Did Yo Gotti change his label name?

Yo Gotti Says 50 Cent Advised Him to Change Cocaine Muzik Group Name

Image via Getty/Paras Griffin

In an extensive new interview about his career and record label, Yo Gotti revealed that 50 Cent gave him some integral advice that led to him renaming his label.

As he told Billboard in a profile feature, Gotti made the decision to change the name of CMG, then called Cocaine Muzik Group, after he signed a deal with Epic Records in 2013. He said the original name was a nod to the “addictiveness” of the music released by the label, but a phone call with Fif ultimately inspired him to go with something less abrasive. 

“I was having a [phone] conversation with 50 Cent, and he was like, ‘Yo, you’re winning, but you can’t be Cocaine Muzik Group — that’s too harsh. They’re going to be scared of that,’” Gotti recalled. “[I] thought about it like, ‘Damn, he’s right. What else does CMG mean?’ He put it in my head to start thinking in that direction.” 

As a result of the advice, he said he decided to tweak what CMG stood for, and went with Collective Music Group, instead.

Elsewhere in the feature, he opened up about some of his business practices with the label, and made it clear he only wanted to sign artists that want to be a part of the CMG family. "As a label, one thing we don’t do and will never do is be in a bidding war,” he said. “You want to be with us? Then we’ll work out business terms that make sense for both of us.”

Read the full interview here.

Yo Gotti’s Collective Music Group is home to artists such as Moneybagg Yo, EST Gee, 42 Dugg, Mozzy and Lehla Samia.

50 Cent played a key role in Yo Gotti’s decision to alter his Cocaine Muzik Group’s name to Collective Music Group.

Yo Gotti discussed why he changed the label’s name in an interview with Billboard. The CMG founder said a chat with 50 Cent made him reconsider the original moniker.

“I was having a [phone] conversation with 50 Cent, and he was like, ‘Yo, you’re winning, but you can’t be Cocaine Muzik Group — that’s too harsh,” Yo Gotti recalled. “They’re going to be scared of that.’ [I] thought about it like, ‘Damn, he’s right. What else does CMG mean?’ He put it in my head to start thinking in that direction.”

He eventually settled on Collective Music Group, which became the home of Moneybagg Yo and EST Gee. CMG also signed 42 Dugg as part of a joint deal with Lil Baby’s 4PF imprint.

Earlier this year, Yo Gotti bolstered the CMG roster by signing Sacramento’s Mozzy. The Memphis native expanded outside of Hip Hop too, adding R&B singer Lehla Samia to the label a few months later.

Yo Gotti’s CMG signed a partnership with Interscope Records in 2021. The deal landed him back at a major label after leaving Epic Records in 2020.