Birdman made an appearance on Ebro Darden's Beats 1 show to promote the new Apple documentary Before Anythang: The Cash Money Story and it was full of the Cash Money co-founder's insights on the current affairs of hip-hop. Notably, he remarked on how he feels that two of Young Money's alums, Drake and Nicki Minaj, are the biggest rappers commercially in the world right now.To Birdman, Drake has "singlehandedly held this shit down" over the past several years and that the only other rappers who can match his dominance are Lil Wayne and Nicki. To the latter, Birdman adds that to him, Nicki is "the best female ever in hip-hop history," citing her sales numbers and ability to hang with "the Beys, the Rihs, the Katys," a.k.a. the big pop heavyweights of this decade. Even innovators like Lauryn Hill and Missy Elliott pale in comparison to Nicki, according to Birdman.
Birdman also spoke on how important it is that he and Wayne repaired their once-close relationship, damaged by the former holding Tha Carter V hostage for about five years and counting. "Love, I grew up without that shit. That shit is not a part of my life," he says, before admitting that he and Wayne "had to get that shit straight" for the sake of each other and their children. Watch both segments of the Beats 1 interview below.[Lil' Kim and Missy Elliott] took it far, but not to that level. Even Lauryn [Hill]'s not the level where Nicki at. She's got the fashion. She's just an icon.