Producer Jake One Shares an Odd Story on How Birdman Paid Him

The producer told Big Wos why getting paid by Birdman gave him pause.

October 26, 2017

Sports journalist, podcast host, and all-around personality Big Wos had producer Jake One as a guest on the latest episode of his new podcast Wos Speaks.

Jake, who has made beats for Drake, 50 Cent, De La Soul, MF DOOM, Future, Freeway, and basically everyone else, shared an amusing anecdote that gives some insight into Cash Money Records' often-controversial business practices.

At the 41-minute mark of the interview, which you can hear in its entirety below, Jake reminisces on doing some beats for Birdman in his "early days" as a producer. He, unlike some other producers, actually got paid. But it's how he got paid that's notable. Baby gave Jake... a handwritten check.

"So that must be how infrequently he pays people," the producer said. "That he’s writing handwritten checks to producers. That blew me away. Umm, just not a good sign."

"They don't have an official way to pay out invoices?" Wos asked, incredulously. And he has a point. For a label that has been around since 1991, and has been in partnership with a multi-national corporation since 1998, not to have an invoicing system is mind-blowing.

"I remember that shit was hand-written," Jake continued. "I mean, just think of how many releases they’ve had and how many records they’ve sold."

However weird the situation, both guest and host were not above giving props to Birdman.

"He might be the best A&R in rap history... Nobody can really argue with the legacy," Jake said, not unreasonably. "Cash Money's the first time people up north thought Southerners were cool as fuck," Wos agreed.