Drake Fires Hip Hop Since 1978

Drake’s been on fire these days; releasing a new album last month, outwardly dissing social media, maintaining beef with Ludacris and now firing his management team, Hip Hop Since 1978.

“Drake just felt like there were too many hands in his pockets,” an anonymous source told the New York Post. “He was getting pulled in too many different directions.”

Hip Hop Since 1978, comprised of industry moguls like Cortez Bryant, Kyambo “Hip Hop” Joshua, Al Brach, Gee Roberson and Kinky “B” Ellerbee, is still managing big hip-hop names like Lil Wayne, Kanye West, T.I., Nicki Minaj, Just Blaze and Young Jeezy to name a few.

The Hip Hop Since 1978 team was not the only ones who were given the axe. Dana Sims and Robert Gibbs of International Creative Management, Drake’s booking agents, were also fired due to differing business opinions, according to BET.com.

In the two management teams’ place, Drake hired Brent Smith (Snoop Dogg’s rep) of the William Morris Endeavor to represent him, and he is still signed to Cash Money Records, according to AllHipHop.com.

“The Canadian rapper’s break with his business team is consistent with recent moves he has made to surround himself with the close-knit, largely Toronto-based crew of friends and associates who have been by his side since he was just a mixtape artist,” reported BET.com. “Oliver El-Khatib, a Toronto native and member of Drake’s October’s Very Own crew, began taking on management duties for Drake earlier this year.”

In addition to the Drake tug-of-war, the same anonymous source said that conflicts between the rapper’s original Canadian management team and Hip Hop Since 1978 have arisen. “His team fromCanada is trying to wrestle back control,” claimed the source. “He may go back to them to streamline things.”