S. Samuel
Young Money rapper Drake recently discussed the impact manager Cortez Bryant has had on his career and why his level of fame would be in question without guidance.
In addition to giving props to Bryant, Drake also revealed that he now resides in Miami during a New Year’s Eve party over the weekend.
Welcome to the first Prunk TV episode of 2011! And we’ll start off with footage of Drake performing at the W Hotel South Beach on New Year’s Eve. A few hours later as the orange sun rose up over the Atlantic Ocean across the street, an overwhelming sense of awe filled our hearts: Adios 2010! The next 365 days are going to be the best in human history! Thank you, Drake! BTW Drizzy informed us that he is now a Miami resident! I also spoke with Cortez Bryant, the former President of Young Money Records, who currently manages Lil Wayne and most of Young Money’s artists. Bryant is so crazy. Drake said, “If it wasn’t for Cortez, me and Lil Wayne wouldn’t be here.” The Canadian rapper continued, “If you love Drake and Lil Wayne, you gotta love Cortez Bryant.” I do. (Miami New Times)
Last August, Bryant shared his input on Drake’s Thank Me Later debut not reaching over a million units in first-week sales over the summer.
“The first week was great but [Drake] still need that big smash pop hit like we had with [Lil] Wayne’s ‘Lollipop,'” Bryant said in an interview. “Wayne got his million because he had that urban side and he crossed over to that pop demographic. I believe Drake would’ve got those million sales if we would’ve had that pop record. I don’t think ‘Fancy’ is that pop record either…It’ll go so far, but when we drop ‘Show Me A Good Time’ in September — that has the potential to be that big record.” (VIBE)
Along with overseeing Drake, Bryant recently discussed managing Lil Wayne’s career.
“We wanted to take away the cliche that Wayne was an urban, hip-hop, rapper thug. Any kind of stereotype he had in the beginning of his career. It stuck on him. Going into the Carter II and Carter III phase we wanted to break Wayne out, and a lot of those features were strategic….Wayne would be on the phone with Madonna one day, and the next day you’d hear him on the phone with Gucci Mane,” Bryant said in an interview. “He made sure he gave all of his fans some of him. The fans who made him, who created him back in the day, he still makes music to satisfy them. I think that when he goes in to record he keeps that in the back of his mind because he teaches that to some of those artists; especially to artists like Nicki Minaj who started out with the same type of following and who is now going more pop. He gave her the advice, ‘Don’t forget about the people who created you, who were there from the beginning. You have got to deliver for them.’ I believe that Wayne has a fine balance. He makes sure that he doesn’t…Just because he did a song with Madonna, or Weezer, or anybody else on that (mainstream pop) side, that doesn’t make him think that he’s too big to do a song for any urban hip hop act.” (Celebrity Access)
In late summer 2010, a promoter impersonated Bryant in hopes of scamming people into purchasing tickets for a Drake concert.
According to a complaint filed by Eagles Entertainment Inc. the defendant, Joey Turner Jr. impersonated Cortez Bryant to book the Canadian superstar rapper. Turner, who allegedly contacted Eagles Entertainment and misrepresented himself, claimed that he was Cortez Bryant in hopes to book the rapper for an upcoming show in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He told Eagle Entertainment that Drake’s asking fee was $90,000 and collected a $9,000 deposit, for a show that was supposed to take place September 1st. “In making his statements the defendant knew that the statements and misrepresentations of defendant were in fact false and intentionally fraudulent,” the lawsuit reads. (Hip Hop Wired)
Check out some footage of Cortez Bryant down below:
