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An oil well tattooed on the shaved head of Bryan “Birdman” Williams and a Web site for a company called Bronald Oil & Gas LLC indicate that two men known for their gushers in rap music are getting into the energy business.

Williams and his brother Ronald “Slim” Williams founded Cash Money Records, the music label behind such artists as Lil’ Wayne. Their foray into energy with Bronald, a name that blends Bryan and Ronald, prompted Houston investment bank Tudor Pickering Holt & Co. to quip that this may be a sign of the end of an oil-market rally.

“Doctors and dentists investing in oil wells was sign of top in 1980s,” the bank said last week in a note to clients. “Rappers the sign this cycle?”

As for what Bronald is doing in the oil and natural-gas business, the Williams brothers declined through their publicist, Kia Selby, to comment. Selby said she was unable to provide information about the oil company. Bronald doesn’t have a listed telephone number. Numbers for residences in New Orleans and Florida that are linked to Bronald in state records don’t take incoming calls.

Bryan and Ronald Williams are the only people listed under the management and director headings on Bronald’s Web site. Under “technical staff,” the site says “to come.”

Bronald describes itself on the site as an independent oil and gas company focused on exploration and development of assets in several U.S. Gulf Coast states and Oklahoma’s Osage County.

Buying Leases

“Its initial efforts have been to acquire oil and gas leases covering areas with historical production and the opportunity for re-entry drilling as well as new drilling opportunities,” according to the Web site. “Bronald also hopes to partner with other developers to jointly exploit significant additional assets by leveraging Bronald’s infrastructure.”

Oklahoma City-based Chaparral Energy Inc. operates about 40 percent of the wells in Osage County, said Jim Miller, the company’s senior vice president for operations. He said he hadn’t heard of Bronald or been contacted by the company.

The address listed for Bronald with the Oklahoma Corporation Commission is a beachfront condominium in Florida. A New Orleans residence was listed for Bronald with the Louisiana Secretary of State. The Williams brothers are listed as Bronald’s officers in those filings. Regulators that handle oil and gas permits and operator licenses in Texas and Louisiana didn’t have records of Bronald’s existence; nor did Secretary of State offices in Texas and Florida.

Because oil and gas wells are so expensive, Bronald would likely be a non-operating partner in drilling projects, said Dan Pickering, president of Tudor Pickering Holt.

Music Moneymaker

“Which established operators they partner with will likely be a key factor of success,” Pickering said. “One thing about being stars, they will have a higher profile than a regular energy start-up.”

Lil’ Wayne ranked 12th last year on Billboard Magazine’s moneymaker list after pulling in $57.4 million in 2008. The New Orleans rapper pleaded guilty in October to a weapons charge arising from a 2007 arrest after a gun was found in his tour bus in New York, the New York Times reported Feb. 11. His sentencing was delayed this week because of dental surgery.

One of Cash Money’s biggest hits was Kevin Rudolf’s “Let It Rock,” which sold more than 2.5 million downloads on iTunes, Universal Music Group said last year.

The Williams brothers were featured in CNBC’s documentary “Newbos: The Rise of America’s New Black Overclass.” Their expansion into the energy business caught the attention of entertainment-related Web sites.

The sports and culture site Friends of the Program issued a warning on Feb. 1 for Exxon Mobil Corp., the largest U.S. company, when it said in a headline about the Williams energy venture, “Exxon Better Recognize.”

BallerStatus.com, a site dedicated to “urban lifestyle,” noted Bryan Williams’ tattoo: “Birdman even has a tattoo in celebration of the new venture, so it looks like he’s serious about it.”

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