Some business deals are a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!
For rapper Lloyd Banks, it was his sophomore album, “Rotten Apple,” that afforded him the biggest advance he has ever seen. The former G-Unit emcee revealed that the 2006 project laced his pockets with around $1 million before it even dropped.
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The Advance of a Lifetime
“My advance for my second album was like a million dollars,” said Banks during an appearance on the Rap Radar podcast hosted by Brian “B.Dot” Miller and Elliott Wilson.
Miller quickly confirmed that “those days are over,” in the music industry when it comes to artists seeing the big bucks ahead of releasing new projects.
The Inspiration Behind The Album
“Yeah, I never told anybody that,” said Banks. “But then imagine what the third one was supposed to be.”
In 2004, Banks emerged on the rap scene with his debut album, “The Hunger For More.” According to the Queens rapper, after an entanglement with two women, his initial second project, which was titled, “The Big Withdrawl,” was scrapped when the ladies leaked an unmastered copy of the tape that he left at their home.
Rather than crying over spilled milk, Banks quickly got back to work and it was then that “Rotten Apple” was birthed.
Collaboration is Key
The album featured heavy-hitter collaborations with G-Unit creator and rap mogul, 50 Cent, as well as other members of the New York label like Tony Yayo and Young Buck. Musiq Soulchild, Keri Hilson, Mobb Deep, and others also appeared on the album.
Production for “Rotten Apple” was led by 9th Wonder, Eminem, and more, and the project debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 Chart. It sold 143,000 units within its first week.
The Ultimate Album
Now, Banks is back.
As he continues to promote his latest body of work, “The Course of the Inevitable 2,” the 40-year-old emcee says he still feels as though he’s chasing the “ultimate album.”
“I just feel like I’m chasing the ultimate album, you know what I mean?” he shared during the episode. “So it’s like, I can’t possibly be finished. I also lost more than a few years from just taking hiatuses in the business. In a lot of spots, I might have been expected to have momentum, but I wasn’t in a situation at the time to just drop album after album.”
