Waka Flocka recently opened up about the label drama he dealt with early in his career on Akademick’s “Off The Record Podcast.”
The “O’ Let’s Do It” rapper went into detail about shady dealings in the 2010s, which led to the dismantlement of Mizay Entertainment, the label started by Waka’s mother, Debra “Deb” Antney.
Antney is credited as the veteran manager who introduced the world to Gucci Mane, Nicki Minaj, and French Montana before they left the label. However, her son believes the industry intended to sabotage his mother from the beginning.
“The labels are vicious man, that’s all I can tell y’all,” said Waka in the eight-minute clip from their interview. “Watch who you come in with, because they’ll separate your whole crew to make somebody a villain to get the prize so they could take over.”
The businessman and entrepreneur seemed hesitant to share details, even after Akademiks asked him to “elaborate.” He said, “It was me, Nicki, Gucci, [OJ Da Juiceman], [French Montana], my mother. Nicki go to my mother and say, ‘Deb, you don’t need nobody but me and Waka,’ right? Boom. I watched another figure come around Nicki. … Nicki was like, ‘F-ck it, I see what’s going on.’ Nicki seen it and was like, ‘Yo Deb, they coming for you. Everybody else ain’t loyal’ type sh-t. Smart girl.”
The 35-year-old said that was around the same time Kevin “Coach K” Lee of Quality Control Records became interested in Gucci despite Lee’s affiliation with Gucci’s former enemy Jeezy.
“So I watch a guy by the name of Coach K come over. Coach is on Jeezy’s side, so how the f—k you coming over here with Gucci? That’s how I’m thinking, right? But Coach works for the label. We don’t know that,” he explained. “He come work with us. Next thing you know, French goes over there with Nicki, [and] they get lit. That’s fire.”
Waka then insinuated that French, Nicki, and others subsequently have posed as if they were unassisted in launching their careers. He continued, “But for n****s to turn around and act like nobody helped y’all n****s or built y’all? Y’all lame as f-ck, right?”
Gucci and Deb’s relationship began to go downhill not long afterward. The “No Hands” rapper said he later found out their beef was due to a competing label wanting to sign Gucci. He also accused music executives Joie Manda and Todd Moscowitz of “living off the fame of what my mama built.”
For the first time, he said, “I‘mma publicly say this right here. How is it that the n***as that crushed our label, y’all work with them now?”
Waka acknowledged that these were regular “business” tactics in the music industry. But he assured listeners he supports their successes. “So to see all these people and to sum up what I said, they all dope, man,” he added.
