S. Samuel
G-Unit's Lloyd Banks recently weighed in on his current record label situation and said he won't be pressured into making a quick decision.
Banks said labels like Def Jam and EMI have already scouted him.
“It’s been a couple labels that showed interest,” Banks told hip-hop personality DJ Vlad. “Def Jam showed interest, of course EMI. At this point I’m still independent. If the right deal finally makes it way through, then we’ll hit the paper but until then, it’s no rush for me. For one, I’ve been comfortable…If you have a need whether it be financial, you might do something that you might regret later. It might not be the best situation, it might be what you need at that point and what I don’t need is a quick decision…I’m not in a rush to hop in the wrong situation. My deal when I was on Interscope was a sweet deal. It’s not like what you see now…If the big bag comes and makes sense, I’ll do it…I keep running into people in the business and they keep telling me, ‘Don’t do it, don’t go to the major.’ So it’s a Catch-22 at that. A lot of artists, they wait their whole career to get where I’m at right now. I’m on my third album and I could potentially make a lot of money.” (Vlad TV)
In June, Banks opened up about what terms he has before signing a new deal.
“They still got time,” Banks told radio personality Funkmaster Flex referencing Interscope Records. “They gotta drop the bag. I’m not staying no where longer than I got to. When I signed my first deal, I had a sweet deal. Millionaire dollar advances and things like that. You’re not taking none of my publishing, none of my merchandise, none of my touring, you can’t get that. And I’m not making no commitment for a bunch of albums.” (Hot 97)
Last May, Banks said a new G-Unit deal was nearly complete.
“We gonna let the [“Beamer”] remix bubble through Memorial Day weekend,” Banks said in an interview. “They can also expect a new record from Tony Yayo as well. We gotta make this a G-Unit summer..We’re very close [to a label deal]. So close I want to tell you something now, but I don’t want to ruffle no feathers…I don’t want to get anybody nervous. It’s gonna complement what we been doing, the hard work we been doing. It’s gonna give us the international platform.” (MTV)
The Unit’s Tony Yayo recently spoke on being released from Interscope Records last year.
“When we got dropped from Interscope it was like, ‘Aww, man,'” he said in an interview. “It was like you know a crushing thing. You know, when you used to being on top and now you feel like, for me, you’re feeling like you on the bottom…When I got dropped, I’m not gonna front. I was a little down about it. It’s not like it was because of the money, because Interscope, they advanced me for my second album. So I got money that I didn’t even deserve…but it’s just the whole thing of being dropped and everybody looking at you.” (XXL Mag)
Check out Lloyd Banks speaking on finding a record deal below:
