Birdman Albums (4)
What The Critics Say
As Brian "Baby" Williams aka Birdman's 5 * Stunna album arrived in late 2007, it landed pretty close to a street date once promised for Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III, the highly anticipated album from Birdman's "surrogate son" that suffered numerous unsurprising delays. Just over a year before, they acted like two sides of the same coin on the collaboration album Like Father, Like Son, so if this Stunna was designed to be a placeholder while Wayne finished Tha Carter III, it explains a lot. There's a Wayne-free true solo album for Birdman buried in these tracks, one that doesn't feel finished but has the uncompromising coldness he lays down when Weezy is away. The main problem is Birdman's delivery on these tracks just isn't up to snuff, like he was providing guide vocals to be improved upon later. While redundant numbers about cash, bling, and status aren't anything new for a Cash Money release, here they're particularly trying and the everyday production fails to overcome. Plus, the "Old Man" interludes are back and as boring as ever, save when the Mafia Don drops the laughable "I saw you guys on the TV thing." Swooping in to save the day are a handful of inspired tracks like the grand "100 Million" with Wayne, Young Jeezy, and Rick Ross or the hooky "Pop Bottles" with Wayne. Best of them all is the loose "Believe Dat," with Wayne again, as it feels like an uptempo follow-up to Like Father's great "Leather So Soft." Wayne steals the show on Birdman's own album not for the usual reasons -- much more talented -- but more for the way he remains comfortable and steady while dad bounces between hungry and listless. This inconsistent, everyday Cash Money release is carried by its highlights, but there's every indication it's rushed and could have been better. ~ David Jeffries, All Music Guide
'Like Father, Like Son'
Release Date 9/26/2006
Tracks 21
Label Cash Money
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Cash Money's rise and fall has been talked to death, but it's important to note that the 2006 collaboration between Birdman (Cash Money CEO) and Lil Wayne (Birdman's "surrogate son" and Cash Money's president) lands while the label is on the upswing. Critically, they're doing better than ever, respected in a way they weren't back when they had Juvenile and Mannie Fresh. The biggest reason of all is Lil Wayne's Tha Carter 2, so Birdman bumps him up to president and suddenly the rapper who was evolving with more complex lyrics, strange vocal rhythms, and risky production choices is creative director of the label that used be the down-low dirty-dirty. Like Father, Like Son is a celebration of Wayne and Cash Money's success, a testament to the allegiance the two feel toward each other, and most likely a way for Birdman to set Wayne on the right path as label boss. When it came to singles, Tha Carter 2 stalled after the leadoff "Fireman," so it's no big surprise this album is filled with hooks, infectious beats, and that trunk-rumbling weekend music Cash Money was built on. Synthesized horns blast out "Stuntin' Like My Daddy"'s triumphant melody, while the instantly gripping "Know What I'm Doing" works because it's keep-it-simple-stupid swagger music like the Big Tymers used to kick. Birdman might be reinforcing what Cash Money was built on, but he's well aware of his boy's talent and gives the freedom-craving, forward-looking baller adequate room to roam. The woozy "Leather So Soft" had to be Wayne's idea, "Army Gunz" features one of his most broken deliveries yet, and on the title track he offers, "I'll put you niggas in the closet in the shirt space/Niggas yellow like Sesame Street's Bert face." Production comes primarily from TMIX -- the UGK-sampling "1st Key" is his masterwork -- although Scott Storch stops by for the so-so "You Ain't Know," a great argument the beat-maker is spread too thin in his prolific 2006. The mix of familiar and strange is fascinating, the team-up feels like family, and at 20 tracks long, the album doesn't wear out its welcome. There's probably too much get money/stack-paper for those who want Wayne to speak on the injustices New Orleans has suffered post-Katrina, or to get to work on Tha Carter 3, but that's not what Like Father, Like Son is about. This is the sure sound of Cash Money steadying the ship and getting back on course. ~ David Jeffries, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Dirty South haters are going to point out that Fast Money covers the same old tired topics Cash Money releases have beaten to death for nearly a decade and a half. Yes, thugging, big pimping, spitting bravado, and boasting about the quality of Cash Money women and weed are all over Birdman's sophomore release, but Cash Money's CEO shows that his pimp hand is strong, giving his entire roster the Dirty South blueprint for a perfect weekend album. As a rapper, Bryan Williams (or Baby, now almost always Birdman) has always been a P. Diddy character, serviceable with the rhymes but a better boss and impresario. Here, he's a step up from on fire, keeping it simple as expected but always driven and cocksure. What's fascinating is that he's also ready for your ire, begging haters to bring it on. Using the "N" word as much as possible, dragging out every old cliché, and sticking the album's two weed songs right next to each other gives every snooty backpacker plenty of ammo and every opportunity to look like a chump in 2015 when Fast Money is reissued in some kind of tenth-anniversary "Dirty South Classic" edition with four-star quotes on the cover and liner notes that wax poetic about the album's perfection. Birdman's B.G. meets Jay-Z style is surrounded by the thickest, slickest production Cash Money has ever been graced with, courtesy of Deezle, the Birdman himself, and his Big Tymers partner, Mannie Fresh. 50 Cent would sign on for any of these beats and Deezle just went A list. The fat guest list is handled especially well, with Lil Wayne, 6 Shot, Mannie, and everybody else woven into the songs and layered like voices at the party. "Neck of the Woods," "Big Pimpin'," and "Get Your Shine On" are the holy trinity of highlights, but it's the on-the-corner "We Getting It On" that gives the album its heart. Recalling Digital Underground and tipping its hat to the old school, it's the track Timbaland and Missy will be studying along with every Dirty South rapper who can see past his 24s and syrup sipping. Like Brian De Palma's Scarface, Fast Money revels in excess, glitz, misogyny, and violence with an irresponsible, larger than life attitude. To call it a guilty pleasure would be ignoring how taut the album is, how the momentum of it all steamrolls over the listener, and how Cash Money has separated itself from No Limit and its ilk with one engrossing release. No Limit CEO Master P put out an album the same day as Birdman, but P's mediocre and boasting Ghetto Bill makes him sound like a carnival huckster in comparison. P's opportunistic empire might make him the "Ghetto Bill Gates," but Fast Money proves Birdman is the real king of the Dirty Southern streets. Big pimpin' indeed. ~ David Jeffries, All Music Guide
'Baby aka the #1 Stunna'
Release Date 11/26/2002
Tracks 22
Label Universal
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