Today Sha Money XL announced a partnership with New York-based distributors, The Orchard. Dream Big Ventures is the imprint of the man whom many associate with for his mid ’00s tenure as President of G-Unit Records. The roster includes some familiar names and faces to G-Unit fans though, in Stat Quo and DJ Whoo Kid.
“I’m getting ready for a new year. The vision is clear: I see it, and I’m ready to take over and put out good music consistently,” Sha told HipHopDX Wednesday afternoon. “This is gonna be about consistency; this ain’t gonna be about taking year-gaps and taking time off, it’s about putting out consistent music from dope artists in every walk of Hip Hop. You’ve got classic lyricists like Talib Kweli and a producer like Hi-Tek doing Reflection [Eternal]. Then you’ve got a south dude like Stat Quo, that’s spittin’. It’s just gonna give Hip Hop what we need.“
Although Stat Quo had a rather public departure from Aftermath/Shady/Interscope last year, his talent always resonated with the producer-turned executive. “From day one, when I heard Stat, over that [Dr.] Dre beat (‘The Future’) on Pretox. Dre was in the booth, drunk, talkin’. When I heard that song, I knew I had to work with this dude. He a south nigga that rap like he an east coast spitta. I just loved him from day one. We’ve been on tour. We got cool and shit. He’s a cool dude, talented as a mothafucka!”
The other flagship artist of Dream Big Ventures is popular G-Unit deejay and radio personality Whoo Kid, who is a close relative of Sha‘s. “Whoo Kid has been putting out consistent, quality mixtapes for over the last eight or nine years. Not only is he that classic, qualified dude, he’s my cousin too. One angle in his career that he never really pursued – and you see it with that DJ Dramas and DJ Khaleds and all that, is making these dope albums. This is the collective of what he’s doing, and what you’ll hear in his truck.” The release will reportedly see guest spots from Juelz Santana, Lloyd Banks, Tony Yayo, Gucci Mane, Yo Gotti and 40 Glocc. “It’s time for it. It’s time to get him in stores,” said Sha Money, who noted that Whoo Kid formerly had a botched deal with Capitol. “I hate bein’ a part of somethin’ that don’t happen.” Of the specifics on the album, Sha also revealed, “I got this Slaughterhouse joint that we workin’ on, that is so fuckin’ crazy.“
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Also co-managing Reflection Eternal, Sha Money XL affored HipHopDX details of the upcoming Asylum/Warner release. “We’ve been coming to the end [of recording it], and it’s a classic,” said the enthusiastic Sha. Asked if the Train Of Thought 2000 release was prevalent inspiration in creating the follow-up, Sha Money XL pointed out to production specifics that will appease any Rawkus fan. “Dave Dar, the original engineer that did this album in 1999 and 2000, fuckin’ traveled to Cincinnati and did the majority of the vocals. Everything. Tek‘s original components of his music [are alive]. Everything. That’s what I love about it. You can’t duplicate this sound that they have.” A bulk of the album was recorded in Hi-Tek‘s Cincy-based studio.
Of the overall deal and announcement, Sha Money admired The Orchard‘s faith in his vision. “There’s two things that are important to me: belief and committment. [The Orchard] believed in me. And then we’ve got these investors and we gotta get our money up. That’s all I needed since the beginning, was an executive believing in me and my quality of music.” The label is presently a distributor for other artists including Royce Da 5’9″, Fashawn, DJ Green Lantern and Wu-Tang Music Group.
Although not completely confirmed, Sha Money did tell HipHopDX that Stat Quo‘s Statlanta will likely be Dream Big Ventures‘ first release. The work features production from Hi-Tek, Che Vicious and Sha himself.
Lastly, still closely involved in 50 Cent‘s A&R’ing and sound, an enthusiastic Sha Money pointed to “Strong Enough” as his favorite song on Before I Self Destruct.
