WEBVTT - Loud Records: The Rise & Fall of The Label that Made Wu-Tang, Mobb Deep & Big Pun | Part 1 0:00:01.040 --> 0:00:04.080 So he goes, listen, guys, I gotta tell you this company. 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:07.680 I'm already minus seventeen million for the year. I don't 0:00:07.680 --> 0:00:09.800 know what to do with these records. I'm just gonna 0:00:09.880 --> 0:00:10.320 let you go. 0:00:10.840 --> 0:00:11.320 He says. 0:00:11.480 --> 0:00:13.239 I run out of money, and they're closing at the 0:00:13.320 --> 0:00:15.800 end of the year, and we're living off of riches 0:00:15.840 --> 0:00:18.639 credit cards right the second, and I think Rich is 0:00:18.640 --> 0:00:19.800 having an anxiety attack. 0:00:20.200 --> 0:00:23.160 I am ready to jump off a building at that point. 0:00:28.520 --> 0:00:32.240 Welcome to Idea Generations All Angles, a podcast about culture's 0:00:32.240 --> 0:00:37.839 most influential brands and the teams that build them. If 0:00:37.840 --> 0:00:41.320 you're an entrepreneur, creative, or anyone interested in harnessing the 0:00:41.320 --> 0:00:45.120 power of collaboration, join me Noah Callahan Bever each week 0:00:45.159 --> 0:00:48.200 as we dissect the most dynamic companies in culture, because 0:00:48.240 --> 0:00:51.199 the only way to truly understand success is to look 0:00:51.200 --> 0:00:56.040 at it from all angles. Idea Generations All Angles is 0:00:56.080 --> 0:01:06.760 a Will Packer Media podcast. In nineteen ninety one, Steve 0:01:06.840 --> 0:01:09.959 Rifkin founded Loud Records, and in the decade that followed, 0:01:10.000 --> 0:01:12.240 Loud would cultivate one of the most iconic rosters in 0:01:12.319 --> 0:01:16.600 hip hop history, including Wu Tang, Clan, Mob, Deep, Big Pun, 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:21.240 three six, Mafia, Dead pres and the Alcoholics. But the 0:01:21.280 --> 0:01:23.440 label's success was a product of more than just one 0:01:23.480 --> 0:01:27.000 man's effort. Loud was the confluence of Rifkin's vision and network, 0:01:27.360 --> 0:01:30.880 childhood friend and partner Rich Isaacson's iron fisted governance, and 0:01:30.920 --> 0:01:34.960 the impeccable taste, tone and tireless efforts of an ensemble 0:01:35.040 --> 0:01:38.000 cast of hip hop obsessed young staffers, not to mention 0:01:38.480 --> 0:01:40.800 the timeless art of some of the most talented rappers 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:43.479 and producers to ever pick up a mic or tap 0:01:43.520 --> 0:01:48.920 on a beat machine. On this week's episode, we talked 0:01:48.960 --> 0:01:51.680 to founders Rifkin and Isaacson, A and R's Mattie C. 0:01:52.000 --> 0:01:55.920 Scott Free and Shaun Sea Radio VP Mojo, as well 0:01:55.960 --> 0:01:58.360 as Havoc from Mob Deep to hear the full story 0:01:58.360 --> 0:02:00.560 of how Loud Records grew from a one room office 0:02:00.560 --> 0:02:03.160 on Melrose ab to one of the most successful record 0:02:03.200 --> 0:02:06.000 labels of the nineties, and how the inspired chaos that 0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:10.600 fueled their rise ultimately also contributed to the legendary labels undoing. 0:02:11.080 --> 0:02:13.760 But long before any of that happened, decades prior to 0:02:13.760 --> 0:02:16.440 Cloud selling a single record, there were just two best 0:02:16.440 --> 0:02:19.600 friends driving home from soccer practice in Merrick Long Island. 0:02:21.040 --> 0:02:23.840 Steve and I grew up together in Merrick Long Island. 0:02:24.040 --> 0:02:26.639 This is Rich Isaacson, co founder of Loud Records. 0:02:27.000 --> 0:02:28.919 It was kind of one of those neighborhoods where everybody 0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:31.760 played out in the street, so we knew each other 0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:34.519 just from being kids in the same neighborhood. 0:02:34.720 --> 0:02:38.000 So Marrick had a north side and a south side. 0:02:38.160 --> 0:02:41.320 The north side was all Irish, the south side was 0:02:41.960 --> 0:02:43.440 mostly Jews and Italians. 0:02:43.680 --> 0:02:46.480 This is Steve Rifkint, founder of Loud Records. 0:02:47.080 --> 0:02:51.720 So there would be fights pretty much every day that 0:02:51.919 --> 0:02:52.840 we went to school. 0:02:53.120 --> 0:02:54.880 Steve and I grew up a couple of blocks away 0:02:54.880 --> 0:02:57.640 from each other, so kind of in each other's lives 0:02:57.639 --> 0:03:01.240 since we were literally little kids. Teenage, then high school, 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:04.840 and we got really close, I would say in high school. 0:03:05.200 --> 0:03:07.360 He was a senior in high school when I was 0:03:07.360 --> 0:03:09.960 in tenth grade. We were both on the soccer team. 0:03:10.240 --> 0:03:12.000 He was on Varsie and I was on JB and 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:13.880 you know, we knew each other, but he was like 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:16.440 the big kid and I was really little at that point. 0:03:16.760 --> 0:03:19.680 So Steve was driving and I didn't drive yet at 0:03:19.680 --> 0:03:21.800 that time, so he would take me home from practice 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:24.000 or pick me up, and he makes a joke that 0:03:24.080 --> 0:03:26.000 I had to pay him, and he tells that story like, oh, 0:03:26.080 --> 0:03:28.200 Ritchie's to pay just to hang out with me. 0:03:29.760 --> 0:03:32.400 Though Steve was raised in a mundane suburb of Long Island, 0:03:32.639 --> 0:03:36.080 his childhood was anything but ordinary. The Rifkin family was 0:03:36.080 --> 0:03:39.320 a music industry dynasty. Steve's grandfather had run a popular 0:03:39.400 --> 0:03:42.840 nightclub on Queen's Boulevard, and Steve's father and uncle, Jules 0:03:42.880 --> 0:03:46.280 and Roy Rifkin, were hugely successful in radio promotion and 0:03:46.360 --> 0:03:49.360 early champions of R and B and soul music. Jewles 0:03:49.360 --> 0:03:52.640 had been a senior executive at both MGM and Bang Records, 0:03:52.840 --> 0:03:55.560 was a confidant of James Brown, and would eventually launch 0:03:55.560 --> 0:03:59.040 his own label under Polydor Spring Records. So it was 0:03:59.080 --> 0:04:02.240 almost a given that and his younger brother Jonathan would 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:04.560 add onto the family's legacy and the music biz. 0:04:05.280 --> 0:04:09.400 My house, we could only listen to WBLS. BLS was 0:04:09.440 --> 0:04:12.480 the only black station in the one or seven point five, 0:04:13.280 --> 0:04:16.440 so everybody else was listening to the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Beatles, 0:04:16.560 --> 0:04:20.200 Pink Floyd, you know, whatever the rock and pop stuff was. 0:04:20.880 --> 0:04:22.720 I had no clue what it was. 0:04:23.240 --> 0:04:25.760 His dad was in the music business, and that household 0:04:25.920 --> 0:04:28.799 was really pretty exotic for Merrick, Long Island. 0:04:29.360 --> 0:04:31.919 He had any given time, that could be a lomo 0:04:32.120 --> 0:04:34.000 at the house and it could be James Brown, it 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:36.440 could be Millie Jackson, it would be somebody from the 0:04:36.480 --> 0:04:39.400 Fat Back Band. It could be Kenny gamble E Leon Huff, 0:04:39.520 --> 0:04:41.560 who was the biggest producers. 0:04:44.160 --> 0:04:47.440 Founded in nineteen sixty seven by Steve's father, Jules brother 0:04:47.520 --> 0:04:51.200 Royd and friend Bill Spittalaski, Spring Records ushered in a 0:04:51.320 --> 0:04:54.799 generation of classic R and B, funk and soul, including 0:04:54.800 --> 0:04:58.039 superstars like Joe Simon and Millie Jackson, and by virtue 0:04:58.080 --> 0:05:00.680 of kicking it in Jewels living room, even Rich got 0:05:00.720 --> 0:05:04.000 front row seats to witness how the music industry really worked. 0:05:04.320 --> 0:05:07.800 The Spring Records had classic, amazing R and B, and 0:05:07.839 --> 0:05:11.080 then later on Steve and his dad put out what 0:05:11.200 --> 0:05:13.560 many considered the first hip hop record of all time, 0:05:13.600 --> 0:05:15.800 which was King Tim the Third by the Fat Back Band. 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:20.200 Steve wasn't exactly a student that didn't care about seeing 0:05:20.240 --> 0:05:21.960 A student had a learning disability. 0:05:22.120 --> 0:05:23.240 I didn't know how to read a write till I 0:05:23.320 --> 0:05:25.960 was on to fifteen years old. I was majorly dyslexic. 0:05:26.240 --> 0:05:28.200 Nobody knew what that was then, so they sent me 0:05:28.240 --> 0:05:30.120 to Julie. I didn't have to sleep there. The little 0:05:30.120 --> 0:05:32.000 bus would come. They would come into the bus and 0:05:32.040 --> 0:05:34.839 then they would take me to a school. And my 0:05:35.000 --> 0:05:36.760 parents they tried their best with me. 0:05:38.680 --> 0:05:40.839 They even believe me. I really thought. 0:05:41.200 --> 0:05:43.880 Up until my senior year in high school, my dream 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:46.080 was the NBA. My dad took me to a record 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:48.560 convention one time and it was a took him that hotel, 0:05:49.040 --> 0:05:51.200 and I was like, all right, this is kind of cool, 0:05:51.240 --> 0:05:53.840 but it really didn't do anything into me. 0:05:54.000 --> 0:05:56.120 I think he went to college for a day or 0:05:56.160 --> 0:05:58.120 a week or something like that, and he's like, this 0:05:58.200 --> 0:05:58.719 isn't for me. 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:02.640 Seeing Steve drop out of college without any plans prompted 0:06:02.680 --> 0:06:04.960 Jewels and Grandpa Ripken to call a meeting with Steve. 0:06:05.320 --> 0:06:08.200 And the outcome of that conversation, well, it would set 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:09.800 off his career in the music industry. 0:06:10.080 --> 0:06:12.000 My grandfather called me, he goes, why don't you do 0:06:12.000 --> 0:06:13.720 what your cousin did. I'm like, what did my cousin do? 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:16.960 He goes, he went to visit radio stations. Two weeks later, 0:06:17.440 --> 0:06:19.240 my grandfather called me, he just pick me up at 0:06:19.240 --> 0:06:21.520 the airport and he goes, we'll haveing lunch with your father. 0:06:22.000 --> 0:06:22.719 We go to lunch. 0:06:22.839 --> 0:06:25.880 They you're gonna go to visit some radio stations. You'll 0:06:25.880 --> 0:06:28.560 fly back to Florida with Grandpa, and then from there. 0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:31.160 They gave me a route of where and there was 0:06:31.200 --> 0:06:34.520 always somebody there. My first off was Florida. I don't 0:06:34.520 --> 0:06:36.320 know how to read a map. I got ten dollars 0:06:36.360 --> 0:06:38.800 worth a quarters and forty grand and gash and my 0:06:38.880 --> 0:06:43.760 father says, if you disappear, you're dead. First stop. I 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:47.000 went from Fort Lada of Florida to Alabama, and I 0:06:47.000 --> 0:06:49.280 met a guy a name with Dave Clark. Dave Clark 0:06:49.600 --> 0:06:52.640 ran the South from a promotion side of things, and 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:56.080 he's introducing me to like program directed and I just 0:06:56.120 --> 0:06:59.000 really did a lot of listening and I introduced myself 0:06:59.200 --> 0:07:01.120 and I just kept in touch. 0:07:01.360 --> 0:07:02.240 Day didn't ask me. 0:07:02.240 --> 0:07:04.719 To hang out with them, and I was like, where's 0:07:04.720 --> 0:07:05.640 the local college. 0:07:06.400 --> 0:07:09.159 Being much younger than the pds and radio vets, Steve 0:07:09.200 --> 0:07:11.760 headed to the local colleges, both the work his dad's 0:07:11.800 --> 0:07:14.280 records with the DJs, but also to party with people 0:07:14.320 --> 0:07:16.880 his own age. This routine would continue for the next 0:07:16.880 --> 0:07:20.720 couple of years. Steve would visit college towns, build relationships 0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:23.080 with the local DJs, and get his records played on 0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:26.720 their stations. Ultimately, this network of radio taste makers would 0:07:26.720 --> 0:07:28.840 become the foundation of Steve's career. 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:32.520 From mobile to making Georgia and then New Orleans and 0:07:32.560 --> 0:07:35.080 I'd go back to the colleges again, and that three 0:07:35.120 --> 0:07:38.640 weeks ended up being three years where I would zig 0:07:38.720 --> 0:07:40.440 zag all across the country. 0:07:40.760 --> 0:07:43.640 So that's how the whole street Team concept came together. 0:07:45.240 --> 0:07:47.679 After a few years on the road, Steve found himself 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:50.600 back in New York City surfacing records to Frankie Crocker, 0:07:50.880 --> 0:07:54.240 a record breaking icon at WBLS, the number one black 0:07:54.320 --> 0:07:57.400 music station in the Tri State. One Saturday night, Steve 0:07:57.440 --> 0:07:59.680 got an opportunity to roll with Crocker that would both 0:07:59.720 --> 0:08:02.240 open his eyes and transform his business. 0:08:02.440 --> 0:08:05.000 So this is when I'm around twenty twenty one. I'm 0:08:05.000 --> 0:08:07.760 at BLS Radio and then May James, who is the 0:08:07.840 --> 0:08:11.280 music director, said Frankie wants to talk to you. He 0:08:11.320 --> 0:08:13.600 goes hey, does your dad still get the limos My 0:08:13.760 --> 0:08:18.320 dad definanced the limousine company Music Express. I'm like, I 0:08:18.360 --> 0:08:21.720 don't know, let's call him. Frankie goes hey, Julie, do 0:08:21.760 --> 0:08:23.760 you still have the thing? He goes, yeah. He goes, 0:08:23.800 --> 0:08:25.800 I need one for Saturday night. My dad goes, you 0:08:25.800 --> 0:08:28.320 have no problem, but let's Steven go with you. So 0:08:28.600 --> 0:08:30.680 I'm like, where are we going? He goes, We're going 0:08:30.720 --> 0:08:31.480 to the garage. 0:08:31.600 --> 0:08:34.520 The garage wasn't just any nightclub. This was the home 0:08:34.559 --> 0:08:37.720 of DJ legend Larry Levine, who, from a later than 0:08:37.760 --> 0:08:41.360 late night underground club in downtown Manhattan, broke the sounds 0:08:41.360 --> 0:08:44.000 of disco and dance that would define pop music for 0:08:44.080 --> 0:08:45.360 a decade plus. 0:08:45.600 --> 0:08:47.440 It was a club and it opened up at six 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:49.920 in the morning. Frankie's come to the house around three 0:08:50.000 --> 0:08:52.160 in the morning, go to the house, we go to 0:08:52.160 --> 0:08:55.400 Studio fifty four, We go to another club, Magique, and 0:08:55.440 --> 0:08:58.679 now it's time to go to the garage. He's not 0:08:58.760 --> 0:09:02.559 telling me anything, right, So around like an hour later, 0:09:02.960 --> 0:09:07.000 he disappears. I'm by myself. He's by the DJ booth 0:09:07.400 --> 0:09:10.600 and he's not talking to Larry. He's just literally like 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:14.520 eyeing the tiger. I'm like, what is he doing? So 0:09:14.880 --> 0:09:17.440 in between eight o'clock in the morning to nine o'clock 0:09:17.440 --> 0:09:20.679 in the morning, whatever Larry played, Frankie was adding to 0:09:20.720 --> 0:09:21.439 the radio station. 0:09:22.840 --> 0:09:26.080 Having seen Frankie's system of music discovery, Steve got an 0:09:26.120 --> 0:09:29.120 idea on how to capitalize on Larry's golden hour picks. 0:09:29.679 --> 0:09:32.679 So I'm calling Atlantic Records or Epic Record. I'm like, hey, 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:34.760 I could get your Shannon record. I'm just making up 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:36.800 a name. I could get your Shannon record. At it 0:09:36.880 --> 0:09:37.880 to BLS tomorrow. 0:09:38.360 --> 0:09:38.560 Yeah. 0:09:38.640 --> 0:09:40.760 See, there's no fucking way. I'm like, I promise you 0:09:41.040 --> 0:09:42.040 who goes if you get it? 0:09:42.080 --> 0:09:43.640 How much you want? Five grand? 0:09:44.640 --> 0:09:47.400 There was a label called Next Plateau. I called that 0:09:47.559 --> 0:09:50.480 was seed Bank One more shot, and I nailed all 0:09:50.520 --> 0:09:54.880 three records, So I made fifteen grand. Nobody knows. I'm 0:09:54.920 --> 0:09:57.160 not telling my dad. I'm not telling anybody. I'm twenty 0:09:57.200 --> 0:09:59.319 two years old. I'm making fifteen grand a week now, 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:02.559 so I'm making a name for myself. That PolyGram puts 0:10:02.600 --> 0:10:04.720 me on retainer, not for a lot of money, for 0:10:04.840 --> 0:10:08.520 like five hundreds a week, but I'm still getting those records. 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:12.040 By getting those records, Steve means that he would watch 0:10:12.080 --> 0:10:14.360 the songs that Larry played during the peak hours on 0:10:14.440 --> 0:10:18.160 Sunday morning, knowing that Frankie Crocker would likely add them 0:10:18.160 --> 0:10:22.200 to regular rotation on bls that week, and then first 0:10:22.200 --> 0:10:25.320 thing Monday morning, he would call the labels behind each 0:10:25.400 --> 0:10:29.080 song that Larry played and offer for a fee to 0:10:29.160 --> 0:10:32.800 get those records in rotation, knowing full well that Frankie 0:10:32.840 --> 0:10:37.360 was about to do it. Anyways, Frankie he. 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:40.840 Had two assistants, Delfina and Beth, and I'm like, just 0:10:40.920 --> 0:10:43.880 tell Frankie every Saturday, I'm gonna go up to the garage. 0:10:44.160 --> 0:10:46.120 I had a good run with that two three months 0:10:46.800 --> 0:10:50.880 until I'm dropping off Popeye's Chicken to Frankie. It's a Thursday, 0:10:51.120 --> 0:10:53.600 and I walk in and there's my father and uncle 0:10:53.640 --> 0:10:56.160 and m and it's like a scene out of the Mafia. 0:10:56.320 --> 0:10:57.800 And I'm like, what's up? 0:10:58.040 --> 0:11:00.360 And my uncle has a temper and he slammed the 0:11:00.480 --> 0:11:02.679 fucking a table and he's like, how long do you 0:11:02.679 --> 0:11:05.040 think you could have done this without telling us? I'm like, 0:11:05.040 --> 0:11:07.440 what do you mean? He goes, we know what you're doing. 0:11:07.920 --> 0:11:09.760 I'm like, all right, I didn't know I had to 0:11:09.800 --> 0:11:12.839 tell you. And so Frankie's laughing and he said the 0:11:12.840 --> 0:11:14.960 same thing, goes, man, you guys really think you're some 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:16.240 mafia guys. 0:11:17.960 --> 0:11:19.040 Frank He goes, when. 0:11:18.840 --> 0:11:22.480 Did you realize I realized the first week, he goes, well, 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:25.400 how did you realize? I said, you was just staring 0:11:25.440 --> 0:11:28.160 and listening and you weren't writing notes, but you were 0:11:28.200 --> 0:11:31.480 like giving yourself a mental note and I just watched. 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:34.520 And then the next week you left me again. At 0:11:34.559 --> 0:11:37.760 the same time, he goes, man, that's pretty brilliant you. 0:11:38.200 --> 0:11:40.240 So my uncle says, well, how much did you make? 0:11:40.679 --> 0:11:42.440 I said I was making around fifteen to twenty grand 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:44.679 a week, and they said, well, you got to give 0:11:44.760 --> 0:11:46.800 us a piece. And I was like, you're out of 0:11:46.840 --> 0:11:50.160 your fucking mind, like you're not getting a piece. I 0:11:50.160 --> 0:11:51.960 didn't give him a piece, but you know, we definitely 0:11:52.040 --> 0:11:54.600 had words, and I mean after money was going up 0:11:54.600 --> 0:11:55.280 my nose anyway. 0:11:55.360 --> 0:12:03.679 In those days, will Steve played fast and loose, rich 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:05.800 walked a straight and narrow when it came to his career. 0:12:06.320 --> 0:12:07.959 When I decided to go to law school, it was 0:12:08.000 --> 0:12:10.480 more like, Okay, I need to have a profession, you know, 0:12:10.520 --> 0:12:12.920 I need to have some kind of security in life. 0:12:12.960 --> 0:12:15.920 I was always more of a realist than I was 0:12:15.960 --> 0:12:18.720 a good student, and I figured this is a career 0:12:18.760 --> 0:12:20.440 path for me, and it gives me a bunch of 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:22.720 opportunities to do different things. I went to an Ivy 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:25.559 League law school, I had student loans, I had debt. 0:12:25.800 --> 0:12:27.520 Come out of law school, I worked for a big 0:12:27.559 --> 0:12:29.839 corporate law firm. You know, I think I'm at the 0:12:29.880 --> 0:12:32.760 pinnacle of the success that I was trying to achieve 0:12:32.800 --> 0:12:35.400 as a kid. Making one hundred grand at the time, 0:12:35.480 --> 0:12:37.760 which was in the eighties, I thought I was like rich, 0:12:38.040 --> 0:12:40.200 and I think I've made it. And every day it 0:12:40.240 --> 0:12:43.040 was just it was like being a professional student. You 0:12:43.040 --> 0:12:45.440 have a homework assignment every night. You're never done and 0:12:45.480 --> 0:12:48.200 it never stops. And I was working, you know, seventy 0:12:48.200 --> 0:12:51.160 five eighty hours a week, writing briefs, doing research in 0:12:51.200 --> 0:12:54.440 the library on the weekend. It was just awful. I'm 0:12:54.480 --> 0:12:56.840 doing that. I have an apartment on the Upper West Side, 0:12:57.040 --> 0:12:59.280 thinking it's the coolest thing in the world, even though 0:12:59.280 --> 0:13:02.359 I hate my job. And Steve's now in LA. 0:13:04.320 --> 0:13:07.480 Steve wasn't in La by happenstays. He and Fred Hiram 0:13:07.520 --> 0:13:09.560 Hicks had gotten win at Mega R and b act 0:13:09.559 --> 0:13:12.640 New Audition. We're in the market for new management, so 0:13:12.640 --> 0:13:16.320 Steve moved to LA to cement a relationship with Mike, Ronnie, Ricky, 0:13:16.520 --> 0:13:18.679 Johnny and Ralph I. 0:13:18.679 --> 0:13:20.280 Decided I'm going to go out to LA for the 0:13:20.360 --> 0:13:23.440 summer to just get closer to that. They love playing ball. 0:13:23.480 --> 0:13:25.480 I love playing ball, and that's how I ended up 0:13:25.480 --> 0:13:27.560 in La. It's surely because a new addition. My best 0:13:27.600 --> 0:13:29.760 friend was an actor and he was on a show 0:13:29.760 --> 0:13:33.079 called Teditor Class. I moved into Brian's living room for 0:13:33.240 --> 0:13:36.080 the sammer. One of the girls on the show lived 0:13:36.280 --> 0:13:39.120 right above him, and I fall in love for the 0:13:39.160 --> 0:13:41.480 first time, and I said, you know what, I'm moving 0:13:42.000 --> 0:13:44.480 So new audition that last around a year and a half. 0:13:44.520 --> 0:13:48.720 The Stephen Rifkin Company just went into high gear quickly. 0:13:53.480 --> 0:13:56.360 While on the road working records, Steve had built relationships 0:13:56.400 --> 0:13:59.880 with many college radio DJs and stations across the country. 0:14:00.280 --> 0:14:03.360 He'd leveraged those relationships into the launch of SRC, the 0:14:03.400 --> 0:14:06.960 Steve Rifkin Company, his street marketing and radio promotion outfit. 0:14:07.559 --> 0:14:09.920 As hip hop continued to grow, so too did the 0:14:09.960 --> 0:14:12.600 opportunities to market it. And with access to the most 0:14:12.600 --> 0:14:15.640 powerful college radio taste makers, Rifkin was able to break 0:14:15.679 --> 0:14:18.240 records in local markets and charge labels handsomely. 0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:22.320 To do so, he used to come to New York 0:14:22.680 --> 0:14:25.800 to dum up business for his company. Because most of 0:14:25.840 --> 0:14:27.720 the labels were still in New York, and he'd sleep 0:14:27.760 --> 0:14:30.680 on my couch and I'd do my law job, and 0:14:31.000 --> 0:14:33.000 he'd go do what he did. I even really didn't 0:14:33.040 --> 0:14:35.160 know what he was doing. And then at night we'd 0:14:35.240 --> 0:14:37.360 meet up and he'd tell me what's going on, and 0:14:37.400 --> 0:14:39.360 I would just be like, holy shit, what a cool 0:14:39.480 --> 0:14:41.120 job he has. You know, the. 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:43.480 Coolness of his job was not lost on Steve either. 0:14:43.880 --> 0:14:45.960 In fact, it was so cool that it bred a 0:14:46.000 --> 0:14:48.600 bit of complacency and tempered his ambitions. 0:14:48.920 --> 0:14:51.280 I got a name of Jerry Aid, who owned a 0:14:51.280 --> 0:14:55.000 big talent agency. They were the premiere like urban agency. Goes, 0:14:55.000 --> 0:14:56.520 you need your own label, and I'm like, Jerry, I 0:14:56.520 --> 0:14:57.520 don't want my own label. 0:14:57.560 --> 0:14:59.360 He was, why not? I said, I'm doing good. 0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:01.280 I'm making a few hundred thousand dollars a year. 0:15:01.400 --> 0:15:01.760 I'm done. 0:15:01.760 --> 0:15:03.600 At four o'clock. I go to the park and played well. 0:15:03.600 --> 0:15:05.200 From five to seven a show. I go back to 0:15:05.240 --> 0:15:07.440 your office. From eight to ten, I go home. I 0:15:07.480 --> 0:15:11.560 really don't have pressure. Goes, will you please meet Paul Marshall. 0:15:11.840 --> 0:15:14.320 I go I know Paul, that's my dad's attorney. He goes, 0:15:14.640 --> 0:15:17.200 Please Stephen, He says, I can get you this crazy deal, 0:15:17.320 --> 0:15:19.480 this that or whatever. I figured I was going to 0:15:19.600 --> 0:15:21.520 just try and do everything myself. I had the money, 0:15:21.960 --> 0:15:24.840 and then the second I walk into Rich's apartment, my 0:15:24.880 --> 0:15:28.400 father calls. He goes, get to the house immediately, and 0:15:28.400 --> 0:15:30.120 I'm trying to think to myself, what the fuck did 0:15:30.120 --> 0:15:32.000 I do now? He goes, I heard you just turned 0:15:32.000 --> 0:15:34.080 down a label deal. I said, nobody will ever mean anything. 0:15:34.480 --> 0:15:36.680 Your lawyers said you could get me a label deal. 0:15:36.760 --> 0:15:38.120 I said, I know if I want one, I said, 0:15:38.120 --> 0:15:40.440 I'm doing good. I'm making two three hundred thousand a year. 0:15:43.760 --> 0:15:46.400 But Jules saw the bigger picture and made sure that 0:15:46.440 --> 0:15:47.280 Steve did too. 0:15:47.800 --> 0:15:49.360 He goes, I know you don't listen to me, and 0:15:49.400 --> 0:15:51.480 I know you think you have every answer. What you're 0:15:51.520 --> 0:15:53.680 in is the service business. You're only as good as 0:15:53.720 --> 0:15:57.080 your last contract. If you start a record company, you'll 0:15:57.120 --> 0:15:59.640 be in the asset business and you'll be making money 0:15:59.640 --> 0:16:02.960 when you league. So I spend a night, called up Paul. 0:16:03.000 --> 0:16:04.840 In the morning, I said, I'm ready to get a deal. 0:16:05.560 --> 0:16:07.480 You guys, there are two places where I want to send. 0:16:07.560 --> 0:16:07.600 You. 0:16:08.000 --> 0:16:10.080 Got the name of Irving days Off, who just started 0:16:10.160 --> 0:16:13.080 Giant Records, and I got the name of Lumla. BMG 0:16:13.240 --> 0:16:15.680 just gave me like twenty million dollars to start like 0:16:15.760 --> 0:16:18.400 the third major inside the BMG, I said, Irving is 0:16:18.440 --> 0:16:21.200 my first choice. And I didn't really know Irving, and 0:16:21.440 --> 0:16:24.119 I was nervous, and I went there wearing a shirt 0:16:24.160 --> 0:16:26.560 tie and he said we have a deal, and it 0:16:26.600 --> 0:16:28.560 says next time I see like, I don't want you 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:31.680 wearing a tie like be you. So I thought we 0:16:31.680 --> 0:16:33.880 were doing this deal with Giant. So I'm like, all right, 0:16:33.880 --> 0:16:35.600 we got to come with a name that goes with Giant. 0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:39.160 Fate said Loud listening to the Urban Dialect. 0:16:39.560 --> 0:16:42.280 The name Loud is an acronym for the listeners of 0:16:42.280 --> 0:16:46.760 an urban dialect, was created by Fabian Duruiney, who was 0:16:46.800 --> 0:16:48.480 Steve's like right hand man at the time. 0:16:48.880 --> 0:16:51.800 Despite the handshake deal with Irving, had a perfect label 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:54.880 name in Loud. Before the ink could dry. President of 0:16:54.880 --> 0:16:59.600 Giant Records, Charlie Minor, would intervene and derail the negotiations. 0:16:59.160 --> 0:17:02.000 So Charlie I let him rest in peace was the 0:17:02.040 --> 0:17:03.000 president of Giant. 0:17:03.400 --> 0:17:05.639 Charlie didn't really want to be in the hip hop gang, 0:17:06.080 --> 0:17:07.680 so we ended up at Zoo. 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:10.840 Although it wasn't his first choice. Steve did the label 0:17:10.840 --> 0:17:13.879 deal with Zoo Records and began the process of building loud. 0:17:14.280 --> 0:17:16.480 Rich was miserable being a lawyer. He was like working 0:17:16.520 --> 0:17:18.280 in a closet and he was working from like seven 0:17:18.320 --> 0:17:20.280 in the morning to like midnight, you know, and he 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:22.800 was miserable. And I said, Rich, why didn't you come 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:25.160 here and work with me? You know, I need structure. 0:17:25.440 --> 0:17:29.000 He said, dude, I got a label deal. This is happening. 0:17:29.080 --> 0:17:30.679 You're ready to come into business with me. I'm like, 0:17:30.680 --> 0:17:33.120 what are you talking about? You know. He goes look 0:17:33.119 --> 0:17:34.760 and he shows me a piece of paper. You know, 0:17:35.320 --> 0:17:38.680 it's like some deal memo. So I'm like, holy shit, 0:17:38.880 --> 0:17:40.600 is this real? You know, it looks like it's real. 0:17:41.160 --> 0:17:43.680 He convinces me to come out to LA for two 0:17:43.720 --> 0:17:47.840 weeks for my vacation from my law job. So I 0:17:47.880 --> 0:17:50.719 went out there. He picks me up in a BMW. 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:54.000 We go to dinner at some cool place in Beverly 0:17:54.080 --> 0:17:57.480 Hills or whatever. The girls are beautiful places pop and 0:17:57.520 --> 0:18:01.240 then we go to some studio there's some new girl 0:18:01.320 --> 0:18:04.760 group that's doing dance rehearsals. And out of my head 0:18:04.840 --> 0:18:08.320 spinning like this is ridiculous, we go back to his apartment. 0:18:08.400 --> 0:18:10.960 He has a two bedroom duplex. I'm sitting on the 0:18:11.000 --> 0:18:13.320 couch and he goes, how is your first day? I go, 0:18:13.359 --> 0:18:15.159 what do you mean first day? He goes, we just 0:18:15.280 --> 0:18:17.680 worked like the last six hours. They go, that's not work. 0:18:17.760 --> 0:18:19.840 We went for dinner and we checked out a studio. Goes, dude, 0:18:19.880 --> 0:18:21.120 that's work. That's what we did. 0:18:26.760 --> 0:18:28.880 The LAUD was still barely just more than a name. 0:18:29.320 --> 0:18:32.440 SRC was doing independent radio promotion for all the majors 0:18:32.680 --> 0:18:36.040 working records across the industry, including those of One Legend 0:18:36.040 --> 0:18:40.000 in particular. More importantly, though, Steve's marketing company was paying 0:18:40.000 --> 0:18:41.600 the bills to fund LOUD. 0:18:41.560 --> 0:18:45.360 At the time, and Scius to work in rspending with Tupac. 0:18:45.600 --> 0:18:49.639 I'm like, this is crazy. I get totally sucked into this, 0:18:49.800 --> 0:18:51.480 you know. And then the next two weeks I would 0:18:51.480 --> 0:18:53.560 just go to meetings with him, hang out, watch what 0:18:53.680 --> 0:18:57.120 was going on, and he's introducing me to people as 0:18:57.160 --> 0:18:59.480 his general manager, and I'm like, okay, Steve. Whatever in 0:18:59.480 --> 0:19:02.080 my eyes were like when I get back home, I 0:19:02.119 --> 0:19:05.720