Cash Money Records

Cash Money Records is an American record label founded in 1991 by brothers and record executives Ronald "Slim" Williams and Bryan "Baby" Williams. The label gained prominence in the late 1990s for having signed and released albums for New Orleans–based musical acts including Lil Wayne, Juvenile, B.G., and Hot Boys. It became an imprint of Universal Records, a division of Universal Music Group in March 1998, and remained so during its following iterations as Universal Republic, Universal Motown and ultimately Republic Records.

In the late 2000s, Cash Money signed and released projects for a number of prominent hip hop artists, including Drake and Nicki Minaj. Wayne launched Young Money Entertainment in 2005, which operated as an imprint of the label and Republic Records until 2018—a joint venture colloquially branded as Young Money Cash Money Billionaires (abbreviated as YMCMB). The label has been commonly regarded as among the most successful urban contemporary music labels of the 2000s to 2010s.

The label has released a total of 12 number one albums on the Billboard 200, and seven number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart: Juvenile's "Slow Motion", Lil Wayne's "Lollipop", Jay Sean's "Down", and Drake's "One Dance", "God's Plan", "Nice for What", and "In My Feelings".

The label's name alludes to the Cash Money Brothers, drug kingpin Nino Brown's gang from the 1991 crime film New Jack City.

Bryan Williams, also known as Birdman, told some of his close friends the motivation for starting the label:

I was hoping it would get us out of the projects and into a positive way of life. And we wanted to help other people get out of this poverty...

Cash Money's first artist, New Orleans–based rapper Kilo G, issued his debut album, The Sleepwalker, in 1992 as the label's first release. The label then signed the hip hop group U.N.L.V., composed of rappers Lil Ya, Tec 9 and Yella Boy. They released the projects 6th & Baronne (1993), Mac Melph Calio (1995), and Uptown 4 Life (1996) under the label. They were some of the original bounce rappers that help create a sound in New Orleans, along with the label's following releases. Kilo G's second and final album, The Bloody City (1995), was the label's first project to be produced entirely by Mannie Fresh, who would do so on most of the label's following releases. Kilo G was murdered in 1997. From 1993 to 1995, the label signed several other hip hop artists in the New Orleans area, including B.G., Lil Wayne, and Juvenile, each of whom already had buzz in the streets.

By this time, Turk and another local rapper by the name of Bulletproof (a.k.a. Lil Derrick; born Derrick Williams, Birdman's nephew) joined the roster. In May 1997, Birdman organized the rap group Hot Boys, which at the time included Juvenile, Turk, B.G. and Bulletproof. Lil Wayne later joined the group, shortly after the death of his father. Bulletproof was voted out the group before recording any major releases, according to Turk. Bulletproof, who referred to himself as the #2 Stunna, was later killed in 2002.