Cash Money Rap Moguls Know The Real Money Is In Oil

Cash Money Records founding baller Bryan 'Birdman' Williams aka Baby has upped the bling ante, bypassing the platinum hub caps and diamond-laden grill for the ultimate show piece: an oil rig tattooed on his head. That's because Birdman and his brother Ronald "Slim" Williams know the real money is in oil. And once you've seen the light -- or the cash in the crude -- the only logical thing to do is start your own oil and gas exploration business.

I guess in the rap world, oil and gas simply has more venture capitalist street cred than clean energy.

And why not? Who says only guys with 10-gallon hats and contributors to the Republican party get to be in the oil business. Actually, when you think about it, they're pretty similar.

Drive big, fancy tank-like cars. Members of exclusive clubs. Carry guns. Flash their money around. Vulnerable to gold diggers.

These guys will fit right in.

I want to take this seriously. Really, why not launch an oil and gas exploration business? The Williams brothers have already proved themselves as savvy businessmen with their Cash Money Records label, with artists like Jay Sean and Lil' Wayne. But then they had to turnaround and name the company Bronald Oil & Gas LLC - yes, a combination of their names.

The company is described on its Web site as an independent oil and gas company focused on exploration, production and development of oil and gas reserves from conventional and unconventional formations. The company will focus on exploration and development properties in Osage County, Oklahoma as well as Texas, Louisiana and Central America. Heck, they're even interested in unconventional shale gas.

Bronald isn't exactly busting down doors to buy up property in Osage County. Chaparral Energy, which operates 40 percent of the wells in the county -- had not been contacted by Bronald, the company's senior vice president told Bloomberg News. Bloomberg hunted down other great little tidbits, including the fact that the address listed for Bronald with the Oklahoma Corporation Commission is a beachfront condo in Florida.

Tudor Pickering Holt & Co. better watch its back though. The Houston investment bank firm said rappers getting into the industry was the sign of the end of an oil-market rally, Bloomberg reported.

Doctors and dentist investing in wells was a sign of top in 1980s, Tudor said in a note to clients, and reported by Bloomberg. Rappers the sign this cycle?