All 14 Lil Wayne Albums, Ranked (Staff Picks)
Over the weekend, Lil Wayne shook the game up once again by dropping off his latest album Tha Carter VI. To celebrate the release, Weezy also hosted a blockbuster show at New York's Madison Square Garden on Friday (June 6), where he ran through hits both new and old, flexing his dominating catalog in a star-studded 70 minute showcase. It was a glorious reminder of Tunechi's unparalleled greatness and hard work. From his early days as a Hot Boy, to his legendary mixtape run, to his groundbreaking studio records, Wayne's awe-inspiring grind resulted in one of the greatest outputs in hip-hop history.
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Over the years, Weezy has evolved into a genre-defining figure, and his catalog as a result is a wild ride filled with exorbitant highs (Tha Carter III) and crushing lows (Rebirth). Not every Wayne album is perfect — and from our first handful of listens, Tha Carter VI might unfortunately be one of his more imperfect releases — but the New Orleans spitter has made a career out of taking creative risks regardless of the outcome, and that needs to be applauded. Even when these risks haven't paid off, it's undeniable that Wayne has forever changed the course of mainstream rap because of them.
Whether you're a longtime fan or not, the breakdown below of Wayne's albums aim to celebrate the highs, acknowledge the missteps and explore how Weezy's music reflects a career forever defined by resilience, reinvention and a relentless amount of unparalleled lyricism. Let's dive in and see how the legacy stacks up, one album at a time.
While Lil Wayne should be praised for his experimentation, Rebirth's risky venture down a rock-and-roll-trodden path didn't garner the best results. 'Drop The World' was the only major success, as Weezy's Auto-Tuned drizzlings and occasional guitar riffs couldn't save the record from flop status. Regardless, it reaffirmed his status as a creative risktaker, and you can't fully hate on Wayne's earnest-if-dated attempt to try and shake up the music industry snow globe. (Weezy did rap 'Confidence is the stain they can't wipe off' on 'Drop.') His commitment was and remains endearing. — MACKENZIE CUMMINGS-GRADY
Unlike Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible franchise — which only seems to get better over time — the same can't be said for Lil Wayne's beloved Carter series. On Friday (June 6), Wayne unloaded his sixth entry and whiffed entirely. The lackluster showing isn't solely his fault — he flashes glimpses of vintage, Martian-level creativity on the BigXthaPlug-assisted 'Hip-Hop' and the ovation-worthy outro 'Written History.' But what derails the entire experience is his porous beat selection: 'Peanuts 2 N Elephant,' produced by Lin-Manuel Miranda, is a full-blown trainwreck, while 'If I Played Guitar' is a putrid rehash of 'How to Love.' Unless Wayne brings in better producers, he may need to retire the Carter name before it further muddies the legacy of this legendary series. — CARL LAMARRE
While far from Wayne's strongest album, FWA makes sense under the context with which it was created. Made in 2015, during a time when Birdman appeared to holding Carter V hostage, FWA was created as an exclusive under the Tidal streaming service, with which Weezy was a fellow 'artist owner.' This means that FWA was created either with demos or under duress, either way leading to an uneven project filled with solid bars over solid beats. Memorability never felt like the goal of FWA, with songs like 'London Roads' and 'Murda' merely proving ghostly echoes of Carter IV's past. Instead, the set served as more of a necessary reminder that Weezy was still here, and largely succeeded at satiating his restless fans for a bit longer before the Carter V could finally see the light of day later in the decade. — M.C.G.
2002's 5000 Degreez showcased a young 19-year-old Lil Wayne finding his voice. The tape was full of ripe potential, with songs like 'Where You At' and 'Way of Life' offering glimpses of the hip-hop powerhouse Tunechi would soon become. But 5000 Degreez felt shrouded in a fog of monotony: The tape was obviously meant as an ode to Juvenile's 4000 Degreez, but what emerged in Weezy's version was a lot of similarly constructed club records that bled into one another. Pockets of greatness did emerge through that fog, but clearly the best was yet to come. — M.C.G.
I Am Not a Human Being 2 was almost destined to be a slump, considering even Weezy himself derided the project as a 'bum-ass album' before its 2013 release. The standout singles ('Love Me', 'Rich as F—k,' 'No Worries,') were the only particularly memorable tracks, making some solid impact in clubs and on radio. Even then, these were far from Weezy's greatest lyrical accomplishments, and at times felt almost satirical ('P—y in my face, I ain't got no worries'). Every other song came and went as quickly as a gentle breeze, and a major days-long health scare for Wayne lessened the work's commercial impact even further. — M.C.G.
The original I Am Not a Human Being came at a strange time in Weezy's career. Released right before his own release from jail on a gun possession charge, the album felt immeasurable in terms of what it meant for Wayne's career at this moment. And the Drake-assisted four-peat of 'Gonorrhea,' 'With You,' 'I'm Single' and 'Right Above It' all stuck the landing, capturing the waning Young Money chemistry at one of its last high points.
But the album's other tracks — even some of the ventures with Nicki Minaj — felt undercooked, considering how high the stakes were for Wayne's career. Would Weezy emerge from jail able to return to his era of dominance? Would he fall back and recalibrate? I Am Not a Human Being, which included songs mostly recorded before his eight month Rikers Island stint, did not offer any clear answers. — M.C.G.
Emerging after the pressure surrounding Carter V's release had finally lifted, 2020's Funeral served as a playful return to form for Weezy. Tapping back into a breakneck level of efficiency seen during his prolific post-Carter II mixtape run, Wayne raps about nothing in particular with a devilish glint in his eye. Songs like 'Bastard (Satan's Kid)' and 'Line Em Up' cover the usual array of braggadocious Wayne topics — being the best, smoking that loud, eliminating the opps — but it's clear he feels a sense of relief while he raps. Wayne can't seem to get the bars out fast enough. Yes, Funeral is bloated, and its slower songs drag the tape down to a slog, but hearing Wayne have fun again after the emotional and legal turmoil surrounding the Carter V made the highs of Funeral feel very high. — M.C.G.
Tha Block Is Hot will always have a nostalgic place in the heart of any longtime Weezy fan. Songs like 'Tha Block Is Hot' and 'Loud Pipes' will always get a party going, and 'F—k tha World' will always cause some diehard Wayne fan to step out of the woodwork and rap it word-for-word. Wayne's 1999 debut was quickly overshadowed by much of what came after, but Tha Block Is Hot is filled with the bristling potential of a future rap superstar. — M.C.G.
Arguably his most underrated album, 2000's Lights Out showed glimpses of Wayne's superstar potential and songwriting prowess. It's also the first album where he starts to hint at Jay-Z's influence — specifically on the track 'Lil One,' where he and Baby perform their own version of Jigga and Memphis Bleek's 'Coming of Age' series. Then, there's the standout Hot Boys posse cut 'Shine,' which proved once again that Weezy and Cash Money weren't just a Southern Rap phenomenon: It was a favorite in the New York City area back then, getting major play in this writer's car specifically. — ANGEL DIAZ
From the legal drama, to the personal turmoil between Birdman and Weezy, to the blockbuster run of Carter II through IV, The Carter V's hype was impossible to match by the time it dropped in 2018. Still, the album met the colossal moment to the best of its ability: 'Uproar' remains a classic, and gave Wayne his first lead major radio hit as a lead artist in years.
Meanwhile, 'Mona Lisa' made good on the long-awaited sparring match between K-Dot and Weezy with a tongue-twisting flurry of a song, and Nicki Minaj offered an excellent R&B feature on 'Dark Side of the Moon.' Still, there were only a few obvious standout moments across the album, which is surprising considering its nearly hour-and-a-half runtime. While it's far from Weezy's best Carter entry, Tha Carter V was an undeniably solid return for Tunechi. — M.C.G.
The album that started it all. While Tha Block Is Hot announced Weezy's arrival, Tha Carter announced his candidacy for Greatest Rapper Alive status. With Mannie Fresh cooking up some of his most gourmet instrumentals ever, Lil Wayne completely shifted his style of rapping to a braggadocious flair heavily inspired by the elegance of Jay-Z. 'Go D.J.,' 'Earthquake' and 'This Is The Carter' are just a few of the classics that appeared on the project, and while even better Carter editions would soon follow, the first served as the rumble of thunder in the distance, signaling that a massive storm was coming. — M.C.G.
After clinching a 'three-peat' with his trio of Carter albums, Wayne salivated at the idea of securing another game-winning performance on Tha Carter IV. Tracks like '6 Foot 7 Foot,' 'Nightmares of the Bottom,' 'She Will' and 'John' showcased the New Orleans werewolf still operating near his peak. But the album lacked the horsepower that made Carter II and Carter III hum, and though it delivered another near-million in first-week sales, a few unfortunate missteps — including his limp shots at Pusha T on 'It's Good' and his drowsy, insipid take on romance in 'How to Love' — ultimately soured Tha Carter IV's potential to match its two predecessors. — C.L.
After establishing himself as one of hip-hop's most cerebral lyricists on Tha Carter II, Wayne had his sights set on mainstream dominance with Tha Carter III. Unlike its predecessor, Wayne's stab at pop superstardom was deliberate. Songs like 'Lollipop' and 'Mrs. Officer' were melodic ear candy, while records such as 'A Milli' and 'Mr. Carter' fortified his lyrical firepower. Wayne's transformation from Hot Boy sidekick to Rap Goblin was complete when he decoded his genius on this 2008 masterwork, becoming hip-hop's most undeniable typhoon. — C.L.
Sometimes, a rapper enters a zone that few have been able to enter. Fresh off the promising first entry in Tha Carter series, Wayne entered rarified air and delivered his first classic album, which then put him on an ascent that he's just now recently coming down from. Tha Carter II officially made Lil Wayne a superstar, putting him in the conversation for Best Rapper Alive with songs like 'Tha Mobb,' 'Money on My Mind,' and 'Hustler Musik,' all of which remain classics in his catalog.
And while those tracks foreshadowed what he had up his sleeve lyrically with his much talked about mixtape run that came after, a record like 'Shooter' featuring Robin Thicke showed that he also had the mainstream appeal — which we would see come to a head on the massive third Carter album, when he sold a mind-boggling one million copies during its first week. Tha Carter II was his launching pad into a new stratosphere. — A.D.
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Swift went on to share that the deal made her revisit all of the times she was allegedly bullied by Braun and his clients. 'Like when Kim Kardashian orchestrated an illegally recorded snippet of a phone call to be leaked and then Scooter got his two clients together to bully me online about it,' she said. 'Or when his client, Kanye West, organized a revenge porn music video which strips my body naked. Now Scooter has stripped me of my life's work, that I wasn't given an opportunity to buy. Essentially, my musical legacy is about to lie in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it.' She also went on to question Borchetta's loyalty, saying that he knew how Swift felt about Braun. The Big Machine label founder/CEO penned a letter titled, 'So, It's Time for Some Truth,' also posted June 30, 2019. 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Though Swift was not mentioned by name, a representative for Big Machine said in a statement to Billboard that the company has 'agreed to grant all licenses of their artists' performances to stream post show and for re-broadcast on mutually approved platforms.' 'It should be noted that recording artists do not need label approval for live performances on television or any other live media,' the statement continues. 'Record label approval is only needed for contracted artists' audio and visual recordings and in determining how those works are distributed.' Swift went on to perform a number of her old songs at the AMAs, including 'Love Story,' 'I Knew You Were Trouble' and 'Shake It Off.' She seemingly alluded to her ownership battle by wearing a men's button-down printed with the names of her first six album titles at the beginning of her performance, singing a snippet of 'The Man.' In an open letter to Swift posted on Instagram, Braun revealed that he and his family had received 'numerous death threats' since the pop star's statement about the AMAs. 'I assume this was not your intention but it is important that you understand that your words carry a tremendous amount of weight and that your message can be interpreted by some in different ways,' he continued in the post. 'While disappointed that you have remained silent after being notified by your attorney 4 days ago of these ongoing threats, I'm still hopeful we can fix this.' During her Woman of the Decade interview with Billboard, Swift said, 'Every week, we get a dozen synch requests to use 'Shake It Off' in some advertisement or 'Blank Space' in some movie trailer, and we say no to every single one of them. And the reason I'm rerecording my music next year is because I do want my music to live on. I do want it to be in movies, I do want it to be in commercials. But I only want that if I own it.' 'It's going to be fun, because it'll feel like regaining a freedom and taking back what's mine,' she said of the re-recording process. 'When I created [these songs], I didn't know what they would grow up to be. Going back in and knowing that it meant something to people is actually a really beautiful way to celebrate what the fans have done for my music.' While accepting the Woman of the Decade honors at Billboard's Women in Music event, Swift touched on her feud with Braun. 'Lately there's been a new shift that has affected me personally and that I feel is a potentially harmful force in our industry, and as your resident loud person, I feel the need to bring it up,' she said at the ceremony. 'And that is the unregulated world of private equity coming in and buying up our music as if it is real estate. As if it's an app or a shoe line. This just happened to me without my approval, consultation, or consent. After I was denied the chance to purchase my music outright, my entire catalog was sold to Scooter Braun's Ithaca Holdings in a deal that I'm told was funded by the Soros Family, 23 Capital, and the Carlyle Group. Yet to this day none of these investors have ever bothered to contact me or my team directly. To perform their due diligence on their investment. On their investment in me. To ask how I might feel about the new owner of my art. The music I wrote. The videos I created. Photos of me, my handwriting, my album designs. And of course, Scooter never contacted me or my team to discuss it prior to the sale or even when it was announced. I'm fairly certain he knew exactly how I would feel about it though. And let me just say that the definition of the toxic male privilege in our industry is people saying, 'But he's always been nice to me,' when I'm raising valid concerns about artists and their rights to own their music. And of course he's nice to you. If you're in this room, you have something he needs. The fact is that private equity is what enabled this man to think, according to his own social media post, that he could buy me. But I'm obviously not going willingly. Yet the most amazing thing was to discover that it would be the women in our industry who would have my back and show me the most vocal support at one of the most difficult times, and I will never, ever forget it. Like, ever.' Watch her speech on Billboard's YouTube channel. Using multiple barometers employed by music industry investors, Billboard estimated in February 2020 that the price of Swift's first six albums was anywhere from $400 million to $450 million, roughly double what Braun paid for them three months prior. In April 2020, Swift informed her fans via Instagram stories that her 'former label is putting out an 'album' of live performances of mine tonight.' 'I'm always honest with you guys about this stuff so I just wanted to tell you that this release is not approved by me,' Swift continued of the project, Live From Clear Channel Stripped 2008. 'It looks to me like Scooter Braun and his financial backers, 23 Capital, Alex Soros and the Soros family and The Carlyle Group have seen the latest balance sheets and realized that paying $330 MILLION for my music wasn't exactly a wise choice and they need money. 'In my opinion…Just another case of shameless greed in the time of Coronavirus,' the star concluded. 'So tasteless, but very transparent.' Ye, at the time still known as Kanye West, went on a tweeting spree in September 2020 proclaiming that 'all artists must be free' and referring to the music industry as 'modern day slavery.' He then brought Swift's dispute with Braun into the discussion. 'I'M GOING TO PERSONALLY SEE TO IT THAT TAYLOR SWIFT GETS HER MASTERS BACK. SCOOTER IS A CLOSE FAMILY FRIEND,' the rapper tweeted. In August 2019, Swift told Good Morning America's Robin Roberts when exactly she'd be able to start legally rerecording her old music. 'Yeah, that's true and it's something that I'm very excited about doing, because my contract says that starting November 2020 — so next year — I can record albums one through five all over again,' she said at the time. 'I'm very excited about it. I just think that artists deserve to own their own work. I just feel very passionately about that.' Sure enough, on the first day of November 2020, Swifties took to social media to celebrate with the hashtag #TaylorIsFree. According to a note Swift posted to Twitter on Nov. 16, 2020, and confirmed to Billboard by a source, Shamrock Holdings purchased the star's Big Machine Label Group catalog from Scooter Braun's Ithaca Holdings. The sale marked the second time in 17 months ownership over Swift's first six albums had changed hands. Swift posted to X that once Braun decided to sell her masters, his 'team' had asked her to sign a non-disclosure agreement before she could even 'bid on [her] own work.' 'My legal team said that this is absolutely not normal, and they're never seen an NDA like this presented unless it was to silence an assault accuser by paying them off,' she added at the time. 'He would never even quote my team a price. These master recordings were not for sale to me.' She also wrote that she'd originally been open to a partnership with Shamrock after the sale went through, but ultimately decided against it after learning that Braun would 'continue to profit off my old musical catalog for many years' under the new terms. 'Scooter's participation is a non-starter for me,' she added in her post. On April 9, 2021 — nearly two years after Swift first called out Braun for the sale of her masters — the pop star dropped Fearless (Taylor's Version), the first of her six planned re-records. Complete with never-before-heard Vault tracks and collaborations with other artists, the project was a massive success and ended up topping the Billboard 200 for two weeks. 'This process has been more fulfilling and emotional than I could've imagined and has made me even more determined to re-record all of my music,' she wrote in a note to fans prior to the album's release. 'I hope you'll like this first outing as much as I liked traveling back in time to recreate it.' In June 2021, Braun reflected on the immediate aftermath of his acquisition of Swift's catalog in an interview with Variety. 'I regret and it makes me sad that Taylor had that reaction to the deal,' he told the publication. 'All of what happened has been very confusing and not based on anything factual.' 'I don't know what story she was told,' he continued. 'I asked for her to sit down with me several times, but she refused. I offered to sell her the catalog back and went under NDA, but her team refused. It all seems very unfortunate. Open communication is important and can lead to understanding. She and I only met briefly three or four times in the past, and all our interactions were really friendly and kind. I find her to be an incredibly talented artist and wish her nothing but the best.' Swift soon followed up Fearless with Red (Taylor's Version) in November 2021. In addition to topping the Billboard 200, the project earned Swift her eighth No. 1 hit on the Hot 100 with 'All Too Well (10 Minute Version),' which also set a record by dethroning Don McLean's 'American Pie' for longest song to top the chart. Braun again reflected on his dispute with Swift in a 2022 interview with MSNBC. 'When I was buying [Big Machine], I actually said to that group, 'If at any point [Swift] wants to come back and be a part of this conversation, please let me know, because I wouldn't do this deal,'' he said. 'I was shown an email — which has now been made public now — where she stated that she wanted to move on that negotiation and wasn't interested in doing that deal anymore.' The mogul later continued, 'I think Taylor has every right to re-record. She has every right to pursue her masters, and I wish her nothing but well, and I have zero interest in saying anything bad about her. I've never said anything bad about her in the past, and I won't start to now. The only thing I disagree with is weaponizing a fanbase.' While speaking to NPR in September 2022, Braun opened up about the 'important lesson' his experience with Big Machine and Swift taught him: 'I can't put myself in a place of, you know, arrogance to think that someone would just be willing to have a conversation and be excited to work with me,' he said. The entrepreneur went on to emphasize how important it has been for him since the debacle with Swift to make sure he has conversations with everyone involved ahead of major business moves — something he says he didn't have the chance to do when purchasing Big Machine, as he was under a strict NDA that forbade him from contacting any of the artists on the label's roster before the sale. 'The regret I have there is that I made the assumption that everyone, once the deal was done, was going to have a conversation with me, see my intent, see my character and say, great, let's be in business together,' Braun added to NPR. 'And I made that assumption with people that I didn't know.' The third album in Swift's discography became her third re-release on July 7, 2023, with the pop star unveiling Speak Now (Taylor's Version) a couple months after announcing it at an Eras Tour show. The LP spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. When Swift dropped 1989 (Taylor's Version) in October 2023, it quickly became her most successful re-record to date. Spending six weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, the LP was the star's first to outperform its original counterpart in first-week sales, taking home 1,359 million in comparison to 1989's 1.287 million in 2014. While speaking to TIME for her 2023 Person of the Year interview, Swift said that her dispute with Braun was one of two springboards for where her career is now (the other being her feud with Ye and Kim Kardashian). 'With the Scooter thing, my masters were being sold to someone who actively wanted them for nefarious reasons, in my opinion,' she told the publication at the time. 'I was so knocked on my a– by the sale of my music, and to whom it was sold. I was like, 'Oh, they got me beat now. This is it. I don't know what to do.'' Swift also described the situation with Braun has 'having my life's work taken away from me by someone who hates me.' 'My response to anything that happens, good or bad, is to keep making things,' she added. 'Keep making art … But I've also learned there's no point in actively trying to quote unquote defeat your enemies. Trash takes itself out every single time.' Five years after their feud first exploded into the public eye, Braun turned some heads by posting about Swift on his Instagram Story. Sharing a TMZ article about the pop star's beach vacation with boyfriend Travis Kelce, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, the businessman wrote, 'How was I not invited to this?!? #laughalittle.' Just before that, he also posted about watching Max's documentary about their feud — Taylor Swift vs Scooter Braun: Bad Blood — which had premiered two months prior. 'I finally watched it…,' he simply wrote, sharing a screenshot of the project's poster. 'You'd think after his previous posts about her he'd learn by now,' an industry source told Billboard of Braun's activity at the time. 'It's like he's obsessed.' After Swift endorsed Kamala Harris for the 2024 presidential election, Republican opponent Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social, 'I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT.' In response, Braun reshared the twice-impeached ex-POTUS' post on Instagram Stories and wrote, 'Shake it off Donald … Kamala 2024.' At long last, Swift was able to buy back the masters to her first six albums, purchasing them from Shamrock Capital almost five years after the firm first bought them from Braun. Revealing the news in a letter on her website, the singer called it her 'greatest dream come true' and noted that she felt 'forever grateful' to Shamrock for how negotiations were handled. 'I'm trying to gather my thoughts into something coherent, but right now my mind is just a slideshow,' she also wrote. 'A flashback sequence of all the times I daydreamed about, wished for, and pined away for a chance to get to tell you this news. All the times I was thiiiiiiiis close, reaching out for it, only for it to fall through. I almost stopped thinking it could ever happen, after 20 years of having the carrot dangled and then yanked away. But that's all in the past now.' Shortly after Swift announced that she'd bought back her masters, Braun shared a succinct response with Billboard: 'I am happy for her.' Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Janet Jackson's Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits H.E.R. & Chris Brown 'Come Through' to No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart
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Scooter Braun Reveals Where He Stands With Justin Bieber & Says Their Relationship Is ‘Not the Same'
It's been almost a year since Scooter Braun officially retired from music management after years of shepherding the likes of Ariana Grande, J Balvin and Tori Kelly into superstardom. But before he had any of those clients, he had Justin Bieber. In an interview on The Diary of a CEO posted Monday (June 9), the music mogul reflected on where he stands with the pop star nearly two decades after Braun first discovered the then-13-year-old Bieber back when he himself was just 25. 'We were able to achieve some amazing things,' the businessman began. 'I'm very proud of what we achieved and always rooting for him.' More from Billboard Scooter Braun Shares How 'Deeply Unfair' Backlash to Taylor Swift Feud Turned Out to Be a 'Gift' Kylie Minogue Joins Prestigious '21 Club' at London's O2 Arena Kevin Parker Previews New Tame Impala Music During Barcelona DJ Set Now that they no longer work together, however, Braun confessed that his relationship with Bieber is 'not the same that it was.' 'I think there comes a point where — I understand — he probably wants to go on and show that he can do it,' Braun said. 'We worked together for so long and we had such extreme success, and I think you get to a point as a man where you want to show the world you can do it on your own. And I completely respect that. I think at this point, that's what he's doing. Myself and everyone from the old team is rooting for him.' The SB Projects founder went on to praise Bieber and a few other former clients, noting that their successes only serve as 'testimony' to what they were able to achieve together. 'To see Justin move forward and succeed, to see Ariana with what's happened with Wicked in this past year, to see Tori Kelly …,' Braun said. 'Everybody that I've ever had a chance to work with, to see them go on and do great things on their own, it's awesome.' Braun announced in June 2024 that he would be retiring from artist management to focus on his duties as CEO of HYBE America, a role he stepped into after HYBE acquired his Ithaca Holdings for $1.05 billion in 2021. The news came a little less than a year after Billboard reported that the 'Baby' singer was exploring other options on the management front, though a full-on split at the time seemed difficult as Bieber still had four years left on his contract with SB Projects. Also in 2023, Grande, Balvin and Demi Lovato each parted ways with Braun's company in quick succession. When Braun announced his retirement the following year, the mogul shouted out many of his former clients and wrote, 'I will continue to root for them with the same passion that I did at each of their humble beginnings … there will never be a day where I don't take great pride and honor in what we accomplished together.' Even so, rumors circulated that there had been a personal rift between Braun and Bieber. That speculation was only exacerbated when the Grammy winner appeared to unfollow his former manager on Instagram in January. But according to Braun, their professional separation was nothing personal. When asked on The Diary of a CEO whether it 'hurt' to hear that Bieber wanted to go his own way, Braun said, 'No, not at that point.' 'I was also at that point,' Braun said. 'It had been a couple years where I knew I wanted to do something else. I wanted to find out who I was, I wanted to experiment with a different career. We were both communicating enough with each other. The writing was on the wall.' Watch Braun's full interview on The Diary of a CEO below. Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Janet Jackson's Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits H.E.R. & Chris Brown 'Come Through' to No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart