Yo Gotti is taking his empire to new heights, according to a new Forbes interview that revealed the Memphis native’s focus on impact and expanding his business portfolio beyond music.
Gotti stated that mentors such as JAY-Z have helped him shift his mindset from being hyper-focused on making money to his overall impact. “How many people you can help along the way, how much change you can help change, how many people you can pull up… voiceless people you can speak for… That’s why I call JAY the GOAT,” he said.
The publication says that the label executive has an estimated valuation of $100 million. But Forbes isn’t the only one taking notice of his strides. “His business acumen is evident in every move he makes,” said JAY-Z, noting how Gotti is “breaking the mold of the old-guard definition of an executive.”
But one of the Collective Music Group founder’s earliest lessons in how to navigate the corporate world came from 50 Cent. Around 24 minutes into the interview, which was published on Friday (Feb. 23), he recalled a time he was working out a deal with Epic Records when 50 imparted some wisdom to him. “We was talking about CMG [then Cocaine Muzik Group] and he was familiar with the mixtape series and all that, and you know 50, if anybody knows 50, you know when 50 talks, if he talks to you, right, he just volunteers information,” began the “Rake It Up” artist.
“He used to tell me a lot of information, you know, things I thought was valuable information and that I should use… He was just giving me game… He was telling me you should change from Cocaine Muzik ‘cause you may scare the corporate people. I had never thought of it,” said Gotti.
“You still rap about what you wanna rap about, you move how you wanna move, but just make sure on paper though, you can make sure your business, like, clean… The further you get up, you don’t want to scare the people," added the platinum recording artist. “You know, on first impression they hear the name Cocaine Muzik, it’s like, ‘Oh, we already don’t want to do business with you.’ So that was a good piece of advice 50 gave me — a valuable piece of advice.”
As he picked up information that helped him transform his career into that of a mogul, Gotti said he is passing it down to his artists. The entrepreneur is also enrolled at UCLA, where he is taking business classes at the Anderson School of Management.
“I may want to buy a company or acquire another company,” he said. “So, I’m making sure I’m super tight — and understand the language and the verbiage myself… If I never wrote another rap again, I’m financially straight. My whole career, I was setting up for that.”
For more gems, check out the full interview below.