Bryan Williams (born February 15, 1969), better known by his stage name Birdman or Baby, is an American rapper and record executive from New Orleans, Louisiana. He is the co-founder of Cash Money Records and one half of the duo Big Tymers. Along with his releases with Big Tymers and for his solo career, Birdman recorded a collaboration album and numerous tracks with Lil Wayne.
Birdman was born and raised in Uptown New Orleans. With his brother Ronald “Slim” Williams, Birdman founded Cash Money Records in 1991. He used his first moniker B-32 (Baby with the 32 Golds) and released his only independent album I Need a Bag of Dope in 1993.
In 1997, he joined rapper Mannie Fresh to form the duo Big Tymers. Big Tymers debuted in 1998 with the album How Ya Luv That? and went on to release I Got That Work in 2000 and Hood Rich in 2002. I Got That Work had the hit singles “Get Your Roll On” and “#1 Stunna”; Hood Rich had “Still Fly”, which was nominated for a Grammy, and “Oh Yeah!”. Big Money Heavyweight followed in 2003, the group disbanded in 2004.
In 2002 Birdman released his self-titled debut studio album, Birdman, with the singles “Do That” and “What Happened to That Boy” (with Clipse). Since that album, Birdman made guest performances on the singles “Let’s Get Down” by Bow Wow, “Hell Yeah” by Ginuwine, and “Bounce Back” by Juvenile.
Birdman released his third studio album Fast Money in 2005, Fast Money spawned the singles “Get Your Shine On” and “Neck of the Woods”, both of which featured Lil Wayne. For Lil Wayne, Birdman produced and performed on tracks on Tha Carter and Tha Carter II.