In an extensive new interview about his career and record label, Yo Gotti revealed that 50 Cent gave him some integral advice that led to him renaming his label.
As he told Billboard in a profile feature, Gotti made the decision to change the name of CMG, then called Cocaine Muzik Group, after he signed a deal with Epic Records in 2013. He said the original name was a nod to the “addictiveness” of the music released by the label, but a phone call with Fif ultimately inspired him to go with something less abrasive.
“I was having a [phone] conversation with 50 Cent, and he was like, ‘Yo, you’re winning, but you can’t be Cocaine Muzik Group — that’s too harsh. They’re going to be scared of that,’” Gotti recalled. “[I] thought about it like, ‘Damn, he’s right. What else does CMG mean?’ He put it in my head to start thinking in that direction.”
As a result of the advice, he said he decided to tweak what CMG stood for, and went with Collective Music Group, instead.
Elsewhere in the feature, he opened up about some of his business practices with the label, and made it clear he only wanted to sign artists that want to be a part of the CMG family. "As a label, one thing we don’t do and will never do is be in a bidding war,” he said. “You want to be with us? Then we’ll work out business terms that make sense for both of us.”
Read the full interview here.
