AllHipHop.com: Let’s switch gears to your music label Philthy Rich Records. How has that been going being that you’re managing it simultaneously with your ring career?
Mayweather: Yeah! People want to know why we really never came out with any artists or albums. In the beginning we were working with a cousin of mine whose rap name was Sacrifice and [another artist named] Jumbo, but he had problems back home. And with my cousin, sometimes family and business get mixed up. So they never got off the ground.
The next artist was real underground, and at the time there were really no underground artists that were taking off. We moved on to H-Flow, and H had manager problems and everyone felt like we owed them something. The next one, Lombardi, he fell in love with a girl. Things just kept happening.
Then we started Mayweather Music. Tasha White was running that, and I think it was too much for her. She was more like a mid-level manager instead of an executive. We needed someone who had been around the game and knew the ins and outs to run Mayweather Music, which was more for R&B.
We were working with an artist named Freck Billionaire. When he came aboard we asked if he had any contracts and he said no. Come to find out he was signed with somebody. The guy was trying to sue us and Freck stole one of our watches and left. So we’ve been looking for Freck Billionaire but he’s been ducking and dodging us. He stole a diamond watch and left.
So that’s what has been going on. The business is so dirty.
AllHipHop.com: You already have a Hip-Hop collaboration under your belt with the Ludacris song “Undisputed.” With what has happened with the label so far, do you think you’ll now take a more visible approach ala Diddy or keep yourself in the background?
Mayweather: I love music, and right now the most talented artist I’ve come across is Freck Billionaire. But he does business so dirty we couldn’t work with him. We let him walk in our studio for free and put him up in a hotel free of charge. Anything he needed he got, he was comfortable. It’s the people around you. They all end up being the same way. Leonard Ellerbe, Al Haymon, James McNair, and the rest of my team have never let me down. Everybody else comes and goes while feeling like you owe them something. But they never get in the ring for you and throw the punches, or run on the ropes, the roadwork, hit the heavy bag, they don’t do anything.
In the Hip-Hop world today, everybody is a gang-banger. It’s a fad. It’s so crazy; you got Blood and Crips in New York City. I see a lot of things in Hip-Hop that aren’t cool. I just like to hear good music.
AllHipHop.com: On that note, your popularity has caused rappers to mention your name on occasion. When you have an instance like the Rick Ross line on “Mafia Music,” (That Mayweather money looking funny in the light) does that bother you or do you feel flattered at any type of crossover recognition?
Mayweather: Nah, they say Rick Ross was throwing shots at me. I feel like this, Cassidy already did “I’m a Hustla,” [and] he’s an East Coast rapper. That’s already been done. Freeway already came out with the beard look. And then the real Rick Ross was really getting it as a hustler. I don’t have to take no shots at Rick Ross. I don’t think he’s making $20-$30 million every time he goes out there to perform. I got my own name, Floyd “Money” Mayweather. That’s original. With his rap career, I wish him nothing but the best.
[His] stats and credentials don’t rhyme. One minute he said he wasn’t a CO or cop, next minute he is. He can learn how to get money from me. If he’s a cop and rapping about selling drugs, I guess he was a dirty cop! You know me, I’m not ducking and dodging no one, it’s not hard to find me. I’m in Miami all the time, Atlanta, everywhere.
It’s crazy because me and my manager Al Haymon were the ones that did Lil Wayne’s last tour. So when I seen Rick Ross in Miami on the first show, he broke his neck to speak to me. Rap has truly changed. He was at my Hatton fight, cheering me on. I guess he got upset because I’m cool with 50 Cent. But like I said if I need someone arrested I’ll call him.
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