Cash Money Bursts The Pop Bubble, "We Started W/ Rap; Now We Want To Expand"

Cash Money Records continues to expand its horizon in the music industry by signing its first pop group.

According to reports, pop crew Savvy are now under the watch of Cash Money co-founder Baby.

The singing and dancing quintet comes with a built-in following: Its members also star in the international TV comedy "The Wannabes," which is set to premiere in the United States on Sept. 5 on Starz Kids & Family. The members of Savvy -- Shaylen Carroll, GiGi LeMaire, Drew Reinartz, Alan Shaw and Andrew Stern -- are also in the studio working on their debut album for Cash Money/Universal Republic. "We started with rap; now we want to expand into different genres," says Cash Money's Slim, who was joined at the press conference by label attorney Vernon Brown. "Savvy is a special group. They work hard; we work hard. We saw their energy and felt their passion. With [the addition of artists like] Jay Sean, Kevin Rudolf and now Savvy, we're ready to make Cash Money into a world company." (Billboard)

Earlier in the summer, Baby spoke on not allowing corporations to run Cash Money to the ground.

"Just how heavy it was, how many different brands you had, how many different artists. Now it's a new era, really. A lot of the old acts ain't around no more, of the era when we come in the game. The labels, the corporations, they not supporting the brands. I think one of my biggest things was I been an independent brand. I always owned my own brand. I never been funded by them. It's P&D deal. I was always able to use my money to do everything we wanted to do, too. So when you bagged up by them and they money, and you ain't working out... You might have one bad year, and they'll give up. Things might not balance out. It could be any little thing. Times change, like 9/11, depression. People didn't wanna f*ck with money like they used to. In my situation, I never had them do that for me. I always floated my own money. We made our own moves." (XXL Magazine)

Last year, Cash Money rocker Kevin Rudolf discussed joining an urban-based record label.

"Yeah, Wayne was thrilled about ['Let It Rock' being featured on ESPN]--the thing with Cash Money is that they've never had a record that has been this visible," he explained in an interview. "Weezy was telling me one day, 'I want one of those NBA records Kevin... I want my sh*t on ESPN!.' [laughs] But I haven't spoken to him directly yet, but everyone around him says he's focused and doing well. I know he'll be fine. I might work with Drake for his album, but I've just been so busy wrapping up my project that I haven't gotten a chance to get in the studio with anyone yet. But I definitely plan to get up with everyone... Lil Twist, Chuckee. They're all talented kids." (VIBE)

Young Money president Mack Maine previously opened up about Cash Money's venture into other genres.

"As far as Cash Money, direction is everywhere," Maine said about the company. "Cash Money, Young Money it's [the same.] No feelings on [Wayne's bid.] We've been prepared. We've been prepared for whatever -- I could go back to the Cash Money question and the Jay Sean, Kevin Rudolf, Drake, Nicki Minaj, the top players in the genre, how could you ask for more? You got the NBA, you got your top players. All-Stars. Football All-Stars. We got legends that's gonna be in the Hall of Fame of music. If it's talent, we don't care where you from. It's not like we were looking for [Jay Sean], somebody turned Slim, Baby on, heard some of his music, saw some of his concerts, called him and was like, 'Why you not in the states yet?' because nobody knew him over there. It's like, we helped him and he helped us 'cause now we branching out way over there and getting some of his crowd." (Vlad TV)