S. Samuel
G-Unit's Lloyd Banks recently weighed in on former group member Olivia's departure from his camp and said she did have a slight spending habit under 50 Cent's wing.
Denying taking part in having her released from the Unit in 2007, Banks said efforts were made to keep Olivia in their camp.
“[laughs] That wasn’t me,” Banks told radio personality Star when asked if he told 50 Cent to drop Olivia from G-Unit. “Tony Yayo might have said that. It wasn’t me. Nah. She was spending a lot of money though. Yeah. We tried [to make it work], we tried. [laughs]” (Star & Bucwild Show)
Earlier this year, 50 said Olivia used her finances as if she were an R&B superstar when signed to the Unit.
“Yeah, that was a loss,” Fif said about investing in Olivia’s G-Unit run. “The problem you get with female solo artists is they look, their game is really small. So they look at it and say, it’s Beyonce, Rihanna, Keyshia Cole but when you have an African American female solo artist, she sees where she fits immediately. Problem is, they spend financing like those artists at that point, having the set-up, the make-up artist, the stylist, those different things but when you don’t have a record that connects fast enough, you’ll accumulate a tab like a motherf*cker.” (All Hip Hop)
She later justified her high maintenance costs.
“I mean, I’m worth it,” Olivia suggested in an interview. “You should have spent four [million]. I’m just saying, if you have an R&B artist and you’re used to dealing with a whole bunch of rappers who all you have to do is get up and put on a sweat suit, like, come on. That’s not fair. I’m a girl, like you said, I’m beautiful, I don’t wanna OD and be extra cocky, but come on. There’s a lot of stuff that comes with having an R&B artist, so, what’s the problem? He can afford it. I’m your artist, you love me, you gonna take care of me, you gonna take care of all your other artists so why is it a big deal for me? I don’t know what he spent, but the point is you’re supposed to be taking care of your artists. Why would you even want to throw out a number or whatever you’re doing. It’s not that serious.” (Forbez DVD)
Last month, Olivia met up with 50 face-to-face to address past rumors.
“We wanted to go up there and confront him about certain rumors like, ‘Did you say x, y, and z?,'” she told S2S. “I’m glad we had this meeting and that he wanted to do it to clear everything up. I’m happy we came to a close and that we’re good like we were before. That’s what I needed…I’m sure we probably will [collaborate], but I’d rather focus on my re-branding. I want people to just see Olivia. That’s why I did [my upcoming new] album with no features. I want to show I can stand on my own two feet.” (S2S Magazine)
Check out Lloyd Banks speaking on Olivia below:
