Birdman is an American rapper, record producer, CEO and entrepreneur with a net worth of $100 million. Birdman, also known as Bryan “Baby” Williams, is the CEO and founder of Cash Money Records, which he founded in 1991 with his brother Ronald “Slim” Williams. Cash Money Records is not only a music artist itself, but also represents well-known artists such as Lil Wayne, Drake, Nicki Minaj and Blueface.
Bryan Christopher Brooks was born on February 15, 1969 in New Orleans, Louisiana. It took his parents, Johnnie Williams and Gladys Brooks, almost a month to baptize him. Williams did not sign the birth certificate, so Bryan took his mother’s last name. He has three siblings – Kim, Ronald and Ray. Birdman and his family lived in an apartment above the bar that belonged to his father. In 1975, when Birdman was five years old, his mother became ill and died. After Gladys’ death, Birdman and his siblings lived with their uncle in British Columbia, Canada for several years.
2 years ago, the Brooks children spent two years in foster care when they moved back to New Orleans. His father filed a lawsuit to gain custody of his children after learning they had been placed in foster care. Birdman moved into his father’s house with his stepmother Patricia and father Johnnie after a lengthy legal battle in the 1970s. Williams was his new last name at this time. New Orleans’ Magnolia Projects was the home of Birdman’s father and stepmother. The Birdmans lived there with their stepbrother Eldrick Wise. During their robbery and heroin sale, the two teenagers committed a series of crimes. A 16-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy were arrested. Both Birdman and Wise were sentenced to three years in prison when they were 18 years old. All charges against Williams were dropped after he served 18 months.
After Birdman was released from prison, he and his brother Ronald “Slim” Williams became aware of the emerging bounce subgenre of hip hop, which was popular in New Orleans nightclubs at the time. The brothers founded their own record label, Cash Money Records, and traveled throughout Louisiana performing at various nightclubs and finding artists they wanted to sign to their new label. The very first artist they signed was a rapper named Kilo G. His horrorcore album The Sleepwalker was Cash Money’s first project in 1992. Birdman and Slim continued to look for new artists to sign. Eventually, Birdman convinced his friend, DJ Mannie Fresh, to become Cash Money’s house producer.
Cash Money became one of the most popular independent record labels in the South by the mid-1990s. In 1995, Birdman met Dwayne Carter, a 12-year-old local rapper. Birdman signed Carter to Cash Money. You may know him better as Lil’ Wayne. Despite its regional success, Cash Money suffered a series of setbacks: Kilo G, Pimp Daddy and Yella – all Cash Money artists – were murdered in the 1990s. Desperate for success, Birdman and his brother recruited Slim Turk and Juvenile to form a new band, The Hot Boys, with Lil Wayne and BG. This proved to be Cash Money’s ticket and the label signed a $30 million deal with Universal Records in 1998. That same year, Birdman entered the rap business and formed a group called Big Tymers with DJ Mannie Fresh. They released their debut album How Ya Luv That? in 1998. came out and followed up with I Got That Work and Hood Rich. BG and Juvenile left Cash Money at some point during this time, forcing Birdman to turn to his solo work. In November 2002, Birdman released his major label debut, which he simply called Birdman. The album peaked at number 24 on the Billboard 200.
In 2004, Lil’ Wayne released the album Tha Carter, which was both critically and commercially successful. Lil’ Wayne was Cash Money’s biggest artist. In 2005, Birdman released his second album Fast Money. It peaked at number nine on the Billboard 200 upon its debut. Like Father, Like Son, Lil Wayne and Birdman’s first collaborative album, was released on Halloween 2006. The album peaked at number three on the Billboard 200.
Cash Money Records is the most commercially successful label in the history of hip-hop music, having sold 50 million records. At the peak of his career, Cash Money Records was making $100 million a year. The distribution deal Cash Money signed with Universal Music in 1998 earned the company at least $30 million before a single record was even produced. But the boldest move of all was Cash Money negotiating a deal with Universal that allowed them to own their masters – a deal that not even the Beatles ever had! Instead of getting a few pennies for each record sold, the company receives several dollars of the profits made per unit.
In early 2010, Birdman founded an oil and energy company with his brother under the name “Bronald Oil”. “Bronald” is a combination of his name, Bryan, and his brother’s name, Ronald. Their plans called for the exploration and development of oil reserves on the US Gulf Coast and in Oklahoma’s Osage County. It is unclear whether this venture was ever successful or whether oil was actually found.
In November 2007, Birdman was arrested in Tennessee and found in possession of nearly a pound of marijuana.
In 2009, Birdman, Lil Wayne and Cash Money Records were sued for copyright infringement by Thomas Marasciullo, who claimed his voice was used without permission. The two rappers asked him in 2006 to record some “Italian-tinged spoken word recordings”. The lyrics were reportedly used for tracks from the collaborative album Like Father, Like Son and Birdman’s 5* Stunna.
Birdman’s mother died in 1975 after an illness. His stepbrother Eldrick Wise was killed in an unsolved murder in 1991. His father died in a car accident in 1996. One of Birdman’s younger sisters, Tamara, died in a car accident in 2006.
Birdman has ten siblings.
Birdman has 10 brothers and 12 sisters.
Birdman has two biological children, Bryan Jr. (born 1997) and Bria (born 1998).
At the height of his career, Birdman claimed that he was buying 100 new cars every six months and giving away the “old” ones to friends and family. He is often seen wearing millions of dollars worth of jewelry, including a 15-carat black diamond ring and matching earrings and a $500,000 dental grille.
During Hurricane Katrina, Birdman lost 20 homes and 50 cars, including two Maybachs and four Ferraris.
By the age of 22, Birdman had already amassed a net worth of $40 million.
Birdman has been sued by several current and former artists for failing to pay royalties.
At the height of his fortune, Birdman owned a $30 million condo in Miami, as well as at least two other properties in Miami (one of them a recording studio) and a large mansion in New Orleans. Today his real estate portfolio is significantly smaller.
For many years, Birdman’s main home was a large mansion on Palm Island in Miami. The villa has an interesting history. Hip-hop producer Scott Storch paid $10.5 million for it in 2006, only to lose it in foreclosure a few years later after blowing through a fortune that peaked at $70 million. Entrepreneur Russell Weiner, who made his billion-dollar fortune as the founder of Rockstar Energy Drinks, bought the house out of foreclosure from a bank in 2010 for $6.7 million. Just two years later, Russ sold the house to Birdman for $14.5 million.
In January 2018, a bank threatened to evict Birdman from the 20,000-square-foot waterfront mansion. Birdman immediately tried to sell the house for the hefty price of $20 million, but found no takers. He lowered the price to $16.9 million, then to $15 million, and finally accepted $10.9 million in November 2019.
In December 2021, a Los Angeles homeowner sued Birdman for $114,000 in back rent on a Bel-Air mansion. According to court documents, Birdman had allegedly agreed to pay $33,000 a month in rent for the mansion, but at some point stopped making payments.
| Assets: | $100 million |
| Birth date: | Feb 15, 1969 (52 years old) |
| Gender: | Masculine |
| Size: | 5ft 10in (1.8m) |
| Profession: | Entrepreneur, record producer, rapper, musician |
| Nationality: | United States of America |
US RAPPER BIRDMAN IS SELLING HIS PROPERTY IN FLORIDA
US rapper Birdman has sold his property on Palm Island in Florida for 10.85 million US dollars (around 9.2 million euros). The artificial island of Palm Island is part of Miami Beach and is known for its exclusive properties in prime waterfront locations. Real estate consultant Lourdes Alatriste from Engel & Völkers Miami Coconut Grove brokered the property: “We currently live in a time where space is a real luxury – and this property has a living space of over 1,800 square meters. Palm Island is the epitome of the Miami Beach lifestyle and also offers 24-hour security by the City of Miami Beach Police. This is an important criterion for current and future residents.”
The marketed property has seven bedrooms, twelve bathrooms, two pools, a cinema, two wine cellars, an onyx bar, a volleyball court and a dock that can accommodate a 10-meter-long yacht . Birdman is not the first known owner of the property. The rapper bought it in 2016 from Russell Weiner, inventor of the energy drink “Rockstar,” and then had his new home extensively renovated.
Palm Island has always attracted famous people. The notorious criminal Al Capone spent his last days here before he died in 1947. Gabrielle Anwar, Ana Gabriel, Rajat Gupta, Nick Nolte and Barbara Walters have also been noted residents.
About Birdman
Bryan “Birdman” Williams is an American rapper and CEO of Cash Money Records. According to Forbes, he had a net worth of $110 million in 2017 and was the fourth richest hip-hop artist in the world at the time. He has several chart successes to his name, including “Get That Money,” which he sang with rapper Lil Wayne.