Speaker 1: We own a motherfucker boot lig KIV. We owned a
Speaker 1: motherfucking boot lick keV pocket. We own a motherfucking boot
Speaker 1: lick kimp podcast. Yes we are ladies and gentlemen. All right,
Speaker 1: welcome to the show. We got a dope episode today.
Speaker 1: It's one of my favorites we've done in a while. Man,
Speaker 1: we got to sit down and chop it up with
Speaker 1: Dallas Martin and Dallas Martin for people who do to
Speaker 1: understand what Dallas Martin does. He's one of the most
Speaker 1: legendary A and rs in the last decade, a real
Speaker 1: power player behind the scenes, EVP of A and R
Speaker 1: Atlantic Records, president of the entire label over at Asylum.
Speaker 1: Just a fucking real mover and shaker. He's the guy
Speaker 1: who signed Nipsey to Atlantic. He's the guy who signed
Speaker 1: Roddy Ridge to Atlantic. Big big, big roots with the
Speaker 1: MMG family. Just this guy. Let me tell you. If
Speaker 1: you just want good stories about historical hip hop moments, listen.
Speaker 1: If you want inspiration, If you're in the music industry
Speaker 1: and you want some inspiration on how to get your
Speaker 1: shit moving and shaken, man, you gotta stay tuned into
Speaker 1: this podcast. It's about to get real dope. So uh
Speaker 1: Dallas Martin checking in shortly on the Bootleg cap podcast.
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Speaker 1: And let's get into this episode with Dallas Martin, a
Speaker 1: n R executive legend. Right here inside the Bootleg cap
Speaker 1: podcast Yo Boutlet Heap Podcast, we got a special guest
Speaker 1: in here, man, the homie Dallas. It is here, Dallas
Speaker 1: smart Man. Welcome brother, happy to be here. Yes, First
Speaker 1: of all, we got to get the mic close to
Speaker 1: your face. I'm not used to, you know, having the
Speaker 1: mic so close artists, So yeah, welcome man. You know,
Speaker 1: I feel like the last few years you really established
Speaker 1: yourself as like one of the most powerful dudes in
Speaker 1: hip hop. Yeah man, you know, on the executive side,
Speaker 1: the A and R side. For people who don't know
Speaker 1: at this point in time, what is it? What is
Speaker 1: it that Dallas does. And what is it that because
Speaker 1: you have so many titles at the moment, got a
Speaker 1: new title, you know what I'm saying. Yeah, So so
Speaker 1: right now I'm president of Asylum Records, and you know,
Speaker 1: it's a label Underwarter Music Group, which also has Atlantic Records,
Speaker 1: Warner brother Records, and a lecture. So they gave me
Speaker 1: my own, you know, my label inside the situation. But
Speaker 1: with this situation, I still carry my title at Atlantic
Speaker 1: as far as I'm EVP of A and R, so
Speaker 1: I'm still on the executive team over there. So what
Speaker 1: it really is is that the Asylum label is more
Speaker 1: of an upstart incubator system for me to sign kind
Speaker 1: of more development acts access that I just truly believe
Speaker 1: in that I feel that are talented that I have
Speaker 1: to develop. Then once I developed them and get them
Speaker 1: some spark, I could upstream them to Atlantic to me
Speaker 1: and give them bigger budgets, you know, just a bigger
Speaker 1: company to kind of help, you know, push their vision
Speaker 1: for it. So you're like sides of the coin. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so you upstreamed yourself. Yes, that's fuck, It's crazy. So
Speaker 1: I could go downstairs sign it and take me come
Speaker 1: there up there exactly. So it's very unique, man, but
Speaker 1: you know, just giving me an opportunity to work with
Speaker 1: more people that you know, I wasn't able to work
Speaker 1: with just being at Atlantic because you know, Atlantic's such
Speaker 1: a big label with so many big artists. You know,
Speaker 1: it's hard for you to be a new artist with
Speaker 1: nothing going on and get attention at that label. So,
Speaker 1: you know, this to just create a bridge for opportunity
Speaker 1: for young artists, for people who don't know where are
Speaker 1: you from. I'm originally from Flint, Michigan, Okay, And I
Speaker 1: went to college in Atlanta, Georgia, and that's where I
Speaker 1: started my music journey. Yeah, give us a like like
Speaker 1: kind of a background on how you got into the
Speaker 1: music industry. So my whole goal to go to Atlanta
Speaker 1: was to get into school at Clark Atlanta because I
Speaker 1: wanted to get into music. That was like my dream
Speaker 1: from high school. And I knew that Atlanta was, you know,
Speaker 1: a city that was up and coming with a lot
Speaker 1: of entrepreneurs in the music business. So I went down there,
Speaker 1: got into school, and you know, just worked them every
Speaker 1: year trying to figure out a way to get an internship.
Speaker 1: You know, during that time, it wasn't those social media
Speaker 1: and easy avenues to break into, you know, even getting
Speaker 1: an internship. Like nowadays it's more easy, you know, the
Speaker 1: Internet and just you know, things that come about. But
Speaker 1: when I was coming up, we had to go to
Speaker 1: like the open mics workshops. In our workshops to you know,
Speaker 1: get played by mad people really didn't really want to
Speaker 1: be there, giving you fake information and shit like that.
Speaker 1: So I realized after my sophomore year, I needed to
Speaker 1: get on my grind and figure out the ways to
Speaker 1: bring people to me. So that's when I started throwing
Speaker 1: parties in college and it kind of led me through
Speaker 1: an avenue where I was meeting executives. And then I
Speaker 1: in my senior year, I finally got an internship with
Speaker 1: your care steward at Depth Jail. Wow, okay, so what
Speaker 1: year was this? So I didn't get an internship to
Speaker 1: my senior year? I was about to give up. So
Speaker 1: you were throwing parties? What youphomore year to my senior year? Like?
Speaker 1: What year? Like two thousands? So I got to school
Speaker 1: two thousand and two. So I got my first internship
Speaker 1: in two thousand and six. Wow. It's crazy too, because
Speaker 1: you know, I feel like a lot of people start
Speaker 1: throwing parties. Yeah, and that's how they get into this shit. Yes,
Speaker 1: Like Scooter Braun, like that's how he got into this shit. Ye.
Speaker 1: In Atlanta probably rund the same time. Absolutely, Ye, Scooter
Speaker 1: was around. I mean I remember him bringing Justin Bieber
Speaker 1: to the Death Jam office for the first time when
Speaker 1: he was like thirteen years old. So like, it's just
Speaker 1: a lot of dope memories from that era. Man Atlanta
Speaker 1: was just on fire. Oh yeah, that was like vintage
Speaker 1: Jezy Tip Luda everybody. It was just crazy fast forward.
Speaker 1: So you end up interning at Death Jam. And by
Speaker 1: the way, I just had a I just had to
Speaker 1: go on Twitter. Were you getting paid the intern Absolutely not? Okay, cool.
Speaker 1: I just want to make sure because there's this thing
Speaker 1: going around on Twitter about uh unpaid internships, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: unpaid internship literally changed my life mind too. And and
Speaker 1: I did it for two years for free. I did
Speaker 1: it for fourteen months, fresh out of high school with
Speaker 1: a newborn baby. I was trapping at the swap meat
Speaker 1: selling bootleg CDs on the weekend and working for free
Speaker 1: Monday through Friday. I feel like the entire generation that
Speaker 1: we're a part of like that we see coming up now.
Speaker 1: They don't even know what this like, it's an entitled
Speaker 1: is this entitlement thing with these with these young men,
Speaker 1: with these young kids? Man, man, it's in'stant gratification. Nobody
Speaker 1: wants to work for nothing anymore. Everybody wants to be
Speaker 1: rich as the person that put them on immediately is crazy.
Speaker 1: And the other thing too, is like I've saw people
Speaker 1: on Twitter like, man, I intern here for a year
Speaker 1: and nothing happened after. It's like, well, because obviously you
Speaker 1: ain't had it, bro if you if you, if you
Speaker 1: were that, if you were that dope and you were
Speaker 1: putting in the work you need, like it's it's gonna work.
Speaker 1: Like I literally got to the office before my boss,
Speaker 1: didn't left after him every day me too, man, Like
Speaker 1: I wanted to make sure he knew that I wanted
Speaker 1: this shit yup. Yeah, yeah, That's how I was a
Speaker 1: radio Like even when I started to get paid, I
Speaker 1: would be at the radio station doing the morning show
Speaker 1: for free from like four in the morning until about
Speaker 1: eleven am. Then I'd go do a street hit, which
Speaker 1: is when I finally started to get paid. So I'd
Speaker 1: be doing that shit all day check this out. Then
Speaker 1: I would do my overnight, so I would literally go
Speaker 1: home and sleep for like four hours. I'd be at
Speaker 1: the radio station, you know, eighteen hours out the day,
Speaker 1: just just grinding. And I just feel like that's important
Speaker 1: for people to understand, like this shit ain't like like
Speaker 1: we we really work to get where we're at, bro,
Speaker 1: And I think, you know, when you put that that
Speaker 1: level of hard work ethic into you know the structure
Speaker 1: of your daily life, like it shows why you know,
Speaker 1: people like us are where we're at today, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, because we know what it takes to
Speaker 1: get there. That's some real short Yeah. Yeah, So you
Speaker 1: started an intern What was your first paid gig in
Speaker 1: the music industry? So from my internship, Shakira Stewart gave
Speaker 1: me a consultancy with Depth Jam. So from that consultancy,
Speaker 1: I got to work on projects that he was working on.
Speaker 1: So my goal was to work on everything he didn't
Speaker 1: really have time to work on. So I used to
Speaker 1: just just be in the studio every day. And he
Speaker 1: had a my R and B group that he was
Speaker 1: working with, and I ended up getting their first single.
Speaker 1: So from that situation, it was they were called brother
Speaker 1: back in the day. I think they had one song
Speaker 1: with Fabulous they were brothers. They had to show on BT.
Speaker 1: It was it was, it was, it was quick. If
Speaker 1: they would have been out now they've been popping on
Speaker 1: YouTube with their family and absolutely, yeah they were like
Speaker 1: this first one. Reality TV really kind of got right
Speaker 1: in the music ship. So you know, I got opportunity,
Speaker 1: and you know, La Reed got to see my value
Speaker 1: and from there I got hired full time in two
Speaker 1: thousand and nine at Death Jail Wow, January two thousand
Speaker 1: and nine, he brought me on full time, So that
Speaker 1: was like, oh nine, This is like when Rihanna really
Speaker 1: started to like she was running the label for sure. Yeah.
Speaker 1: That was like when Rihanna first was like a superstar.
Speaker 1: Yeah she was and Dream yeah yeah yeah, Rick Ross, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was. It was good times over there. And how
Speaker 1: what year was j was Jay running Death Jam That
Speaker 1: was okay, yep, yep, because because Shakira took his not
Speaker 1: took at spot, but was promoted into that position after
Speaker 1: he left and Shakier passed away committed suicide and that's
Speaker 1: what happened. That's how I got with La Reeks. La
Speaker 1: Re kind of brought me on because he knew what
Speaker 1: was going on with me. So because I was in
Speaker 1: Atlanta and everybody was in New York and what was
Speaker 1: your title in on nine? When just a director of
Speaker 1: A and R, just a regular, the lowest level of
Speaker 1: A and R, you could get what. I'm twenty four
Speaker 1: years old on my fucking death jam as an A
Speaker 1: and R. Couldn't believe it. I'm from Flint, Michigan. You're
Speaker 1: living in Atlanta. I'm living Atlanta but going to New
Speaker 1: York every week. Wow, living to dream. Couldn't believe it.
Speaker 1: First time in New York. I'm going to the Death
Speaker 1: Jam building, sitting in the motherfucking A and R me
Speaker 1: with DJ Khalik right, Tricky and dream Lenny, Yes, small,
Speaker 1: fucking just crazy shit. Shit was mind blowing. I think
Speaker 1: that there's a very define what an an R does
Speaker 1: because I think that people who are just watching this,
Speaker 1: who might not be involved in the music industry, they
Speaker 1: hear that term so much they don't really understand what
Speaker 1: it is. So A and R has multiple things that
Speaker 1: you have to be good at. So a lot of
Speaker 1: people think A and R is just hearing a song
Speaker 1: on the radium, being like that's a good song or
Speaker 1: I saw an artist and he's dope. What people don't
Speaker 1: understand is once you sign that artist, you have to
Speaker 1: help them put their project together, make sure that they
Speaker 1: have the right songs to put out. Then you have
Speaker 1: to deliver that album. That means get your artists to
Speaker 1: give you the project to be like this is it.
Speaker 1: I'm ready to go in the public with it. You
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, Jesus Christ. So the hardest part
Speaker 1: of A and R is getting your artists to deliver
Speaker 1: their album, you know what I'm saying, because their projects
Speaker 1: their baby and a lot of time artists are insecure
Speaker 1: with their music at some points in it. And you
Speaker 1: know that's a big thing for you know, it's very
Speaker 1: vulnerable situation artists to give music to the world for
Speaker 1: the world to critique them of course. So you know,
Speaker 1: just different levels of A and R. And you know,
Speaker 1: the record making process is a big part as far
Speaker 1: as knowing the right writers, producers and people just to
Speaker 1: put in the studio with them. So you'll come to
Speaker 1: the table and say, hey, I think this person would
Speaker 1: mesh well with this person, So like let's put you
Speaker 1: in with this producer for see what comes out of
Speaker 1: it absolutely, and you know, you have to be there
Speaker 1: in the studio with them to make sure that you know,
Speaker 1: cause they're not going to come and be like best friends.
Speaker 1: You're kind of like, you're kind of the middle man. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so you have to make sure that everybody's comfortable with
Speaker 1: the creative process. But you have to know the creative
Speaker 1: process from both sides, the artists and the writers and
Speaker 1: the producers, to make sure that everybody could come together,
Speaker 1: you know, and make Magic Together, which is the hit record.
Speaker 1: What year did you officially come to Atlantic? So I
Speaker 1: got fired after my first year at Death Jail because
Speaker 1: I couldn't deliver an album from an artist that was
Speaker 1: on the It was Joel Santana, my brother. I love him,
Speaker 1: Shout out Joel's you know what I'm saying. He just
Speaker 1: was in a position where he didn't like what was
Speaker 1: going on at the label. I don't think it really
Speaker 1: had nothing to do with me, but he wasn't confident
Speaker 1: in them, you know what I'm saying. And we and
Speaker 1: we still remain in good friends and have a good relationship.
Speaker 1: But La Reid, he let me go. But you know,
Speaker 1: it was during the time that the music business everybody
Speaker 1: felt like was crashing. So the budgets were getting smaller,
Speaker 1: the opportunities were getting smaller, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: Because it wasn't a lot of money coming in. This
Speaker 1: is when Napster and you know, all the piracy was
Speaker 1: really at a high. By the way, did Joel's ever
Speaker 1: turn in that album? I was about to say, because
Speaker 1: that was like twenty ten. I'm like, I'm like that
Speaker 1: he never did, but you know, I don't recall it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: But so it didn't work out for me with that situation,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. And you know, I learned
Speaker 1: a lot from that situation, and it was no hard feelings,
Speaker 1: you know, So I didn't you know, I took a
Speaker 1: month to kind of just regroup in Atlanta. Then I
Speaker 1: just got back on my grind and got a phone
Speaker 1: call one day from Joey II and he set up
Speaker 1: a meeting with me. He told me he was relaunching
Speaker 1: the Erman division at Warner brother Records, which eventually turned
Speaker 1: into Atlantic and he gave me an interview and an
Speaker 1: opportunity from there. So that was the era when MMG
Speaker 1: went to Warner Brothers. So yeah, So so I had
Speaker 1: a relationship with Rick Ross because Shakira signed Rick Ross
Speaker 1: and Cheezy. So the first two albums Rick Ross did,
Speaker 1: he recorded in the in the office where I interned at.
Speaker 1: So I built a relationship with strong relationship with him
Speaker 1: and Gucci Pucci. So you know, they just saw my
Speaker 1: come up and you know I was shake little guys,
Speaker 1: so you know, they always kept their eye on me.
Speaker 1: So when I got to one the brothers the first
Speaker 1: day on the job, I just called Ross like you
Speaker 1: got to bring May back over here. It's wide open.
Speaker 1: So you were you were very instrumental in bringing that,
Speaker 1: oh absolutely, because me and Ross were super tight. You know,
Speaker 1: I pretty much like you know, Joey helped me put
Speaker 1: it together because Joey was the boss. So you know,
Speaker 1: it was like, you know, my relationship, but you know, obviously,
Speaker 1: you know, you got Joey, Todd, Moskuwitz and Leo Cohen
Speaker 1: who are the chairman's and people who are running the company,
Speaker 1: and I'm I'm the you know, the lowest level A
Speaker 1: and R. So you know, through my relationship, I brought
Speaker 1: the meeting to them. We had the meeting together. You know,
Speaker 1: Rick Ross expressed to them, you know how important me
Speaker 1: being involved with it would be if he did the
Speaker 1: deal there, and we got the deal done two weeks later.
Speaker 1: I remember how big of a deal that was because
Speaker 1: I remember, you know, my boy Lee was over at
Speaker 1: Warner Brothers and lovely love that guy, good guy. There
Speaker 1: was like no hip hop though it was nothing. It
Speaker 1: was like, yeah, it was like it was like dry
Speaker 1: as fuck. It was Jill Scott, I think, and then
Speaker 1: and then uh MMG coming over at the time, this
Speaker 1: is the hottest thing moving. Meek is the hottest thing
Speaker 1: in the streets. And then even Pill was moving absolutely
Speaker 1: and I just remember that moment was so big, bro.
Speaker 1: Yeah that's history, yo, soy, so you I didn't even realize.
Speaker 1: I didn't even know that you you helped bring that
Speaker 1: situation over. Yeah, that's what got me to start it,
Speaker 1: as far as just getting some credibility because from there,
Speaker 1: you know, me and while A did Lotus Flower Barb
Speaker 1: and put out while AT's project that did super well
Speaker 1: when number one. Then from there I did Meek dream
Speaker 1: Chasers too, and Dreams and Nightmares, and I pretty much
Speaker 1: did every MMG project that came out on the Warner
Speaker 1: Brothers system until we even transferred over to Atlantic. Yo.
Speaker 1: So when when you first heard that the Well, first
Speaker 1: of all, were you around when the Dreams of Nightmares
Speaker 1: intro was recorded? Yes, we was at the Stai Hotel.
Speaker 1: I gotta hear this story because I was like, this
Speaker 1: is a song that will forever get played every single
Speaker 1: club you go to. Yeah. One of the greatest rap
Speaker 1: songs ever created. Yeah. So it was crazy because we
Speaker 1: was all on the high from the dream Chases to
Speaker 1: mixtape and clash. It was incredible, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: It was like we made that project in La at
Speaker 1: the Boom Boom Room, and like that was probably like
Speaker 1: the funnest project I ever worked on in my life
Speaker 1: because that was like we all just coming up and
Speaker 1: we learned, we knew to La. We're living in La now,
Speaker 1: you know, and it's just like the studio we had.
Speaker 1: It was just like great energy, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: And this before like Instagram took off, so like a
Speaker 1: lot of the women that were Instagram big models this
Speaker 1: day were like, you know, just around hanging out with us.
Speaker 1: It was just great energy. Made that project. Then me
Speaker 1: goes on tour and they like, well we need an album.
Speaker 1: We like, we still got three or four songs coming
Speaker 1: out from this mixtape. So me gets off tour, we
Speaker 1: at ross house and he plays us like the beginning
Speaker 1: with the strings and all the piano. We like, what
Speaker 1: the fuck is this? You know this shit is crazy.
Speaker 1: So then he was like, yo, but this is what
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do right here. This party stopped and I'm
Speaker 1: gonna have to beat bully do this parble boom. So
Speaker 1: then like two or three days later, we had the
Speaker 1: Satai Hotel and he got the beat finished and he
Speaker 1: just went in the booth right and he like kind
Speaker 1: of surprised us that ship Hold a wait a minute, yo, man.
Speaker 1: It was like ship was crazy, and like we knew
Speaker 1: right then and there that that ship was a smash,
Speaker 1: but we ain't think that shit was gonna be like
Speaker 1: one of the biggest songs. Yeah, it's crazy because when
Speaker 1: you hear that record, you're like, this is a great intro.
Speaker 1: But to ever think that that's like a record that
Speaker 1: would work in the club, you would never think that, yeah,
Speaker 1: because we would have went with that for the first single.
Speaker 1: And also you would never even think to go for that.
Speaker 1: There's no drowd as the first single, No hook, no nothing,
Speaker 1: so it was interesting. But you know, man, listen, man,
Speaker 1: everything happens for a reason. So what was the first
Speaker 1: single from there? I'm young and getting it right? Yeah? Yeah,
Speaker 1: who's on bang kirk Oh? Wow? Because I was and
Speaker 1: R his project at Warner Brothers. Wow. Yeah, that's crazy.
Speaker 1: And he had like two joints that went number one.
Speaker 1: So I'm like drinking cup. Yeah. Kirko was a very
Speaker 1: talented kid man, so it was good time. Shout out
Speaker 1: kirkoa bangs man. So you you you kind of helped
Speaker 1: spearhead that MMG movement on the A and R side,
Speaker 1: And I do remember when everything kind of moved over
Speaker 1: to it at Atlantic. Ye is that when you kind
Speaker 1: of went over to Atlantic? Yeah, So what that happened was,
Speaker 1: you know, Joey left for Death Jim a year later,
Speaker 1: then the year after that we was there for two years.
Speaker 1: Todden Moscow it started his own company with lee Or
Speaker 1: at three hundred yep. So with Warner Brothers, Atlantic and
Speaker 1: everybody being understand under the same umbrella, umbrella, which is
Speaker 1: when her music group they just merged all the urban
Speaker 1: staff and urban artists to Atlantic. Yeah, and then it
Speaker 1: was like Maclamore at Warner. Yeah, it was Warner was
Speaker 1: a wrap, it was a rap sure. So Atlantic then
Speaker 1: we just you know, I went into working with Julie Greenwalll,
Speaker 1: Craig Kuman, and Mike Kaiser and they really helped like
Speaker 1: mow me as executive, you know what I'm saying. So
Speaker 1: I really, you know, appreciate them because they really you know,
Speaker 1: took me and you know, kept my path as far
Speaker 1: as where I was doing. They like kind of took
Speaker 1: it to the next level. What was the I'm want
Speaker 1: to definitely get to your work on Nipsey, but what
Speaker 1: was the first project officially at Atlantic that you were
Speaker 1: a part of. So I signed Kate Michelle okay, because
Speaker 1: I was like, let me do some R and B
Speaker 1: shit real quick, so they don't want to just stick
Speaker 1: me in this and our box and the Marion supposed
Speaker 1: to be oh yeah, so yeah, so we did sposed
Speaker 1: to be there. K Michelle had two number one R
Speaker 1: and B albums from reality TV shows, So everybody was
Speaker 1: flipping out because now it's like, are you doing R
Speaker 1: and B shit? Now? I met her in New York
Speaker 1: and I couldn't believe the size of her ass. Shout
Speaker 1: out to her man. Yeah, Man, I took a picture
Speaker 1: with it. I was like, this is this is interesting? Hey,
Speaker 1: it's crazy because Michelle, I feel like it's like one
Speaker 1: of the most prolific R and B singers of the
Speaker 1: last man fifteen years. Like very like we got to
Speaker 1: put more respect on her name, for sure. Yeah. Man,
Speaker 1: she's she's very talented, man, for sure. She's very fun
Speaker 1: to work with, man, and you know, she just keeps
Speaker 1: going though. Talk about Nipsey coming over to Atlantic, because
Speaker 1: I know he was on Atlantic for a while, but
Speaker 1: it wasn't like announced. Well no, yeah, So what happened
Speaker 1: was so I started the process of trying to sign
Speaker 1: Nipsey when I was at Warner Brothers. He didn't want
Speaker 1: to sign. Of course. Was that when there was conversations
Speaker 1: about Ross trying to bring into MG. Absolutely. Okay, so
Speaker 1: you were a part of those conversation of all that
Speaker 1: I was bringing him to Miami. We were doing sessions
Speaker 1: and by the way, Ross was trying to sign everybody,
Speaker 1: he was trying to sign Whiz Yeah. Ross had a
Speaker 1: good yeah everybody. Yeah, we really wanted Nipsey, and Don
Speaker 1: was like we wanted to set up the West coast
Speaker 1: with them, which I was like big, that would have
Speaker 1: been big for us, Like to this day, like I
Speaker 1: still wish in my heart that happened because they everybody
Speaker 1: what I want to everybody understand, Like you guys, everybody
Speaker 1: can still have their own companies and do their thing
Speaker 1: like with me did with Dream Chasers, and like well,
Speaker 1: I always tell everyone Ross is like one of the
Speaker 1: only examples of an artist who became an executive that
Speaker 1: did it the right way because he I feel like
Speaker 1: he genuinely wanted every artist on his label to be
Speaker 1: bigger than him. Yeah, And I think that's the problem
Speaker 1: most of the time when you have artists signed another
Speaker 1: artist in their heart of hearts and some ego shit involved,
Speaker 1: they really don't want their artists to be bigger than them.
Speaker 1: But Ross, I feel like was like his heart was
Speaker 1: in the right place and it kind of showed, like
Speaker 1: with the success of the label. Before we get to Nipsey,
Speaker 1: like kind of give me that backstory about how close
Speaker 1: the Nipsey and Dom shit was, because I always heard
Speaker 1: Nipsey and Dom are very close to going to MMG.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, the talks got you know, very intense,
Speaker 1: you know, deal structures were talked about you know, things
Speaker 1: like that. But you know, one thing I could say
Speaker 1: about Nipsey and Dom they were very keeping their brand
Speaker 1: and what they were, you know, what they were developing
Speaker 1: on their own was very important to them and they
Speaker 1: didn't want that to be overshadowed. So I think them
Speaker 1: just being you know, their own bosses were very important
Speaker 1: to them, and it was like, you know, one hundred
Speaker 1: percent understandable when they didn't want to do the MMG situation.
Speaker 1: You know, it was more so of a you know,
Speaker 1: we just all wanted that ship to happen because we
Speaker 1: just know how dope that shit could have been. But
Speaker 1: you know, at the end of the day, they made
Speaker 1: it this decision to do their own thing, which you know,
Speaker 1: still worked out for them. So was was Wiz ever
Speaker 1: close to doing the MG? I think Wiz was ever close? Yeah,
Speaker 1: because I remember what was that currency? And Wiz was
Speaker 1: doing music? What was that? What was that remix with Neo? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I know what that record, but I forgot the name
Speaker 1: of it all right, So you had already been talking
Speaker 1: to nip prior at the Warner at Warner how did
Speaker 1: the you know, yes, so the dope ship with Nip Man,
Speaker 1: you know Nip's really about, you know, just a real
Speaker 1: solid person. So you just on with him and direct
Speaker 1: and I just kept a relationship with him even though
Speaker 1: he didn't do the deal. And I think that's what
Speaker 1: made him fuck with me even more because it was
Speaker 1: just more so It's like I just made sure I
Speaker 1: sent beats to him, and I was like cause I
Speaker 1: just was a fan in there, of course, of course.
Speaker 1: And I just always tell him, like, Bro, whenever you
Speaker 1: want to do something, bro, just let me know. I'll
Speaker 1: make sure that I structure the way you want to, like,
Speaker 1: I know what's important to you as far as your
Speaker 1: masters and shit like that. And so when I went
Speaker 1: over to Atlantic, Steve O was a and all over
Speaker 1: there too, and he was managing he just started the
Speaker 1: process of managing Nipsey. So me and Steve O worked
Speaker 1: together really hard to you know, figure out how to
Speaker 1: get him over to Atlantic. But one day nip just
Speaker 1: called me off the blue, like what you doing today?
Speaker 1: Like shit, nothing, you know what I'm saying, what's up?
Speaker 1: Like me, let's go to lunch. I'm like, bat meet
Speaker 1: me at the Roosevelt in the hour. And we sat
Speaker 1: at the Roosevelt for an hour talked about what we
Speaker 1: wanted to do. Then should I want to say, like
Speaker 1: two or three weeks later, we had another meeting with
Speaker 1: Craig Kalman. I had Craig fly out to La We
Speaker 1: sat down at the shit one of the expensive hotels
Speaker 1: the Peninsula or some shit, and we sat down with
Speaker 1: Nipp and ironed out the deal structure. And what year
Speaker 1: was two thousand and fourteen. Yeah, I'm telling you, like
Speaker 1: a lot of people don't realize Nick, it took us
Speaker 1: three years to do the first project. And it also
Speaker 1: like he was so careful about announcing that. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: kept a real cush like cause you know, I think
Speaker 1: a lot of people in the industry knew, but like
Speaker 1: he didn't announce it publicly until Yeah, a lot of
Speaker 1: a lot of people in the industry knew. I think
Speaker 1: a lot of people wasn't aware of like how important
Speaker 1: his first project that he delivered because he still put
Speaker 1: out mixtapes people don't remember like during the time. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so he still was staying active and working hard. But
Speaker 1: you know, he really had a vision of how he
Speaker 1: wanted his major label release to be and it just
Speaker 1: took some time to do it. But you know what
Speaker 1: was so dope about our relationship was I never pressured him,
Speaker 1: you know, make sure that he had everything he wanted
Speaker 1: to make sure that he could deliver the project he wanted. So,
Speaker 1: you know, my whole thing was just making sure that
Speaker 1: he had everything he needed. Victory Lap was obviously classic,
Speaker 1: and the attention to detail that you just spoke about,
Speaker 1: That's why I always appreciated Nip. I feel like everything
Speaker 1: he did had intention and it was always on purpose.
Speaker 1: It was like he understands what it means to have
Speaker 1: a debut rap album yep, and like how important that
Speaker 1: is to deliver on because he's a hip hop head too,
Speaker 1: you know. So the process of you like helping with
Speaker 1: A and R in that album walk us through that
Speaker 1: because there was like some records on there that were
Speaker 1: just so like you know, like hearing Belly on Double Up,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Like like like like like
Speaker 1: what did you bring to the process, Because Nip obviously
Speaker 1: had his his the way he made records, but I
Speaker 1: feel like there were some records on Victory Lap that
Speaker 1: were just so like elevated from anything we'd ever heard
Speaker 1: from him before. So it was dope about those situation,
Speaker 1: you know, Mike and Keys in fifteen hundred. Man, they
Speaker 1: were like the producers that kind of laid out the
Speaker 1: foundation for the project. And I remember one day, like
Speaker 1: I brought him Hustling Motivate, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: And I remember just being there and his eyes lighting up,
Speaker 1: like when I played him the beat for the first time,
Speaker 1: and like we talked about him being in the six
Speaker 1: four times square with hove and a passenger seat, like
Speaker 1: just talking like it was just like before he recorded
Speaker 1: that song. It was like that was like our first
Speaker 1: record we did together, you know what I'm saying. So
Speaker 1: you know, it was just like little thing, but more
Speaker 1: so it was just like beats. Like you know, Nipsey
Speaker 1: liked to just have be staid. He fuck with and
Speaker 1: he respected just my opinion on verses and structures the
Speaker 1: songs and things like that. But you know, that shit
Speaker 1: was pretty much all put together with Nipsey's vision. Were
Speaker 1: there any records because you hear rumors and stuff, but
Speaker 1: were there any features that were supposed to happen or
Speaker 1: that that didn't end up happening on Victory Lap? No,
Speaker 1: not really. I mean, I think the biggest thing was
Speaker 1: important to him was the Kendrick feature, right, yeah, and
Speaker 1: that was I mean jay Z. Of course everybody wants that.
Speaker 1: But you know, with jay Z, everything happens for a reason.
Speaker 1: And of course he got the song with jay Z,
Speaker 1: Now that's amazing. Of course, Puffy getting Puff Puff Daddy
Speaker 1: to talk shit, was that something that was Was that
Speaker 1: like a hard thing to get him in that? No,
Speaker 1: So what happened was the album was done, Yeah, and
Speaker 1: he wants to go play it for Puff And I
Speaker 1: think Puff was just so inspired when he heard the
Speaker 1: project that he had to put his fingers on it,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, in his ear and his
Speaker 1: touch on it. And you know, Nipsey is a big
Speaker 1: you know, you know, Puffs one of the people he
Speaker 1: really look up to in the music business. So of course,
Speaker 1: you know, if you have Puff one and to work
Speaker 1: with you and you know, add certain elements to the project,
Speaker 1: you're gonna let him jump in and do that. So,
Speaker 1: you know, I think it was just inspiration based. Is
Speaker 1: there a lot of like is there? Because we had
Speaker 1: Jaystone up here and he said that there's obviously a
Speaker 1: lot of unreleased Nipsey music out there or not out there,
Speaker 1: but you know, stuff that he recorded. Is there gonna
Speaker 1: be any sort of album. You know, we've gotten a
Speaker 1: pop smoke album. I mean, Tupac passed and we got
Speaker 1: a I mean, shit, we know how manyms he put
Speaker 1: Andre died, But is there any any discussions of even
Speaker 1: exploring that. I mean, you know, everybody knows how big
Speaker 1: of a perfectionist Nipsey was, and you know from me,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be comfortable being involved with putting out no
Speaker 1: more Nipsey music in the future because he's not there
Speaker 1: to approve it. And I don't want to stand on
Speaker 1: this thinking that I'm powerful enough to say no, that's
Speaker 1: what he would have wanted. So if Black Sam or
Speaker 1: somebody in his family or you know, somebody that you
Speaker 1: know that I feel like could make that call wants
Speaker 1: to do it, of course I would help out. But
Speaker 1: I would never want, like I think he left the
Speaker 1: legacy that's so crazy in that last project. I just
Speaker 1: wouldn't want to cloud it. That's fair, you know, was
Speaker 1: because because Rocks in the Middle was a record that
Speaker 1: kind of came out as like a Lucy was that
Speaker 1: supposed to of the next project? Right? Yeah? Yeah, we
Speaker 1: were about to start doing more features and like, damn, man, Yeah,
Speaker 1: because I remember when he dropped the record, he came
Speaker 1: up to the station and and I was like, Yo,
Speaker 1: so is this the single? He's like, it's just a
Speaker 1: song for now, you know, like we go yeah, damn.
Speaker 1: I mean, especially with the success that had, you don't
Speaker 1: even know that would have catapulled it too, and we
Speaker 1: had Yeah some ship. It's crazy talk to me about
Speaker 1: Roddy because it's funny because Nipsey was actually the first
Speaker 1: person that ever introduced me to Roddy Ridge. And and
Speaker 1: I have one of my uh friends from Phoenix JD Films,
Speaker 1: shot all of Roddy's first video, so he did like
Speaker 1: die like all the early ship. So I'd kind of
Speaker 1: been up on him, you know, I remember when you
Speaker 1: guys first signed him. I've already been kind of hip
Speaker 1: to what he was doing. You brought Roddy into the
Speaker 1: fold in Atlantic. Ye, how did you end up meeting
Speaker 1: Roddy Ridge? Give us that, you know, because I feel
Speaker 1: like Roddy's one of them ones that you know, whenever
Speaker 1: he drops is over. Yeah, for sure. I'm definitely looking
Speaker 1: forward to that. So, you know, after all the stuff
Speaker 1: was going on, just like with the success with all
Speaker 1: the artists. I was really in a space where I
Speaker 1: wanted to find something new and work with something from scratch.
Speaker 1: And when you when you guys started working together one
Speaker 1: and like Roddy was like he didn't have a sh
Speaker 1: song got had three thousand followers. Yeah, I was gonna say,
Speaker 1: like I remember, like like when I saw that, I
Speaker 1: was like, Yo, that's dope that he got that you
Speaker 1: fucked with him because I remember looking at his followers.
Speaker 1: I was alread following him. Remember he only had like
Speaker 1: ten thousand followers or something. Yeah. So I had a
Speaker 1: couple of interns at the time. One was Keifa Ye
Speaker 1: and I met Keifa through Nipsey, So Nipsey was just
Speaker 1: telling me, you know, he's a good dude or whatever.
Speaker 1: I really didn't know much about Kifa, and Keifa was
Speaker 1: very consistent as far as you know, building a relationship
Speaker 1: with me. So I got him an internship to work
Speaker 1: with me. And you know, with all my interns, the
Speaker 1: main goal is to kind of like I set up
Speaker 1: like accounts for them to go through Beats, So I
Speaker 1: have people send me at Beats and and every week
Speaker 1: I'll be like, yo, bring two or three artists to
Speaker 1: me that you fucking with that you've seen online or whatever,
Speaker 1: and we could go over and go through music. And
Speaker 1: Roddy was one of the artists that Keith for saw
Speaker 1: on YouTube. So when he played it for me, I
Speaker 1: was like, Yo, find the kid and let's figure out.
Speaker 1: Get him in the studio and see what he could do.
Speaker 1: He reached out, got Roddy in the studio, played me
Speaker 1: a couple of records, and I was like, Yo, this
Speaker 1: kid's amazing. So I went to the studio to see
Speaker 1: Roddy in action, and he did like three or four
Speaker 1: songs in one night. I couldn't believe it because a
Speaker 1: lot of artists, you know, they can't make music that consistently,
Speaker 1: and you know, they always got excuses or something's wrongs.
Speaker 1: Like It's like like you'll be in the studio for
Speaker 1: eight hours and you came away with one record. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So right then I knew. I was just like, yo, man,
Speaker 1: I gotta get this kid signed because he's just he's special.
Speaker 1: And Craig Kalman happened to be in LA during this time,
Speaker 1: and I just took him to me with Craig, and
Speaker 1: Craig was like, you want to do it? Just do
Speaker 1: it and you got the deal done. Do you feel
Speaker 1: like that that is the the because you know, we
Speaker 1: look back at Nip and Nip had been the name.
Speaker 1: He was obviously huge, I mean huge in the hip
Speaker 1: hop world prior to Victory Lap. You know, he was
Speaker 1: already a staple. But Roddy Rich was someone who you like,
Speaker 1: we like, not no one knew who Roddy Rich was,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. And I think that that's
Speaker 1: when I when I think of like labels and like
Speaker 1: where things are now, it feels like the days of
Speaker 1: that kind of shit happening are gone. Like you got
Speaker 1: to already have all this shit going on. At least
Speaker 1: it's still a g I was gonna say, even Simba,
Speaker 1: you know, we can get to simm a little bit.
Speaker 1: But like that's why I fuck, I appreciate that about
Speaker 1: you and your track record is like someone like Roddy Rich,
Speaker 1: Like you guys really built, like Roddy built from the
Speaker 1: ground up, you know what I'm saying. Like you guys
Speaker 1: built with him and drop mixtapes with him, and there
Speaker 1: was every everything was was it was I mean to
Speaker 1: you know, for lack of better words, it was like
Speaker 1: a marathon, not a sprint, you know what I'm saying. Yep,
Speaker 1: for sure. Do you think that that kind of like
Speaker 1: Roddy Rich kind of and his success kind of changed
Speaker 1: your career And like people's like, like, yo, like Dallas,
Speaker 1: really no, I mean obviously it's easy. Absolutely, absolutely, because
Speaker 1: every time I had success with you know, the MMG situation,
Speaker 1: they was gave Ross credit. Well, yes, mmg Ross is hot. Yeah,
Speaker 1: They're like, but people don't understand I'm in a studio
Speaker 1: with the artists at Ross is still an artist at
Speaker 1: the time, so like I'm day to day with everyone,
Speaker 1: so it's like, you know, I was like, damn, I
Speaker 1: ain't really getting then with the Nipsey shit was like
Speaker 1: Nipsey still was Nipsey, even though what we did with
Speaker 1: Victory Lab was special and you know, even getting him
Speaker 1: to sign with a major was a big deal and
Speaker 1: shit like that. So I feel like the Rioty shit
Speaker 1: was like, Okay, this was done with nothing from a scratch,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. So I think that was
Speaker 1: just very important with people realizing like, Okay, what can
Speaker 1: we say about him now? You know what I'm saying
Speaker 1: to kind of put it everybody, Yeah, the critics to
Speaker 1: the to the Sideline. Do you remember talk about because
Speaker 1: Roddy's album, you know, one of the biggest albums in
Speaker 1: the last ten years, The Box is one of the biggest.
Speaker 1: Is there is when Roddy did the Box, did he
Speaker 1: go back in and add to eat like, like, No,
Speaker 1: he had that from Jump so that was already in
Speaker 1: there in there when you heard like he did that,
Speaker 1: like when he recorded, like Roddy does voices and a
Speaker 1: lot of his songs that people are going to start
Speaker 1: realizing as far as like when he keeps more music out,
Speaker 1: but he's always he always does shit like that. That
Speaker 1: was like his idea. That was part of the beating. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: it was not part of the beat. It was already's idea.
Speaker 1: It's funny cause I was I was in Hawaii on
Speaker 1: my honeymoon when the album came out, and that was
Speaker 1: the record. I remember everybody was talking about I forget
Speaker 1: which record with a big feature on it. But I
Speaker 1: remember telling DJ A man like, Bro, I'm in Hawaii
Speaker 1: riding around in the convertible, this is the Box. Shit
Speaker 1: is the one, Bro, Like It's so crazy because that
Speaker 1: was like one of the last two records recorded before
Speaker 1: he turned in his projects. So we already had a
Speaker 1: roll out playing with everything besides the box. Damn, that's
Speaker 1: a videos so long to get out. It's crazy because
Speaker 1: I haven't seen an artist besides I think Kendrick's damn
Speaker 1: record as far as like songs that just ran radio
Speaker 1: for as long, like high Fashion, balling the like these
Speaker 1: records are still like in power rotation and radio stations. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: it's like they researched like it's it's insane, bro, It's
Speaker 1: it's it's crazy. Uh. I mean he's been teasing this
Speaker 1: new feed the street ship. Is that what's next? I
Speaker 1: hope so he hope. So how many how many records
Speaker 1: you sitting on? At least a hundred, one hundred at
Speaker 1: least Roddy does like five songs a day. It's crazy.
Speaker 1: He makes so much music. Like Roddy, could he walk
Speaker 1: in here right now, set up a studio right here
Speaker 1: and make ten songs on this table. Yeah, it's it's,
Speaker 1: it's it's He's like one of those you know. I
Speaker 1: tell people there's a few artists that it's hard for
Speaker 1: them to make a bad song. Yeah, yeah, I feel
Speaker 1: like Roddy's like shit, like you listen to all his shit,
Speaker 1: Like it's like hard for I feel like post Malone
Speaker 1: is one of those guys. Were like, there might be
Speaker 1: some post Malone songs you might not fuck with, but
Speaker 1: it's hard for Postmoone to make a shitty song like
Speaker 1: Roddy Rich, Like Roddy's one of them artists. Was like,
Speaker 1: just his melodies are so crazy, like the way he
Speaker 1: can float on a verse. Nah, he's special, He's He's
Speaker 1: he's definitely, you know, like he's like one of those
Speaker 1: artists that come around every ten years, one hundred per
Speaker 1: one hundred percent. Were you, uh, you know, with with
Speaker 1: the lack of Grammy nomination for the Rap Album of
Speaker 1: the Year, was that something that you kind of took personal.
Speaker 1: I don't really take the Grammy stuff personal no more.
Speaker 1: I just you know, at the end of the day, man,
Speaker 1: like I think we do music to kind of you know,
Speaker 1: for the culture and to feed our families and things
Speaker 1: like that. I don't really know. We got a Grammy
Speaker 1: with Rex in the middle of course, so you know,
Speaker 1: that was a highlight moment, but you know, at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, like just seeing the success that
Speaker 1: Roddy has now and you know, just the kind of
Speaker 1: way he's living life is just that's the the dope
Speaker 1: shit to see. Are you instrumental in the new in
Speaker 1: the new music he's working on or just doing his thing?
Speaker 1: He's doing his thing, I think, I think right, he's
Speaker 1: at the point where you know, him and Keith for
Speaker 1: are kind of so locked in. I'm just whenever they
Speaker 1: need me, I'm here. I'm here, but you know, whatever
Speaker 1: they need from me, of course, But you know, I
Speaker 1: don't think Roddy needs help from anybody, that's fair. So
Speaker 1: some of the newer artists that you're working with, I
Speaker 1: know you're you're playing a part in Corday's new music.
Speaker 1: I've heard some stuff with some He's got some crazy features.
Speaker 1: We won't talk about those, but he's definitely got some ship. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that he's that is in the can. And then Simba, Yes,
Speaker 1: so Simba is somebody who you know, you're really kind
Speaker 1: of helping, Like it reminds me of the Roddy situation. Yes,
Speaker 1: and Simba, you know somebody who we had what year
Speaker 1: do we have Simba on the show twenty seventeen something
Speaker 1: like that. It is a while ago, but Simber somebody
Speaker 1: who has been around. Yeah, but like, I feel like
Speaker 1: it was kind of like a like an unpolished gem
Speaker 1: that was just sitting around it, like you know, it
Speaker 1: just needs like somebody needed to just come along and
Speaker 1: be like, Yo, yeah, let's let's do this shit. It was.
Speaker 1: It was crazy because me and similar relationship started off
Speaker 1: real organic. So his producer, he has a producer named Cast,
Speaker 1: and I'm super cool, shout out to Cast. Yeah, Cast,
Speaker 1: what's up? He was hitting me and he's like, excuse me.
Speaker 1: He's like, I got this artist. Man, I think he's
Speaker 1: the next jay Z. It's a lot to say, right,
Speaker 1: So I'm like, man, So you know when you get
Speaker 1: these causes at A and R, you be like, yeah, sure,
Speaker 1: all right man, yeah you got the next hole? Right.
Speaker 1: My brother and they be your friends too, so you
Speaker 1: just be like all right, man, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: So he's telling me like man, So I'm like, man,
Speaker 1: it's no way you have the next hole, bro. So anyways,
Speaker 1: I do this a little thing at my office. It
Speaker 1: was called Past the Aucs where I had like mad
Speaker 1: music producers and writers come and I have food and
Speaker 1: drinks for everybody, and we just was in the conference
Speaker 1: room playing music and sim was stepped to the AUCS
Speaker 1: court and start playing me his music, and I was
Speaker 1: just looking like, Oh, this kid is different, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. I just knew he had a different
Speaker 1: energy and Sims just a likable person definitely. So when
Speaker 1: I set up a meeting with him the next day
Speaker 1: and they played me some more shit, and I was
Speaker 1: just blown away, and I was like, we're going to
Speaker 1: New York next week. Took him to New York next
Speaker 1: week and just signed him. Wow, Like I think Julie
Speaker 1: her two records, she said, welcome to Atlanta Records. I'm like, damn, Julie,
Speaker 1: you gotta you showing all your cards. So Julie loved
Speaker 1: him immediately. The whole staff loved him, and you know, like,
Speaker 1: if the COVID shit didn't happen last year, I think,
Speaker 1: you know, Sim, he would even be further ahead than
Speaker 1: he is right now. Yeah. I think, like, you know,
Speaker 1: because I remember talking to him, and I think, you know,
Speaker 1: obviously a lot of the stuff you guys had planned
Speaker 1: kind of got yeah, got rearranged, yes, but I think
Speaker 1: it all worked out. Yeah. I mean, really that La
Speaker 1: Leakers freestyle is I think what really kind of showed
Speaker 1: everybody like absolutely, this motherfucker is here, Like who is
Speaker 1: this guy? We got so much love from that man,
Speaker 1: and it's just like, you know, the feedback was great,
Speaker 1: and you know the project. You know, we're really excited
Speaker 1: for a first project. So now I think the Gold
Speaker 1: just stay consistent with the music and just getting music.
Speaker 1: And some of those records that he played that those
Speaker 1: are still coming out there, they're still coming out. They
Speaker 1: were just going through sample clearances that are clear now.
Speaker 1: So we got a lot of shit. Why why didn't
Speaker 1: So there was a record that was supposed to be
Speaker 1: on his album called west Side Griselda, Yeah, why didn't that?
Speaker 1: It was the sample things Jason Cash? About Jason another
Speaker 1: artist who you're working with? Yes, so Jason Cash somebody
Speaker 1: else that I'm working with right now out of sign
Speaker 1: from the West Coast. So I'm still excited about him.
Speaker 1: But I met him through Simba him a symbol. We're
Speaker 1: making a lot of music together and I just loved
Speaker 1: his energy and ship. I mean, the music he's been making,
Speaker 1: it's been crazy, Like I'm really excited for everybody to
Speaker 1: hear his shit too, So you know we're doing something special. Man.
Speaker 1: I got a studio out here we called the Trap,
Speaker 1: and you know, it was just like a great music
Speaker 1: space where you know, creators could come and it's no
Speaker 1: egos and everybody's working together because we're all trying to
Speaker 1: see each other when so you know when people come there, man,
Speaker 1: it's just special music that's being made. Who's somebody who
Speaker 1: you tried to sign that didn't work out that you
Speaker 1: kind of were like, ah, that almost happened. Yep, dam
Speaker 1: that had been crazy. I was probably it was out
Speaker 1: of me and one other label and I didn't push
Speaker 1: the button on something that I should have did that
Speaker 1: I regret to this day. And he went with the
Speaker 1: other label instead. So something. So it was it was close.
Speaker 1: I was there. It was in Atlantic office and everything
Speaker 1: we're close. I had him come to the studio and
Speaker 1: in the night he came to the studio, I had
Speaker 1: meet Roddy working again, like it was one of those nights.
Speaker 1: So you know that's one that you wish you could
Speaker 1: get back. Man. Yeah, I can only imagine a big
Speaker 1: fan of himself. Yo. Has you know somebody who I
Speaker 1: heard you know someone who Jason Cash got a great
Speaker 1: relationship with, Yeah, is Blast, Yes, Blast from my Knowledge
Speaker 1: is still not signed. I don't think that's true. I
Speaker 1: know he was with Red Bull, yeah, but I but
Speaker 1: maybe maybe it's just the last time I talked to him,
Speaker 1: some shit has changed. Yeah, But I feel like Blast
Speaker 1: is one of them one. He's incredible. Him and Cash
Speaker 1: got to smash together, got a smash. The people don't
Speaker 1: realize they came up together. Jason was telling me stories
Speaker 1: about like he was just bringing Blast everywhere with it
Speaker 1: back in the day. Yeah, they got a dope relationship, man.
Speaker 1: So it's glad to see like them go their own
Speaker 1: ways and come back together, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: So it's it's it's dope to see for people watching
Speaker 1: this who are artists or for you know, I always
Speaker 1: tell artists that there's really no excuse for you to
Speaker 1: not be on your ship in twenty twenty, twenty twenty one,
Speaker 1: because you know, the Internet from from from when you
Speaker 1: first got and we're talking earlier. You know, the days
Speaker 1: of like you needing to meet someone and past them
Speaker 1: your tape or all that shit's gone, Like you know,
Speaker 1: you're straight to consumer now, But like, what are the
Speaker 1: things that you would tell up and coming artists that
Speaker 1: they need to have like together, you know what I'm
Speaker 1: saying to be taken serious. I mean, you know what
Speaker 1: bothers me. A lot of up and coming artists don't
Speaker 1: even take the time to figure out who the players
Speaker 1: are in the game. So you know, like I hate
Speaker 1: when people come up to me and they'd be like, oh,
Speaker 1: you work me, what do you do? Like it'd be
Speaker 1: like then they'd be like, oh, can you take them? Like,
Speaker 1: I'm not about to explain what I do there. Like
Speaker 1: you know, like when I was coming up, I knew
Speaker 1: who everybody was at every label, So if I didn't
Speaker 1: run into them, I would know something about their story
Speaker 1: to be compelling enough for them to want to take
Speaker 1: my information. Nowadays, you'd be like, bro, move right, know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. So, I mean, honestly, you know, I
Speaker 1: think what helped me best was being a student of
Speaker 1: the game and realizing what people did before me to
Speaker 1: get to where they're at, you know, reading books and
Speaker 1: things like that to kind of help put me on
Speaker 1: the path to understanding what it takes to be good
Speaker 1: at what I do. But you know, I think just
Speaker 1: understanding that and just work ethic. You know, the entitlement
Speaker 1: is at all time high, at all time high right now.
Speaker 1: It's very it's very concerning for me, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, because on the artists side, and on the
Speaker 1: and on the background, like you know, like on your side, yes,
Speaker 1: it's bad man, Like you know, everybody wants the big salary,
Speaker 1: big check, but don't want to check in. That's all ship.
Speaker 1: You know, what do you look for in an artist? When?
Speaker 1: When you when? When you know? Is it obviously metrics
Speaker 1: aside because we've already established it, that's not that's not
Speaker 1: the end all be all for you. What do you
Speaker 1: look for? I like when so right now we're in
Speaker 1: a wave of you know, I want to say baby
Speaker 1: Roddy's of course, you know what I'm saying. I like
Speaker 1: when there's like a wave of music going and I
Speaker 1: hear something that's going completely in the other direction. That's
Speaker 1: why Symbol was dope for me at the time, because
Speaker 1: nobody was rapping no more. It was everybody mumble rap
Speaker 1: was big, and you know, all these little whatevers. You
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. I feel like even the guys
Speaker 1: who get credit is like good rappers now aren't even
Speaker 1: really good rappers. Yeah, they're just good rappers compared to
Speaker 1: like what's going on out Yeah, like outside of like
Speaker 1: the Griselda's and like the Gibbs and all that shit.
Speaker 1: But like on the mainstream side, there's like people who
Speaker 1: really get credit for being like dope that aren't even
Speaker 1: that dope. I'm like, they're dope for like compared to
Speaker 1: who you know what I'm saying. So, so you like
Speaker 1: that original the originality. Yeah, I'm just like when something
Speaker 1: like when there's a way going, I like somebody that's
Speaker 1: going in a total different direction. That's fair. You know,
Speaker 1: that's fair. What's next for you, man? Right next for
Speaker 1: me is really turning Asylum into a powerhouse label breaking
Speaker 1: some acts this year. I got Side of Baby and
Speaker 1: Kendo Many. It's my first two acts on my Asylum
Speaker 1: roster that are a priority for me. So making sure
Speaker 1: that you know their projects are amazing and you know,
Speaker 1: helping them whatever I could do. You just signed a
Speaker 1: kid from Indiana too. I just signed a kid named
Speaker 1: Jay Lou from Indianapolis. He's on some trap soul ship
Speaker 1: that's incredible. And of course I got some with Jason
Speaker 1: Cash that are up next for me in Cordat as well.
Speaker 1: So uh, Sat the baby. Yes, that was somebody who
Speaker 1: was already on asylum, was right. So you I remember
Speaker 1: you told me you're like yo, when I found out
Speaker 1: that Ken the Man was on the roster, I'm like, yo,
Speaker 1: this is this is this is dunk right here. Absolutely?
Speaker 1: How is it working with the baby? I've had some
Speaker 1: really interesting experiences with him. We did an interview here
Speaker 1: that never came out because he was falling asleep throughout
Speaker 1: the whole interview in the studio. I don't know, or
Speaker 1: it could have been what was in his cover one
Speaker 1: of the two. But he's a very funny dude. And
Speaker 1: then there was he booked the studio one night and
Speaker 1: they had bro oh my god, they booked both rooms.
Speaker 1: It was this. This was like June No, like COVID
Speaker 1: was not even a thing. Like my engineers are hitting
Speaker 1: me like what do we do? I'm like nothing, it's
Speaker 1: a rap studio. We're gonna get one of these every
Speaker 1: once in a while. Absolutely, But what's it like? You know? Yes,
Speaker 1: So my first time working with Sada was last week.
Speaker 1: He came to LA for a week and work and
Speaker 1: you know, man, I really got to just understand this process.
Speaker 1: He's a very hard worker. I think he has a
Speaker 1: vision to you know, his madness, of course, and I
Speaker 1: think he just wants to be respected as a as
Speaker 1: a dope artist in his music game. You know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. He's putting out a lot of records, a
Speaker 1: lot of content, and you know, I just think that
Speaker 1: this year is going to be one of those years
Speaker 1: that I think he's gonna break as one of the
Speaker 1: big artists in the game for sure. And then Ken
Speaker 1: the Man is She's from Houston. Yeah, Ken the Man
Speaker 1: is exciting because I never got a female. It's a
Speaker 1: female and her name is it was confusing, Yeah, so
Speaker 1: I guess the whole personas you know. She she she
Speaker 1: could get on her man with the ladies, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. Her management listen hit me and was like, Yo,
Speaker 1: can I bring Ken the Man up? This was what
Speaker 1: a year and a half or two ago, and I
Speaker 1: was like, yeah, what's his Instagram? She said, oh, it's
Speaker 1: a girl. I was like, what the fuck? But then
Speaker 1: she came in spas the funk out. Yes, freestyle is dope,
Speaker 1: as she did with Yeah, She's incredible, So be on
Speaker 1: the lookout for her. And then are you currently Like
Speaker 1: are you always looking for talent. I'm always looking for talent.
Speaker 1: But now you know, like as I'm like getting higher
Speaker 1: up as far as just like I got a team,
Speaker 1: I got, I got a and RS now, so you know,
Speaker 1: of course they're bringing stuff to my attention every day.
Speaker 1: But you know, I gotta really make sure I'm balancing
Speaker 1: what I have the right way, because I don't want
Speaker 1: to get so many artists that I'm losing focus on.
Speaker 1: You know, the artist I have is asylum going to
Speaker 1: kind of act also as like like a distribution platform
Speaker 1: for some artists, kind of like in the in the
Speaker 1: way that like there's like Empire, so you're gonna be
Speaker 1: doing some distro and then if something really starts moving,
Speaker 1: that's when the upstream happens. Yep, yeah, it's it's it's
Speaker 1: it's It's great for me because I could do so
Speaker 1: many unique deals. I could do joint ventures, fifty fifty split,
Speaker 1: seventy thirty splits, like just it depends what an artist wants,
Speaker 1: what services they want, and you know what they want
Speaker 1: to bring to the table, because you know, if you
Speaker 1: want to stay independent, you want to do a one
Speaker 1: off mixtape to see if you even like how we
Speaker 1: structured over there at Asylum and things like that. It
Speaker 1: gives opportunity to get you know, into the system, see
Speaker 1: if they like it and don't be tied down for
Speaker 1: five or six albums and saying fuck the label on
Speaker 1: their next tweet. Well, historically, Asylum is known as a
Speaker 1: hip hop label. Back in the day, it was like
Speaker 1: bud B and I mean it was Mike Jones on
Speaker 1: the side, Mike, Mike Jones. Is that are you strictly
Speaker 1: looking for hip hop as that wasn't Mike Jones. Mike Jones,
Speaker 1: Mike Jones. I mean, I'm definitely gonna keep it hip hop,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. But I do want to
Speaker 1: do some progressive R and B shit, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. I think Jay Lotta is a great artist
Speaker 1: that we're going to introduce to the world that's going
Speaker 1: to really you know, show that trap soul because I
Speaker 1: think trap soul is going to become like a real
Speaker 1: force in the music business right now, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, like artists. Someone just said that should be
Speaker 1: its own John I forget who tweeted that, yeah, trap solo.
Speaker 1: I think Cevo did. Yeah. By the way, shout out
Speaker 1: to Bryson Tilling. He the first one. Yeah, sure, he
Speaker 1: definitely opened up the door for it, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. So a lot of these artists, man, you know,
Speaker 1: they from the street, but they sing. Do you find
Speaker 1: it hard balancing because you're a family man. I'm a
Speaker 1: family man. I feel like it's hard to kind of
Speaker 1: balance being a boss and moving around and like kind
Speaker 1: of that work life balance is Like how do you
Speaker 1: kind of do that? Man? Because it's tough. It's tough, man,
Speaker 1: I mean shit, It's like, you know, I have to
Speaker 1: really just make sure that I only go to the studio.
Speaker 1: Like I can't really hang out with my artists as
Speaker 1: much as I want to when they're going to clubs
Speaker 1: and things like that. I really just have to focus
Speaker 1: on the office and be with them in the studio.
Speaker 1: It's got to be something special, Yeah, it has to
Speaker 1: be something worth it. Like you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: I can't just go to the club with you because
Speaker 1: y'all taking some hose out, you know what I'm saying. So,
Speaker 1: like I'm assuming you want to be going to All
Speaker 1: Star Weekend now exactly right right right like that, Like
Speaker 1: there's no point for me to be like, what am
Speaker 1: I going out there for? That's fair. Yeah, that's what
Speaker 1: you got to pick and Jews those those moments absolutely
Speaker 1: I feel you. I'm on that same ship. Yeah. So
Speaker 1: you know, things that make sense for me to be at,
Speaker 1: Like if I have an artist doing something special in
Speaker 1: the city that they you know, they mean something that
Speaker 1: that I mean some of them, I'll be there. But
Speaker 1: you know, a lot of artists respect that I do
Speaker 1: have a family, you know what I'm saying, So they're
Speaker 1: going to make sure that you know, they're gonna let
Speaker 1: me know things they want to be at. But you know,
Speaker 1: I think artists may focus is me being in the
Speaker 1: studio with them opposed to the club Boom. Well, look, Dallas,
Speaker 1: appreciate your time. Yeah, appreciate you man. Thanks for having
Speaker 1: me man, it's good fun. Yeah. Yeah, I think your
Speaker 1: story's dope, and I think you know, I always tell everybody, man, Yo, Dallas, like,
Speaker 1: your come up has been crazy to witness. Bro. Absolute
Speaker 1: appreciate it. Podcast wrapping up Boom, Thank you man,