S. Samuel
Def Jam Senior VP of A&R/G-Unit producer Sha Money XL recently talked about the insignificance of an industry title and the importance of the power of a dollar.
Thinking back to his G-Unit executive days, Sha said he is now primarily focused on making money and finding new Def Jam talent.
“F*ck a title, I was president of G-Unit,” Sha said in an interview. “What that mean? I want the money, f*ck the title, man. Give me the f*cking money, man. Y’all all got that power tripping sh*t, ‘You head of this,’ that does’t mean nothing. I want the money. Money is all I want. That power title sh*t? You can be the president of me, it don’t mean you’re iller than me? I’m in the field. [I’m] the last motherf*cker you’ve seen that don’t rap stood behind records that sold 15 million. I don’t rap, I bet on winners. I want more winners.” (Who Iz He)
Earlier this year, G-Unit’s Tony Yayo revealed his dismay after learning of Sha Money’s willingness to collaborate with 50 Cent nemesis Game.
“I heard Sha Money [XL] say he’ll work with Game,” Yayo explained in an interview. “After all the money the n*gga’s done f*cked up, you’re going to work with this guy? But I’m a real n*gga, see, my thing is loyalty and being honest and being real. My whole situation with Game and [Young] Buck — it’s more me being mad, like ‘Why f*ck up the money?’ If we’re all in the business — why would y’all f*ck up the money? It just don’t make sense. Game, I talked to this n*gga on the phone. His album dropped , like ‘Yo, congratulations’…we were like the motherf*cking Beatles…Sha Money’s my n*gga, but why even work with somebody that says, ‘F*ck G-Unit,’ after what we just built? Why build up a brand to destroy it?” (This Is 50 Radio)
A couple months prior, Sha discussed his feelings toward Game and why the West Coast emcee needed support from the Unit.
“Game is cool, I think he just needs me,” Sha said in an interview with radio host EI8HT. “I gave him ‘Hate It Or Love It,’ I gave him that record. He needs 50 [Cent], he needs us, he needs a Unit. And you see he tried to make a play to get back to us. I hand delivered that record, ‘Hate It Or Love It,’ so he just needs that banger and he’ll be all right. He can rap but he needs to stop shouting out so many names in the songs and just rap. He’s got that sh*t. He comes with it, but, he’s like Nas, they don’t pick the right beats sometimes.” (“Street Disciplez Radio”)
Last year, Sha spoke to SOHH about ex-Unit members Game and Young Buck.
“I speak with [Lloyd] Banks, [Tony] Yayo and 50 [Cent] at least two times a week just on some friendship [level],” Sha told SOHH about keeping in contact with G-Unit. “Those are my homeboys, like, we family. So it ain’t always about business or money, it’s just checking on a n*gga, you know what I mean? I never turned cold on my n*ggas, I’m not that kinda dude even if I ever had a difference with Fif, the world would never see that sh*t because I ain’t built on those kinds of things. So all that bullsh*t, like, I respect Buck in a sense of him just being my n*gga, but, when you leave a crew just because your business decisions wasn’t right for you, you can’t just de-character the man that helped you become the man that you are. I tip my hat off to 50 because he helped a lot of real n*ggas get money and a lot of artists that came up, Banks is chilling, Yayo is chilling, Buck was chilling, I don’t know where he at right now but he was good. Even Game, that’s why he was called ‘Hurricane,’ because he was riding that G-Unit wave, where’s that sh*t at now? Those guys still make those records and obviously it’s not the same quality of music so had he still been on G-Unit, I think he would be on fire right now. That sound, ‘Hate It Or Love It,’ you can never make that record again. I just don’t do the turn love and then turn cold a n*gga and get crazy with him in public type of thing. That sh*t is for cowards and n*ggas that just want attention, I don’t do that.” (SOHH)
Prior to stepping down a few years ago, Sha Money XL was president of G-Unit Records during its initial start-up around 2002.
Check out Sha Money XL’s interview below:
