Def Jam wasn't the only label courting 2 Chainz. Before he signed to the rap powerhouse, the Atlanta MC was arguably the most sought-after unsigned talent in the game, so it's no surprise that he was in high demand. Still, if Lil Wayne had had his way, 2 Chainz would've linked up with his Young Money record label.

"I was one of the first people invited to Young Money, before the album. Wayne asked me," Chainz said when he appeared on Wednesday's "RapFix Live."

The two spitters have history. Weezy appeared with 2 Chainz (then known as Tity Boi) on "Duffle Bag Boy," the 2007 single with his group Playaz Circle. Two years later, Dos spent significant time on the road with Tunechi during his I Am Still Music Tour. At the time, however, 2 Chainz chose to remain loyal to Playaz Circle and honor his deal with Ludacris' Disturbing Tha Peace record label. Ultimately, he didn't want to seem like he was hopping from label to label, though he maintains that he and Wayne have a true friendship.

"From the outside looking in, I hate to see people look like they clique hopping," Chainz said. "But when you just look at an artist that went from here to this subsidiary, to this subsidiary — for me I felt like I'm smart enough to sign 2 Chainz slash Def Jam like I did."

Instead of signing to another artist, with Def Jam the "Spend It" MC was able to become his own boss and partner his new label T.R.U. with the deep-rooted record company. As soon as he signed, Chainz sent Wayne a text thanking him for being a true friend. "Lil Wayne is one of the realest dudes in the game as far as opening up doors for people to eat and trickling down to their families," he said. "He's one of the most unselfish, talented people that I've been around."

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Lil Wayne has premiered a new music video for his single "Mirror", in which he collaborates with Bruno Mars. The video sees the 29-year-old rapper reflecting on his life while splashing red, white and black paints to create a mural of himself on a studio wall. In the clip, Bruno is also featured crooning his part, but is rarely seen interacting with Weezy.

"I see the pain hidden in your pride. I see you're not satisfied. And I don't see nobody else, I see myself," so Weezy raps on the beginning. Bruno continues singing on the chorus, "Mirror on the wall. Here we are again. Through my rise and my fall. You've been my only friend."

The music video is directed by Antoine Fuqua, who has previously worked with such musicians as, Toni Braxton, Stevie Wonder, Usher, and 3 Doors Down. "Mirror" itself is included in Weezy's latest album "Tha Carter IV", which was produced by REO and The Smeezingtons.

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Lil Wayne drops a preview of what’s to come from his collaboration music video with Bruno Mars for the hit single ‘Mirrors.’Love him or hate him, Lil Wayne’s reign on the mainstream music scene is unprecedented. At only 29 years old, Weezy has done just about everything one can do in the music business, and he continues to grow his empire expanding his Young Money crew and recently introducing his Trukfit clothing line.

The young superstar released his highly anticipated ‘Tha Carter 4′ album during 2011, and with mixed reviews managed to sell nearly 1 million copies in just its first week. The album continued to sell strong, and ended up becoming certified double platinum by the year’s end.

One of the more radio friendly singles on the album was the Bruno Mars assisted ‘Mirrors’ track. The song received a fair amount of criticism from hip hop fans, but was well perceived among the mainstream music audience, which of course helps to sell more records and widen Lil Wayne’s fan base. The two superstars will be teaming up to drop the official music video in the coming weeks, and over the weekend released a preview to the official visual. Check it out after the jump.

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Lil Wayne is planning to release a new album this year, according to YMCMB boss Bryan "Birdman" Williams. It would mark Weezy's second long player in less than a year.

"Wayne's got an album he's about to drop real soon," Birdman told Complex. "Its called I Am Not a Human Being 2. It's gonna be before the summer for sure. We haven't picked the date yet," he said. "Whenever he's ready to drop his album, we're gonna make it do what it do. He's definitely got an album done and ready to go. Wayne works a lot. There's no telling [if Rebirth 2 will happen]. But I know for sure we've got I Am Not a Human Being 2 ready to go. That's the next project."

Birdman also said that he is finished recording the sequel to his collaborative LP with Weezy, Like Father, Like Son 2, and plans on releasing a solo album.

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Lil Wayne is set to release another new studio album in the coming months, according to his label boss. The rapper only dropped his ninth studio album 'Tha Carter IV' in the summer of last year, but according to Bryan 'Birdman' Williams, who runs Young Money Cash Money Records, the follow-up is already done and ready to go.

Williams has said that the record, which is set to be titled 'I Am Not A Human Being 2', will definitely come out before the summer, but has no confirmed release date as yet. Williams told Complex Magazine: "Wayne's got an album he's about to drop real soon. Its called 'I Am Not A Human Being 2'. It's going to be before the summer for sure. We haven't picked the date yet."

The rapper's recent prolific spell of releasing records is particularly impressive as he spent a large chunk of 2010 in in New York's Rikers Island prison after being convicted of a gun charge. During that spell in jail, Lil Wayne penned a memoir documenting his time in prison, the book is titled 'Gone Till November' and it will be released on November 28 this year.

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Lil Wayne and his YMCMB family took a trip to Australia in December where Weezy performed a few stadium shows in Melbourne and Sydney. Thoughtfully enough, they came back with photos and videos to share their adventure, which obviously begins with a private jet ride (and a quick breakdown of luxury travel options by Birdman).

In general, Wayne had a pretty successful tour run in 2011. Just the North American leg of his “I Am Still Music," tour which featured appearances from Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj, Keri Hilson and more grossed $47 million, after selling upwards of 27,000 tickets in some cities. The global tour covered 78 countries from Africa to Australia.
 

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A recent Lil Wayne and Dez Bryant fight outside a Miami hotel has grabbed the attention of Dallas Cowboys officials. The melee is said to have resulted over unpaid debts by NFL star Bryant to a microfinance company associated with rapper Weezy's Young Money record label. It seems to say a lot about the standards in different professions too.

The rapper and NFL star were allegedly part of a scuffle outside of a Miami Beach night club called Fountainbleau. It's unknown exactly what was said, but it seems it had the NFL star heated. While Bryant was detained by Miami police for the skirmish, he was not arrested or charged for anything. Still, it got Cowboys officials interested enough to have a talk with Bryant.

According to ESPN, coach Jason Garrett was among those who spoke with Dez Bryant, following the incident. Garrett says of the discussion: "I have not spoken to him since then. Other people in our organization have though.

We want to make sure all of our players do things the right way. Really, 365 days out of the year. But we understand the nature of the position that we're all in and we've (got) to be careful and handle things the right way. We certainly support him in everything he does."

Prior to this incident, Bryant was involved in other off-field troubles including a lawsuit by two jewelers, and being banned from a high-scale mall. The Cowboys had been working with their wide receiver to get his "issues fixed." That included hiring a firm to help with financial trouble, and getting player development staff on board with Dez.

The irony here is that rappers get into trouble and many times it helps solidify their street cred. Obviously nobody wants to spend time in prison, but getting arrested has actually helped some rap stars. Lil Wayne even had successful album sales while serving time. Other rappers have recorded albums over the phone from jail. Football players get in trouble and it becomes front page news, or covered by ESPN incessantly. Then again, pro athletes are representing pro organizations, but rappers often represent major record labels. In Weezy's case he is part of the ownership, while Bryant is not. Still, is there any reason these two different individuals from different professions should be held to different standards?

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Is the Lil Wayne and Dez Bryant fight better than the Drake vs. Common beef that's going on? One site believes so, due to Drizzy's "womanly slap-fighting" making the latter less of a feud than the recent beef between one of rap's top stars and a Dallas Cowboys wide receiver.

The Common and Drake battle has been put on several diss tracks to date, with many originally believing it was all over tennis star Serena Williams, whom both rap stars had "been with." Comm has said several times it's not about that. Lil Wayne and Dez Bryant's beef started up over money. Many rappers and athletes may prioritize cash over women, or consider it a serious fighting matter rather than jabs made by someone on a song. So which of these recent battles involving hip hop stars is more interesting?

A recent article from Opposing Views weighs in on the two beefs. One comes solely from the hip hop world, while the other transcends sports and hip hop. Also, some will argue that Lil Wayne is a bigger name than either Common or Drake, in terms of hip hop rankings. Some fans of the beefing artists may disagree though.

Lil Wayne vs. Dez Bryant started thanks to unpaid debts leading to some sort of scuffle outside a Miami hotel/club. Bryant was detained, but nobody was arrested. A big mystery has developed in all of this, as Dez Bryant posted the following tweet, which he later deleted: "Let's quit with the false stories now....me and this man don't have a problem with one another lol."

It's unknown why the tweet was ever posted, or deleted for that matter. However, it seems to make the plot thicken in this brand new beef. The interesting thing to watch for here is if Lil Wayne calls out Bryant on a diss track, how will Bryant respond? Will he just use Twitter to tweet back? Will he find some other willing rapper, or rappers, to diss back on his behalf? What if Bryant challenges Wayne to try to take him down on the football field? This one could get real interesting, real fast!

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Multiple reports suggest that Lil Wayne may have gotten into a fight with Dallas Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant at a Miami nightclub on Sunday, but the player says stories about the scuffle have been exaggerated.

The incident occurred at Club Liv, an upscale club inside the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach. A Dallas TV station was told that Bryant “got involved in a verbal altercation with some members of a famous rapper’s entourage and had to be detained by police.” The rapper was later identified as Lil Wayne.

Sources claim the incident started when someone taunted Bryant about his subpar season and his financial problems, and that tempers escalated to the point that Bryant was detained by police. The Miami Beach Police Department, however, has no record of the incident, so it apparently never became too serious.

The last thing Weezy needs, after his prison stints, is more trouble with the law. The same is true of Bryant, who has been called a “ticking time bomb” by some sportswriters for his off-the-field problems. But it sounds like this was more of a minor argument and cooler heads prevailed in the end.

This morning, Bryant finally responded to the reports, tweeting, “Let’s quit with the false stories now….me and this man don’t have a problem with one another lol.”

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Reports surfacing claim that Young Money rap star Lil Wayne was involved in a fight with Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant.

Weezy is always making media headlines, but rarely do we see the rap superstar getting involved in scuffles. Although it is still unconfirmed at this point, rumors have been flying that Lil Wayne was involved in a bit of a scuffle outside Fountainbleau’s Club LIV in Miami, Florida this past Sunday.

According to reports from the Miami New Times, someone was trash talking to Dez Bryant, specifically his, ” subpar season and a mounting personal debt crisis.” There is however no detainment record of the NFL superstar from that evening according to the local Miami Beach Police, ” Bryant’s name is not mentioned in the paperwork.”

Sources from the Herald claim that the Lil Wayne was in fact the “famous rapper” involved in the scuffle with Dez Bryant. Neither party has commented on the situation thus far, but This Beat Goes will keep you posted as the details unfold.

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