Lil Wayne's manager, Cortez Bryant of Bryant Management, and the man responsible for overseeing Kanye West's career, Gee Roberson of Hip Hop Since 1978, are joining forces. Black Enterprise interviewed Bryant, who confirmed that two of hip-hop's most powerful management entities are uniting.
"Gee [Joshua Roberson-one half of Hip Hop Since 1978] is still my partner," said Bryant. "He taught me a lot and I'm still here because of him. You have a lot of executives that won't open those doors to help the next upcoming manager or executive, but ever since we met in 2006, we just clicked. I'd been managing Wayne for two years and he was managing Kanye."
Nicki Minaj recently joined the Hip Hop Since 1978 fold after severing her management ties with Sean "Diddy" Combs. Bryant Management also handles Drake's career -- the Young Money MC has also had ties with Hip Hop Since 1978. For Bryant, it's been a team effort between him and Roberson's company for years. Considering Weezy's successful I Am Still Music tour and Drake's endorsement coups -- Sprite and Kodak -- now it's a matter of expanding their already sizable influence and reach.
"Honestly, I don't see it as a big transition because we have always helped each other out if he has a Kanye issue or I have a Wayne issue and we call on each other to help; it's just what we do," said Bryant. "So it's a matter of a transition of [making it official] on paper. We realize that while there are benefits to having our own boutique management firms that allows each of us to be hands on with our artists, [merging] will allow us to be more powerful and efficient in growing our business model."