What would you sacrifice in order to pivot the trajectory of your career? For 2 Chainz, it cost him a hefty bag.

According to Complex, the rapper had signed to Ludacris’ record label, Disturbing the Peace, with his former rap partner Dolla Boy as a duo — known as Playaz Circle. After gaining insight on how to prosper in the industry as a budding artist at the time, he decided that he wanted out of his initial deal and to take off in the game on his own terms.

2 Chainz eventually was able to get out of his Disturbing tha Peace deal, but he shared on an episode of “Drink Champs” that he had to pay up first.

“I woke up and called [Ludacris] and said, ‘I don’t want to be on the label anymore.’ Then they said, ‘You can’t do that. You can’t just get off a label like that.’ … They thought I was about to go sign with Cash Money because I had a strong relationship with Tune at the time,” he shared.

He continued: “I been around ’Cris, I been around Wayne, and then I’m learning I can really do this on my own. … I paid [Ludacris] to get out, they get a point on my first three albums. I paid Luda the 100 grand and I gave him a point on each of the three albums. I just dropped my seventh album. I’m on my eighth album that I’m ’bout to drop now—and the 100,000, I mean very humbly, I got it on me now.”

The outlet also noted that he recalled paying to get out of the deal on Complex’s Everyday Struggle in 2017.

“I had to pay [Luda] $100K per album, and I think, some other little. I’ve made $100K so many times, [so] it was a pretty good deal to get out of it.”

Hear it for yourself below.

Disturbing the Peace

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