Ovaground Undaground SounDZ Est. 1999: The 5 Things That Will Determine Young Money Entertainment's Success In The Future (OVAGROUND EXCLUSIVE)

Young Moolah, ba-by!

Lil' Wayne's Young Money Entertainment, is the rap game hottest boutique labels since No Limit Records in the late 90's.

Boasting a roster of rappers such as Drake, Jae Millz, Gudda Gudda, Tyga Nicki Manaj and Mack Maine, you kind of want to see what the label is actually working with.

Especially after blazing the charts with the summer smash "Every Girl", Toronto newcomer crooner/emcee Drake's "Best I Ever Had" and the DJ Drama-assisted "Dedication 3" mixtape featuring the whole Young Money roster, the upcoming Young Money Compliation is anticipated more than ever. Thaovaground.blogspot.com has gathered a list of 5 things that CAN and most likely will be analyzed as factors that WILL determine the future of Young Money:

(1.) Can Lil' Wayne come with another LP with the impact of The Carter 3?

Now we can ALL agree that Lil' Wayne's Carter 3 LP had 2008 on lock. Minus DJ Chuck T's deliberate leak of the album, it went on to sell over 1 million copies in the first week of release.

But, that was 2008 and it's 2009. Wayne's most recent project, the rock/rap influenced Rebirth had a release date but then it got its wig pushed back by the label. The Wayne we saw last year is not the same Wayne this year.

The only big look he has had was with his Young Money compadres on "Every Girl"which is a good thing if you think about it.

Young Money Entertainment NEEDS his fuel to keep the lights on in the house that Wayne has built. Just as Master P did before, Wayne has to be the figurehead to keep the attention on his label.

(2.) Drake's first album "Thank Me Later" must drop THIS year.

Toronto native Drake has single-handedly been this year what Wayne was last year. The big difference is: Drake doesn't even have an album out.

Starting the year with his mixtape "So Far Gone", he has taken the rap world by surprise. And he's (in his word's) on an independent imprint, Aspire Music Group along with Young Money Entertainment/Cash Money/Universal Records.

Young Money NEEDS his album to solidify that the label can actually boast a major artist release similiar to T.I's Grand Hustle imprint.

Young Dro's "Shoulder Lean" buzz is definitely not equal to Drake's but at least he got an album out. Drake plans on re-releasing "So Far Gone" with a slimmed-down tracklisting to prep for "Thank You Later". Let's see if Drake can get at least a major label look, please.

(3.) Who are the rest of the people in Young Money Entertainment?

This is the real burning question. Who is on the rest of the roster?

Wikipedia states that the current roster (sans Omarion's recent departure) is as follows: Lil' Wayne, Drake, Gudda, Jae Millz, Lil Chuckee, Lil Twist, Mack Maine, Nicki Minaj, Shanell, T-Streets, Tyga and newcomer Bow Wow.

This is great on paper but can they show up when the time is right? There is a demand for the label signees right now. Will Universal step up and ride the wave? That is up for time to tell.

(4.) Where is Mack Maine's album?

This is a pretty good question seeing that even though Wayne is the C.E.O. of the label, Mack Maine is the president of Young Money Entertainment.

Wayne's Hollygrove brethren is riding the YM wave off of features such as "Got Money" off of the Carter 3 and the infamous Miley Cyrus line on "Every Girl", he is definitely next in line along with Drake to rep the YM flag.

He had a respectable buzz-gaining mixtape entitled "This Is A Mixtape" hosted by Don Cannon earlier this year.

Can Mack Maine follow up behind the massive buzz surrounding Drake to convert that toward his own album?

(5.) Will the Universal machine step up?

Pretty much everything on this list is riding on the answer to this question.

Universal is a big company and it has its own revenue/profit growing priorities.

Lil' Wayne is STILL Lil' Wayne. Will Young Money have enough momentum to see
any release see the light of day?

These answers really are based on Mrs. Sylvia Rhone. Minus Drake's outburst on his So Far Gone mixtape ("I've always been something that these labels can't buy/especially if they trying to take a piece of my soul/and Sylvia be telling 'Tez, 'Damn, Drake fly'/and he just be like, 'silly motherfucker, I know), Sylvia is the last straw on this broom conversation.