LiAngelo Ball Reportedly Inks Multimillion-Dollar Def Jam Deal

“Tweaker” is proving to have some serious legs, long enough, in fact, to reportedly net LiAngelo Ball a multimillion-dollar Def Jam deal.

Such talk peaked on Monday, with The Breakfast Club discussing the veracity of deal chatter, while ESPN’s Shams Charania provided more context. According to Shams, the Def Jam and Universal Music Group deal boasts a guaranteed $8 million but is said to be worth up to $13 million. Shams cited both a rep from LiAngelo’s Born2Ball Music Group, as well as sources.

Adding further clarity is Brian Zisook of Audiomack, who pointed out that this type of deal is not comparable to those in the NBA. Instead, the multimillion-dollar figure included in Monday’s report is, of course, an advance against future royalties.

Complex has reached out to UMG reps for comment. This story may be updated.

There’s no denying that Gelo’s “Tweaker” has quickly become a bonafide streaming hit. Released under the G3 moniker, the track, which sees Gelo’s brother Lonzo receiving a writing credit, has already entered double-digit millions in Spotify streams. As of this writing, the song was at No. 14 on the streaming platform’s Top 50 USA chart, updated daily. To put that in perspective, this puts G3 among top-tier charts company like Kendrick Lamar and The Weeknd.

Boosie Badazz and Moneybagg Yo have both proposed offering up potential remixes to the surprise hit, the success of which has also landed LiAngelo a spot performing at the upcoming 2025 edition of Rolling Loud California.

With Def Jam reportedly now behind LiAngelo’s musical foray, it’ll be interesting to see where “Tweaker” ultimately lands among the year’s most-discussed hits.