When your music is gaining traction in the streets or on the net, your first inclination might be to try and sign with a prominent artist instead of a major label. Of course, Big Bro Kanye will have my back in negotiating meetings. Sure, Ross will do his boss thing and get me paid. All the Roc-a-fella chains have been handed out but who can say no to Jay-Z? Lil’ Wayne just got full control of Young Money, it’s only up from here. But are they really riding for their team like that? Let’s see.
Turns out there are roughly a hundred artist led music labels in existence; this’ll cover 16 of them. While an in-depth analysis would be a fantastic resource on the internet, there are some perimeters on this piece. The artist in question must be a co-founder if not sole founder of the label. Only releases on the official music label count towards the number of albums. Which means even if an artist has left the label, their official contributions still stand. Here “albums” shall include all official releases, meaning EP are in the final count. Including mixtapes would be a huge task as the streaming age has rendered the medium disjointed and scattered. Only labels that are still active will make the final cut. If there isn’t a list of artists on the label, then it is disqualified. Deceased members count as former as they can no longer contribute.
For all the numbers people, each artist will be given a score. The tally adds up all the artists, subtracts the ones who left, album count, label head features on signees projects, the amount of collaboration albums and the number of years the label has been active. We must keep in mind that these numbers only tell one side of the story and there’s always more to these financial relationships.
Original Art by Sadé Robinson
Aftermath — Dr. Dre
6 current (23 former), 27 albums, 14 features, 2 compilations, 22 years=48 points
If Detox had ever dropped, Dr. Dre’s status as a label head would’ve been higher. But it’s probably never coming out, so the world will never hear the hundreds of verses recorded for it. Even with the 23 former acts on the label it’s full of heavy hitters. Dre seems like the silent mentor type encouraging from the sidelines. With the talent still signed he doesn’t need to put in too much effort anyways. Though the true potential of Jon Connor and Justus has yet to be unlocked under his tutelage.
Bad Boy Entertainment — Sean Combs
8 current (41 former), 71 albums, 27 features, 5 compilation albums, 25 years=95 points
With shows like “Making the Band,” “I Want to Work for Diddy,” “The Four,” and the slightly less popular “StarMaker,” you’d think working with Sean Combs would be a dream come true. With 41 former acts the proof is in the pudding. Since Bad Boy was founded back in 1993 being signed to the label has taken a huge drop off over the years, unless your name is Cassie of course. Rarely is the issue talent of the artists rather the cohesive nature of getting work done and the looming fear of being easily replaced. In this case the more Diddy leaves you be, the better off your career is. Hats off to Janelle Monáe making it work for herself. Have you ever seen him in one of her videos?
Cash Money Records — Birdman
18 current (54 former), 107 albums, 6 compilations, 27 years=104 points
Birdman’s score is rather high considering he’s well, Birdman. The number of features is unknown as much of the label’s music is scattered on random hard drives or old broken compact discs but not streaming. What we do know is that Birdman loves the sound of his own voice on tracks that aren’t his own, so we can assume the total is rather large compared to the amount of projects Cash Money has distributed. That being said he’s also got 54 former members. Including his pride and joy, Lil’ Wayne. Paired with the paperwork hell that is signing with Cash Money Records it’s a surprise we haven’t seen any of its current members working at Trader Joe’s on the side. Seriously, how does he convince these people to sign themselves in to legal musical limbo?
Dreamville — J. Cole
8 current, 21 albums, 7 features, 2 compilations, 11 years=49 points
There are whispers on the internet on how Dreamville is comprised of slices of its label head J. Cole, but out of this whole list Cole is probably the best at actual artist development. Signings are built from natural progression of personal relationships. He’s a guy that makes you want to work for him and become a better artist in the process. Cole supports his artists finding their own sound and sanity at times.
Grand Hustle Records — T.I.
23 current (19 former), 36 albums, 62 features, 5 compilations, 15 years=122 points
Clifford Harris may be obnoxiously loquacious when he speaks, but it certainly helped him support the many members of Grand Hustle. He’s got roughly two features on all the projects released on his label. T.I. managed to snag a lot of heavy weights amongst various rap beefs, though he lost out on Meek Mill before his star could truly shine. Grand Hustles artist turnover is still a bit high to be comfortable there. He rides very hard for his team even when you’re not officially on it, he defends Iggy Azealea and she’s only got a publishing deal.
G.O.O.D. Music — Kanye West
12 current (14 former), 37 albums, 17 features, 1 compilation album, 14 years=67 points
While the turnaround for G.O.O.D. Music artists leaves a little to be desired, you can’t say that he wasn’t involved in the music initially. One can only hope they did get out their dreams before parting ways with Mr. West. His newest affiliate Sheck Wes is already crying foul on the lack of involvement in artist development, which leads to the belief that it’s not all cherubs and clouds on G.O.O.D. Music. With Pusha T as the official label president, it’ll be interesting to see if the culture of the label changes over time. So far, it’s business as usual.
G-Unit Records — 50 Cent
7 current (14 former), 20 albums, 39 features, 1 compilation album, 15 years=68 points
G-Unit has had its share of issues over the years, but when the going was good it was actually great. These days the lineup is significantly lighter due to disagreements and death and contractual obligations. In its heyday, 50 Cent wasn’t a bad guy to have on your team and he certainly rode for his squad. These days being signed could get you a role on his show “Power,” which isn’t a bad alternative to music making.
Mass Appeal — Nas
13 current, 20 albums, 3 features, 0 compilation albums, 4 years=40 points
Did you know that Mass Appeal was a Nas venture? Surprise! It’s hard to call it a quiet four years with 20 releases on the label. As the head of household, he could stand to be a bit more visual on the support portion.
Maybach Music Group — Rick Ross
19 current (5 former), 36 albums, 30 features, 3 compilations, 9 years=92 points
Rick Ross certainly has a lot of gusto naming his label after the luxury car brand. The artist roster hosts many names, though many of them aren’t household recognizable. Of the acts that parted ways with the label, French Montana is the most successful of them. Not to discount Rick Ross’ skill in working with others as French’s deal was in partnership with Diddy and Bad Boy before it ran out. Wale’s contributions aside it doesn’t seem like Ross is too supportive of his artists finding their sound as seen with Stalley and Pill. Time will tell how MMG fares with its recent signees.
Odd Future Records — Tyler, the Creator
7 current (6 former), 19 albums, 5 features, 2 compilation albums, 11 years=38 points
This number probably seems low and it is. A lot of the things Odd Future related weren’t Odd Future official. Even though Tyler snagged an awesome deal for the whole crew, Earl Sweatshirt and Frank Ocean never signed onto the label. It was all fun and games when everyone was friends but bringing in the business aspect seems to have soured it a bit as some members, Hodgy specifically, commented on Tyler taking up all the fame. As his star power grows they’re right to question his commitment to his label mates; though one could argue they just aren’t putting in the work necessary for the platform they so desire.
OVO Sound — Drake
8 current (1 former), 13 albums, 6 features, 0 compilations, 6 years=32 points
Jokes about ghost writers sleeping in tents aside, Drake and OVO Sound seem to have learned from the mess that was/is YMCMB and is less artist heavy. It’ll be interesting to watch it really grow now that he’s finally free from his own previous label affiliations. The disconnect between artist and label head is a bit wider according to Makonnen who says Drake is only interested in hot songs. One disgruntled artists experience doesn’t make a claim for the collective’s feelings. However, we can’t ignore the pattern of hits from the Canadian magnate.
Roc Nation — Jay-Z
22 artists (10 former), 13 albums, 1 feature, 0 compilation albums, 10 years=36 points
I know what you’re thinking. Roc-a-fella Records is way older than a decade and it had more artists and something else you think I missed, it’s also a defunct record label as of 2013. Roc Nation is a lot less involved than its predecessor, however it’s also not exclusively Hip-Hop and its frequent adjacent R&B. Hov is branching out and trying to cover the spread of music as a whole. I’m sure some of Roc Nation’s signees wouldn’t be too upset with a feature every blue moon. Rihanna may not need his star power, but a former artist did sue for not becoming famous.
Shady Records — Eminem
5 current (7 former), 28 albums, 14 features, 2 compilation albums, 19 years=61 points
For all the complaining he did about the current state of rap, Eminem doesn’t seem too keen on using his own clout to help those he signed. In its early days, Shady Records boasted the lyrical elite but on a project that bemoaned all of his dislikes he missed an opportunity to show them off. Too bad he’s kind of a jackass. This isn’t to discount his heavy presence on label projects back in the day. It’s just odd that in a prime moment to feature verses from the lyrical giants he signed, Em just whined about everyone else instead. Anyone heard from Yelawolf lately?
Taylor Gang Entertainment — Wiz Khalifa
12 current (2 former), 23 albums, 69 features, 3 compilations, 10 years=115 points
Wiz is taking the stay high and build approach with Taylor Gang Entertainment. They’re really having fun with it and because of that he’s higher up on the label boss scale. However, with the discrepancy of Lola Monroe ever being a true signee and the unfortunate passing of Jimmy Wopo before he could release music as an official member; Wiz just misses the top spot for this particular category.
Young Money — Lil’ Wayne
16 current (15 former), 27 albums, 27 features, 3 compilation albums, 13 years=71 points
Young Money is proof that even with the posse cuts and albums, ridiculously long tracks with five or 6 verses, it’s not always sunny on the biggest team. It’s almost unfair to judge Lil’ Wayne and his efforts with Young Money as he was only just recently given full control of the label. With the many layers of being signed to this label it’s a wonder any of them stayed at all.
1017 Records — Gucci Mane
8 artists (1 former), 136 albums, 2 features, 0 compilations, 11 years=156 points
A label birthed from prior label disagreements was bound to find itself in more of the same. Officially the only former member is Waka Flocka and that was a huge mess, big enough to change the name of the label. Post-incarceration Gucci Mane hasn’t made much of a change from his label dealings prior to the stint as it still seems to be mostly self-serving release wise. He’s also the reason so much of OJ the Juiceman’s music exists and he should mostly apologize for those creations.
Original Art by Sadé Robinson
Naturally we’re not privy to all the inside information of these labels. In fact we only seem to hear about most of the negative operations after artists have parted ways. On the flip side, we should celebrate the ones doing it right and making it worth signing those papers. In a landscape that is leaning more towards independence some artists are still out here making it worth it to sign record deals.