I used to really love Rawkus, I mean a lot...I copped everything that dropped on Rawkus man....even the stuff I was kinda iffy about, lol, yes I grabbed that Cage record! I mean they really did have some wonderful artist's that were on their label and colloborated with them...Kool G Rap, Da Beatminerz, Company Flow, Black Star, The High And Mighty, Hi-Tek, Pharoahe Monch, Big L, Shabaam Sahdeeq and so on....they were literally a stable for high end, underground talent....everything about em' was perfect to us backpackers....from the logo to what they stood for I loved Rawkus in the 90's.....which was why I was really upset when in 01' they were sold to MCA and all the news about that really rich yuppie guy being the one behind all the funding and creative direction broke out....it was kinda polarizing because the mantra of Rawkus always used to be that they were run by small time folks and underground artist's for true heads, subterranean emcees who were trying to get in the game and would've otherwise had no other outlet to do so......Rawkus, like I said earlier was sold to MCA and while the label clearly ain't the exact same it used to be there have been some pretty good releases on it, namely Marco Polo's "Port Authority" that dropped last year and was widely considered by many as not only the finest compilation of the year, but the best overall album period. The modern Rawkus label has also recruited acts like The Procussions and Panacea, signaling toward their past, but almost instantly destroyed all of that refurbished credibility by signing The Pack.....
Loud was another one of my beloved labels.....I mean Steve Rifkind was a guru man, a true genius and and the roster reflected that....I was really into them the most when they were home to Wu-Tang, M.O.P., Xzibit, Big Pun, Funkmaster Flex, The Alkaholiks and Mobb Deep all at once....those were the glory days....One of my favorite albums ever, of all time Pete Rock's "Soul Survivor" also dropped on Loud back in the day man. That album is responsible for like 90% of my hip-hop beliefs, likes and dislikes......Dead Prez is another group that I respect supremely who dropped their classic album "Let's Get Free" on Loud....I could go on forever naming shit that dropped on Loud man....Their Logo was also pretty classic, just like the Rawkus Razor, the Loud headphones were lightning in a label....I was pretty pissed when I heard that they too were gonna fold way back in 02'....Rifkind landed on his feet though, he has SRC (Street Records Corporation) now....which doesn't come close to what he was able to do with Loud, but hey it's a living right? On a side note I don't think they're distributing music anymore but the Loud name is still around....they have a website that's up and running and last year they distributed Wu-Tang's 8 Diagrams mixtape for free download online....
Roc-A-Fella (in the late 90's and early 2K)--what more do I need to say man...Dame and Jay makin huge moves business wise, landmark albums being made, the most powerful roster in rap history that included Jay, Bleek, Beans, The Young Guns, Oschino & Sparks, Peedi Crakk, Freeway, Cam'ron, Jim Jones, Juelz Santana, Noreaga, M.O.P., ODB, Twista, Kanye West, Just Blaze, Boola, Chad Hamilton and various other emcees and producers. There for a second they damn near even signed Joe Budden. They were the powerhouse, headed by a smart and more than capabable CEO in Jay-Z. Who can forget that "We Are The Champions" jumpoff from the Paid In Full Soundtrack? I mean that shit was the definition of a perfect label posse cut. I mean they were dropping movies (Roc Films), clothing (Rocawear) and liquor (Armadale Vodka)....and I was there for the whole ride, gleefully taking pride in the fact that I was there when it all started with "Reasonable Doubt", Jaz-O, Sauce Money and Clark Kent....really, I felt connected and that was a crazy time period too, but it doesn't touch the 1998-2004 time period.....The way it would all unravel was too sad. Rumors of Jay getting pissed about Dame elevating his old friend Cam'ron to a high position within the label without running it by him first started to add tension to business relationships. After awhile Biggs and Dame weren't speaking to Jay. Eventually more problems came about...Beans was catching cases by the boat load, Biggs' apartment was raided for growing massive amounts of weed, Dame caught a rape charge and Jay was tossing around the idea of retirement. In the end they all went their separate ways, Dame started DDMG (Dame Dash Music Group) and a few of the Roc's artist's opted to go with him, while Jay retained rights to the Roc-A-Fella name. I still hold out hope that one day maybe Hova, Biggs and Dame will link up again, but in all likelihood they probably won't
ABB Records was one that I wasn't real, real connected to, but helped further introduce me to the creme de la creme of many of my now favorite L.A. underground emcee's, Producers and DJ's like Babu, Evidence, Defari, Joey Chavez and Madlib.... etc., etc. ABB also linked me up with great underground artist's period....I first heard the dope ass underground group Maspyke on an ABB compilation record....ABB has managed to stay afloat over time in the always treacherous waters of Hip-Hop labels and last year they were home to Evidence's "Weatherman LP" album; an album I thought defined a superb underground release....
-BIG D O
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