotter than others. I wanna make all my acts, that’s what it’s about. But every act ain’t gonna shine like the others. But if we work together as a family, when one shining, we all shine. That’s how I came in the game, on family. That’s how Imma be in the game. That’s what I thought my son. Family morals, loyalty and love: that goes father than anything.

Birdman F/ Clipse – “What Happened To That Boy”

AllHipHop.com: When you’re album was originally scheduled to come out on August 11, were you still planning on releasing Drake, Wayne and the Young Money album around the same time?

Baby: I thought it would be something I wanted to do, we never did it. It’s a coincidence that all our records popped at the same time, ‘cause some of them been out longer than others, and they just rolled over like that. Honestly [the albums] should be out right now ‘cause the singles are number one. But we wanted to do more than one song on these albums. Young Money new, Drake new. So we wanted to give them as much vision as possible and bring them on a few tours. So everything worked out.

AllHipHop.com: Are the albums gonna be spaced out?

Baby: They’re gonna be about two weeks apart. Except the Young Money and Lil’ Wayne albums, those probably come out the same day.

AllHipHop.com: And do you think there’s enough of a demand to have you guys saturate the market like that? Because we’ve seen other labels, especially those run by an artist, try that method. And they’re marquee artist always outshines the others.

Baby: I never had the same problems as other labels. We going for it. We dropping a house on everything. We know Youngin’ [Lil Wayne] is a beast, and that’s well accepted. But when you look at it collectively, we doing a lot. If you look at it individually, you missing the whole picture. We look at it as a bloodline. When you look at our numbers, look at the whole picture. Look at everything we done accomplished. We building a team.Birdman…The Saga Continues

The viewing for founding Slum Village member Titus “Baatin” Glover is being held this afternoon (1pm-8pm) at Detroit’s New Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church. In the wake of another sudden loss for Detroit’s close knit Hip-Hop community, several of Baatin’s friends spoke to AllHipHop.com about the colorful and eclectic rapper’s memory.

Baatin grew up along with future Slum Village bandmates J Dilla and T3 in the Conant Garden section of Detroit. The trio had an immediate impact on Detroit’s Hip-Hop 90’s community with their underground LP Fantastic Vol. 1. The 1996 offering was a seminal moment for Detroit’s music scene, and would help inspire the next generation of emcees from the region like Black Milk and Guilty Simpson.

“We lost a pioneer of Detroit Hip-Hop,” Simpson told AllHipHop.com “He was one of a kind and will never be duplicated.”

Baatin’s unpredictable and creative rhymes were a staple of Slum Village albums up until his sudden departure before 2004’s Detroit Deli, after struggling to cope with a schizophrenia diagnosis. His death is especially bittersweet for Slum member T3, who just a few weeks ago confirmed that Baatin was back in the group and recording songs for their reunion LP.

“Baatin will be missed. I’m glad we got a chance to work together before he passed,” T3 explained to AllHipHop.com “We lost another Slum soldier, a dear friend and a brother…He touched many lives. We love Baatin, R.I.P.”

Maureen Yancey, who lost her son James “J Dilla” Yancey to lupus in 2006, reflected on Baatin’s legacy.

“[My] deepest sympathy to the family friends and fans of Slum Village on the passing of Baatin,” she stated. “We loved him and his kind heart and spirit he will be forever be in our hearts.”

With Baatin’s funeral set for tomorrow (August 11) at Greater Future Missionary Baptist Church (10766 Morang Drive), Slum Village distributor and Barak Records CEO RJ Rice discussed his history with the group, and what he sees as the future of Slum Village.

AllHipHop.com: So how did you first meet The guys in Slum Village?

RJ Rice: I signed J. Dilla, T3 and Baatin in 1992. They were 17 years-old. We did [Fantastic] Volume 1. And then we did [Fantastic] Volume 2. And then of course JD left the group around 1998.

AllHipHop.com: Why did JD leave the group?

RJ Rice: Odd enough, he got tired of Baatin putting garlic on the bus. Dilla would call me at night when he was touring with a Tribe Called Quest. He said “man I am tired. Baatin, just keeps putting this garlic on the bus and I am tired of smelling this stuff.” There was a lot of fun kid stuff they would do. And then JD felt like he wanted to make more harder music. And JD never really wanted to be in a group. But he wanted to help his two friends, T3 and Baatin.

AllHipHop.com: How far do J. Dilla, T3 and Baatin go back?

RJ Rice: They go back to high school. They came to me in 1992 after we opened a record company and studio. They came to me and said they had this group they wanted me to check out. I heard the music and if you can imagine, Baatin is not there. It’s just JD and T3. And they are sitting across from my desk and I am saying “I like the music, let’s sign yall.” And they are whispering. So I asked “what are yall whispering about?” Then JD said you tell him. So T3 said “there is one more guy that’s missing.” I said “Do we need him?” He said “It’s Titus, Baatin. He’s not on the records, but we need him to get to the next level we want to get to.”

AllHipHop.com: Why was Baatin so important to the group if he wasn’t on the records?

RJ Rice: Well we had been meeting a week and I hadn’t seen him yet. When we finally met, I realized why they needed him. He’s a voice, he does characters, he sings, raps and takes the group left of center. So we record the group and all of sudden we finish Volume 1 and 2. Fast forward about 5 or 6 years. We finally get these guys going, then JD leaves. I put Elhzi in the group. That’s when Baatin started dabbling in the drugs. I knew he was.

AllHipHop.com: What was the made you notice he might be doing hardcore drugs?

RJ Rice: Because Baatin would always come to me by himself. He started to exaggerate. He would say ‘J I seen a dog 49 feet tall’, but that was sort of his personality. He did that before the drugs, but now it was more intensified and his emotions were more intensified. Baatin always kept it fun, but now for some reason was intense.

AllHipHop.com: What were some of the things that aggravated the group?

RJ Rice: The drugs were nerve racking to Dilla, but not to the point that that wanted to make him leave. He got the group to where they needed to be and he wanted to move on. We said JD go ahead and move on. We came with T########### and from there we had Selfish and we were very successful. That’s when Baatin’s behavior really started wearing and tearing on the guys.

AllHipHop.com: So the reports he suffered from schizophrenia. Was that true or was it the drugs?

RJ Rice: I think he was schizophrenic, but it the drugs that exasperated it.

AllHipHop.com: Was he doing more than crack?

RJ Rice: No one never knew and Baatin called me and this is the part about it that got me. Baatin is an original. They been with me since 1992. You gonna fall in love with people like him, no matter what they do, you can’t help it. Even though we had issues, they never left, because we took care of Slum Village. For years, before the records did anything. We made sure their bills were paid and they never missed a meal for years. Everybody is so stressed because of this issue with Baatin. So then came the decision for Baatin to leave the group. It was mutual, he did not want to hinder the group.

AllHipHop.com: So when he left the group, what was his plan?

RJ Rice: He didn’t have one. My goal was to bring the group back together with J Dilla, Baatin, Elhzi and T3. I had spoken to JD and he agreed to do it. Of course JD got sick and died.

AllHipHop.com: How did Dilla’s death affect Baatin? It wasn’t a wake up call for what he was doing to himself?

RJ Rice: Well they still went in and made great records and they still managed to have hits, despite all of this. And these guys have been friend since 12, 13 years old. When I met them they were 17. When JD died it not only shattered Baatin, but it shattered Proof. All these guys came up through the studio. Proof, JD, we knew them all since 15. Proof said he thought it was him that was gonna die. He told me that out of his own mouth. Then he died. So when Baatin called me in 08, Baatin was standing in front of Slum show and couldn’t get in. He ended up getting arrested for disorderly conduct.

AllHipHop.com: How did it impact Slum Village? That’s so much extra drama when they are trying to focus on a recording career, which is already hard enough.

RJ Rice: No one knew how to deal with it. So I said “we got to put him [back] in the group.” But we knew he wasn’t ready. But I couldn’t take seeing him outside of shows, standing in front of a building, where a group he founded was performing. But he gets arrested cause he has issues. I couldn’t take it, so we put him back in the group.

AllHipHop.com: What was he doing in the mean time. Odd jobs? How did he make money?

RJ Rice: Well we would see him and he would tell us he was off the drugs. And there would be times we could tell. And we wanted to give him money, but if we gave him money we would be adding to the fire. If we didn’t we would see our friend and family member walking homeless.

AllHipHop.com: Yeah it’s tough when a family member is addicted. Sometimes the tough love just isn’t the answer.

RJ Rice: Right, and meanwhile, we did our best. Each one of them had nice cars, nice apartments. We would buy Baatin a car, and he would give it away.

AllHipHop.com: Did he give it away out of the habit?

RJ Rice: Nah there wasn’t that much of a difference between his personality and his habit. Baatin was a guy who did cleansing, ate his herbs, but the drugs made him turn from all that.

AllHipHop.com: Well, how did he get turned on to something as hard as smoking crack? That’s almost as extreme as it gets.

RJ Rice: Well I had suspicions, but I denied it. Some people sit back and say they are concerned about artists. But this is different. We found these kids at 17 and now they are 35. None of them left Barak Records. So you kind of go into denial. My focus was to get their career going, get them money, so they could achieve their success. I never viewed my position as a person who had to keep them from doing certain things. And when I met them, none of them smoked, drank or did anything and it stayed like that for 6 years. The success changed it.

AllHipHop.com: Why do you blame the success?

RJ Rice: JD became so successful. They were never impressed with stars. JD became successful so “stars” were around, but they didn’t care about that. Sometimes success comes through the back door and catches you off guard. I think during the 5 years that Baatin left the group, we were miserable. Here’s a guy who made me what I am and he can’t be in the group, because of these issues.

AllHipHop.com: Well why didn’t he go to rehab or did he make any attempts to get better? Almost nobody just stops doing crack.

RJ Rice: Well he appeared to be doing much better. He called me and asked me to listen to music last summer. He played me some music and it sounded like Vol. 1. And that’s when I realized why T3 and JD said they couldn’t have the group without Baatin. I never knew what they meant, until I heard his actual music. It’s just like Slum Village, authentic. This is the best album and performance that you will ever hear from Baatin. The Slum Village album is finished and ready. We were gonna drop The Slum album, then Big Pooh and then a double album from Baatin and T3.

AllHipHop.com: What were you doing when you found out he passed away?

RJ Rice: Well I had just sat with T3 the day before, going over the marketing plans for Slum Village. But 90% of our convo was about Baatin. The night he died he was so excited to be back in Slum. I told him, don’t worry and just hang in there, we will get through this. And Baatin said ‘I was happy you gave me the chance.’ Now that turned my stomach, because he thought I was giving him the chance, when didn’t realize nothing would exist without his contribution. I had to constantly remind him.

AllHipHop.com: So with his passing, how is this affecting his family. Did he have any children?

RJ Rice: He had two children by two mothers and they both were close to Baatin. We knew his mother and father for 17 years. It’s a lot of stress on his mother. Same with J. Dilla’s. I heard that she might be homeless soon and she also suffers from Lupus.

AllHipHop.com: What are you going to do to help them?

RJ Rice: Well we are going to hire an independent CPA to track the sales of Villa Manifesto so that money can get to Baatin’s family and the appropriate parties. It’s not going to be stopped and we are not going to pull a bunch of “I.O.U.s’ as the record label. We are going to start the clock at zero. Mrs. Maureen Yancey [J. Dilla’s mother] raised all three of the group members. Jay Dee was an instrumental figure and founder of Slum Village. We don’t want to see Mrs. Yancey struggling, so we are going to do the same for her. She is having real tough times right now. And we are going to try and develop some investments so that these woman can have some residual income, so we don’t have to go down this path again. We started this thing 17 years ago. And now that people have died and moved on these people have families and they hope that thing could have taken care of them as well too. They dedicated their lives for them to be who they were. Please do not bootleg the upcoming Villa Manifesto album. I know that this would be a relief on those two of the founding members that were part of Slum to at least know something is going to happen. Who would want to see their mothers in need?