Birdman has cleared up the misconception many thought was a shady move: his launch of Rich Gang in 2014 with Young Thug and Rich Homie Quan, as his fallout with Lil Wayne happened soon after.
Wayne and Thug also fallout around the same time, making the new clique seem a little suspicious. However, the Cash Money mogul claims he actually launched the group as a favor to his longtime protégée.
Birdman appeared on a new episode of Renaissance Man with Jalen Rose that was published on Wednesday (January 24). When Rose insinuated Rich Gang was formed out of a need for the music mogul to reinvent himself, Birdman had a different explanation.
“I never felt that I had to reinvent,” he replied. “I felt that when I went and did the Rich Gang, I watched Wayne work so, so hard and I saw some talent and I was like, ‘I found something, Mulah. I found something where you can kick your feet up.’ Because all he ever wanted to do was make sure I kick my feet up. All he ever wanted to do.”
He continued: “And he rapped about it: ‘Stunna kick your feet up, I got this shit!’ So when I met Thugga, I was like man, this n-gga cold. And I’m thinking [Wayne] wanna relax, but he ain’t tryna relax! This n-gga on a full blown mission. He ain’t giving a fuck about nothing. Anything in his way, he gon’ eat em.
“But that was my whole thing when I met Thug and them and I just saw something special in them. And we did the Rich Gang and we fucked the game up with it.”
Many people felt that Birdman was essentially trying to replace Lil Wayne with Young Thug at the time, and the sentiments heightened when Thug named his 2015 mixtape Carter 6, then changed it to Barter 6.
Wayne didn’t know if he was being trolled or if the Atlanta native was truly paying homage to the legendary Carter series.
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In 2019, Young Thug said he didn’t think Wayne liked him and at the end of 2020 in an interview with the Million Dollaz Worth of Game podcast, he explained how Weezy didn’t even dap him up the first time they met.
“I got that n-gga name tattooed,” Thug said. “This n-gga’s name tattooed, it’s gang. He knew [I was a fan], for sure. I’m honest. I’m just a real person. I don’t know how to be in a room and be fake.”
He continued, “Man that n-gga gotdamn … the first day he didn’t dap me up. Tried me. Now my feet hurt and I’ma real stepper. Left the pimpin’ hanging. One time I dapped him up (and gave me weak dap). I’m like, ‘Hey listen bruh, I’m never touching your hand again.’ Just off of that. I’m a player, I’m a real player and I don’t give no fuck. Nothing about me is a groupie, no nothing! You inspired me.”
Lil Wayne eventually let it be known he understood there was mutual respect between he and Thug when he spoke to Drink Champs in 2020.
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“I looked at it as total respect,” Wayne said of Thug’s Barter 6 title. “When we talk personally, he’s got nothing but respect for me. Before he says one more word to me, he lets me know how much he respects me and is a fan of my shit.”
Wayne and Birdman also went on to mend their years-long rift following a dispute over the release of Tha Carter V in late 2014.
