Lil Wayne Says Yankees Made Young Money Change Logo
Lil Wayne says the New York Yankees forced him to scrap the original Young Money logo.
He described the dispute on the 16 September episode of The Joint Venture, the sports talk programme he co-hosts with Craig Carton. He said the baseball club sent a cease-and-desist letter, a formal legal demand to stop using a design, over the label's interlocking "YM" mark. Billboard
The problem was similarity. Wayne said the Yankees objected because the "YM" looked too much like the team's interlocking "NY" insignia. That Yankees mark dates back a long way. An early version originated in 1909.
Wayne said he stopped using the vintage logo after the letter arrived and changed it. Before that, the old design was part of his daily life. He said he had it on a door in his first Miami condo. Complex
The logo travelled further than doors and record sleeves. NBA star J.R. Smith had the "YM" tattooed on his neck. The tattoo kept the old design in circulation even after Wayne moved away from it.
Young Money Entertainment is the rap label and organisation Wayne founded. Its roster has included Drake, Nicki Minaj, Tyga, Jae Millz and Gudda Gudda. The label released three compilation albums: 2009's We Are Young Money, 2013's Rich Gang with Cash Money Records, and 2014's Rise of an Empire. All three peaked inside the top 10 of the Billboard 200, the United States albums chart.
What makes this stand out is the collision of scale. A baseball insignia more than a century old met a rap label mark built in the 2000s. One letter was enough to redraw it.
