2 Chainz has compared himself to NBA superstars LeBron James and Kevin Durant after departing Def Jam Records.
The Atlanta rap legend took to Instagram on Monday (October 14) to announce his departure from the storied rap label after more than a decade on its roster.
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His post was accompanied by a video of him playing basketball in Abu Dhabi, where reigning NBA champions, the Boston Celtics, recently faced off against previous champs, the Denver Nuggets, in two preseason games.
“I wanna make a huge announcement. Starting last week, I am now an independent artist,” Tity Boi said while dribbling a basketball inside an empty arena.
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“That’s right, I’m not re-signing with Def Jam. So think of it like KD or like LeBron — the biggest free agent in the game.”
The 6-foot-5 spitter capped off the clip by swishing a corner three-point shot.
2 Chainz’s departure from Def Jam ends one of rap’s most successful partnerships.
The 47-year-old joined the label back in 2012 and released his debut album Based on a T.R.U. Story, which topped the Billboard 200 and spawned hits such as “Birthday Song” featuring Kanye West, the Drake-assisted “No Lie” and “I’m Different.”
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The Drench God would go on to release five more solo albums, as well as two joint projects with Lil Wayne, on the Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons-founded label.
Prior to joining Def Jam, he was signed to Ludacris‘ Disturbing Tha Peace imprint as one-half of the duo Playaz Circle, back when he went by the name Tity Boi.
During a 2022 Drink Champs interview, 2 Chainz reflected on his stint with DTP and recalled agreeing to pay Luda $100,000 on each of his first three solo albums to get out of his contract.
“I just started growing as an artist, I started growing as an individual. It was amicable,” he said. “I woke up and called [Ludacris] and said, ‘I don’t want to be on the label anymore.’ Then they said, ‘You can’t do that. You can’t just get off a label like that.’”
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DTP suspected that the Duffle Bag Boy was hoping to join Cash Money through his relationship with Lil Wayne, but that wasn’t the case.
“I been around [Ludacris], I been around Wayne, and then I’m learning I can really do this on my own,” Chainz continued. “I paid [Ludacris] to get out. They get a point on my first three albums. I paid Luda the 100 grand and I gave him a point on each of the three albums.”
