NEWS
Birdman and Lil Wayne reunited in Los Angeles this week as Cash Money was honored at YouTube’s second annual Leaders & Legends Gala.
Taking place on Thursday (June 27) as BET Weekend is in full swing in the City of Angels, Bryan “Birdman” Williams and Ronald “Slim” Williams were recognized for the entrepreneurial success on the 30th anniversary of founding their iconic label, as Weezy, Mannie Fresh, Yo Gotti, Juvenile, Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith, Quality Control’s Pierre “Pee” Thomas and more were in attendance.
“A movie @cashmoneyofficial #RICHGANG,” Birdman wrote on Instagram with a photo of himself with his Gotti, Wayne and Mack Maine. “YMCMB [goat emoji] STUNNAMAN.”
In a post of his own, Juvenile said: “shout out to everyone who showed up tonight for the 30th anniversary of cash money records to slim and birdman thanks for making me a part of this amazing journey and also thanks to youtube and Mr cohen for putting on this special event.”
Lil Wayne and Birdman have had a long-standing, if contentious at times, relationship, but the pair have reunited numerous times since the height of their feud that began in late 2014.
Earlier this year, the pair got together in the studio – though they didn’t give any details to what they were working on.“Like father like son #richgang @cashmoneyofficial,” Weezy captioned the pics.
Baby and Wayne have had their disputes over the years, and one of them was when the former got frustrated with Weezy for always trying to mimic JAY-Z.In a sprawling interview with Rolling Stone, which dropped last summer, Lil Wayne reflected on the 15th anniversary of Tha Carter III and his career as a whole, and when asked what rappers are in his playlist he simply said, “No one.” His reasoning was he learned early on that having a favorite rapper means you will inevitably try to mimic them without realizing it.
“When it comes to rap, I don’t listen to no one,” Wayne said. “I just don’t have time to, because I’m trying to get better every day. I tell my artist[s] that, too. When you find a favorite artist, you’re going to start sounding like them.”He went on: “It took Birdman and them to pull my ass aside and be like, ‘Bro, I’m tired of every song you doing sounding like damn JAY-Z. You’re not JAY-Z.’”
Despite this sound advice, Birdman and Lil Wayne’s relationship has had its ups and downs over the years. Weezy filed suit against his Cash Money label head back in 2015 over the continuous delay of Tha Carter V. The lawsuit dragged on for many years, and by 2018, Birdman told Apple Music their legal battle had become so bad it was starting to affect their families.
“It’s just so many parts to it, but I’m not gon’ let it just lay like that,” Birdman said at the time. “I ain’t worrying about it benefiting me. He deserves that from me, and I’m gonna give him that. We gotta get this shit together ’cause it’s affecting our kids. And that’s not cool at all.”
The pair finally settled their dispute later that year.
A pair of blue suede shoes worn by Elvis Presley himself has sold for a huge amount at auction.
The shoes sold for £120,000 by auctioneers Henry Aldrige & Son in Devizes on June 28 – at the top end of the £100,000-£120,000 they were expected to go for.
Presley first acquired the shoes after he performed the Carl Perkins hit ‘Blue Suede Shoes’, and wore the shoes for various interviews and public appearances throughout the 1950s, most notably on The Steve Allen Show in the US, on which he performed ‘Hound Dog’.
When he was drafted into the US Army in the late 1950s, Presley gave the shoes to a friend.
As auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said, the shoes are what “you think of immediately when you talk about Elvis Presley” and they “transcend popular culture.”
He added: “When Elvis joined up for the American army, he had a get-together at Graceland. Elvis called some of these people upstairs and was giving away some of the clothes he didn’t think he’d need or want when he came back from the army. The gentleman concerned was Alan Fortas, Elvis’s branch manager and a friend of his.”
Over the years, the shoes had spent time on display at various museums. Aldrige said that their authenticity had been verified by singer Jimmy Velvet, who was a close friend of Presley and himself used to run a museum of Elvis memorabilia.
In May, Presley’s granddaughter Riley Keough took legal action to prevent the auction of Graceland, the singer’s iconic home, and a judge stopped the sale. Later, a self-described scammer based in Nigeria took credit for the plot, saying that he was part of an identity theft ring.
Meanwhile, Glastonbury co-founder Michael Eavis opened this year’s festival last Thursday (June 27) with a few songs, and finished with Presley’s 1969 hit Suspicious Minds.
