When Biggie boasted, on the ‘96 remix to 112’s “Only You,” [click to read] that he would be chillin’ in “room 112 where the players dwell/to stash more cash than Bert Padell,” he wasn’t talking about a fellow paper-stacking rapper; he was talking about his business manager.
Nearly 13 years after the song first played on the radio, Bert Padell is still one of the entertainment industry’s most successful business managers. Having represented acts like Big Daddy Kane [click to read], Talib Kweli [click to read], Irv Gotti [click to read], Mary J. Blige, Swizz Beatz [click to read], and countless others, Padell has made a popular name for himself, not just in the music industry, but in Hip Hop music. In a recent interview with Kid Kangol, Padell describes a call he got from legendary music executive and friend Clive Davis regarding Biggie’s line in the song.
“Clive Davis called me up and said to me, ‘Bert, you became famous. And you’re really famous now forever.’ I said, ‘Famous, for what?’ He says, ‘112 did an album and Biggie Smalls said ‘stash more cash than Bert Padell,’ and it’s all over the radio!’ I said, ‘I didn’t even know it!’”
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Although Padell went on to represent Biggie, he swears that to this very day, he still has not heard the song. As an expert in the music business, Padell also gave some important advice for aspiring artists:
“As an up and coming artist, so important, is to get these following people: get the right manager, get the right lawyer, get the right business manager, and the right booking agent. When you got that and you have the talent that God gave you and it’s really great, you’re going to be successful.”
Even though managers do work in the background, Padell emphasizes, “Respect them. You don’t have to love them, but respect them for what they do for you.”
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