2 Chainz has bossed up over the past decade but it didn’t happen without some losses on the way. Chainz has proven that he can overcome any obstacle that comes his way, including his deal with Ludacris back in the day. The rapper was once signed to Ludacris‘ DTP label before departing and joining forces with Def Jam to releases his debut solo album.


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During a recent appearance on Drink Champs, 2 Chainz recalled the day he left Ludacris’ label, revealing that he had to sacrifice a lot at the time to take his career to the next level. “I woke up and called [Ludacris] and said, ‘I don’t want to be on the label anymore.’ Then they said, ‘You can’t do that. You can’t just get off a label like that,'” he said, adding that there was speculation that he would head to Cash Money because of his relationship with Lil Wayne.

“I been around ’Cris, I been around Wayne, and then I’m learning I can really do this on my own,” he said. “I paid [Ludacris] to get out, they get a point on my first three albums. I paid Luda the 100 grand and I gave him a point on each of the three albums. I just dropped my seventh album. I’m on my eighth album that I’m ’bout to drop now—and the 100,000, I mean very humbly, I got it on me now.”