Yung Bleu says he got the real stimulus from Drake who helped him grew his record deal from $300,000 to $9 million almost overnight, making him a millionaire.
Yung Bleu became a millionaire overnight after collaborating with Drake. In Hip Hop, there is a description for that type of impact when an artist collabs with Drake, and it’s called the “Drake Effect,” which has seen any artist’s value jump overnight.
Collaborating with Drake has helped many artists earn their first No. 1 track, and for others like Lil Durk, their booking rates are dramatically increased because of their successful link with the 6 God.
In an interview with DJ Akademiks, Bleu says that after his “You’re Mines Still” collaboration with Drake, he was offered millions by record labels when previously he was only working for a couple of hundreds Gs.
Yung Blue spoke about his deal with Columbia Records and leaving the label in 2019, feeling hurt that he did not own the rights to his music. He had explored another deal for a meager $250,000 as an advance for four projects as he wanted the rights to his old masters.
However, he eventually signed to Empire, who gave him an advance of $150,000 for one EP. Liking the terms of his agreement which had few strings attached, he signed on to another deal with Empire for $300,000 for Love Scars: The 5 Stages Of Emotions, which had a song, “You’re Mines Still,” that Drake hopped on.
That collaboration transformed his life.
“I was like, ‘Man, if they give me this money for this project, why would I tie myself down?'” he said. “And then they promising me another $300K, so I just made like $450K with them in six months. ‘Sh*t, this the wave!’ I text Nima [Etminan, CEO of EMPIRE] one day like, ‘Man, Drake told me to send him ‘You’re Mines Still.’ He like, ‘Get the f*** out of here.'”
So yea this happened ! Bleu & @Drake ?????? pic.twitter.com/GwUJ6DrpGf
— BLEU (@_YungBleu) October 13, 2020
“You’re Mines Still” remix debuted at No. 18 on the Billboard Hot 100, leading to Empire coming back with a bigger offer for Blue.
“That’s when I started seeing them real numbers,” he said. “Just to put it into perspective, as soon as the Drake record dropped, I was having bidding wars between $8 and $9 million,” he added.
“See, this is why I F*** with EMPIRE because they still had me for another project, so once I did the Drake song, they came back and redid my deal to way more,” he said.
“But they ain’t have to, though, because they still had me for the $300,000. A major label’s not finna do that,” he added.
