YOU SPEAK OF the 90s BUT YOU DONT HAVE RAWKUS RECORDS there.......................... that in my BOOK, is a CATACLISMIC DISASTER!
because another thing we need to be careful about, is the grading system, are we jsut grading these lables on "album sales" or on the IMPACT they had on the MUSICAL INTEGRITY in HIPHOP?
where is KOCH, INTERSCOPE, DUCK DOWN?
Yeah, you also forgot about LOUD Records. They were the ones who found Wu-Tang,
The Alkaholiks, Xzibit, Terror Squad, Mobb Deep, and Lil' Flip.
and they gave more creative rights to their artists, we all know how practically all the WU members were able to score solo deals & own a significant portion of their work by being allowed to set up sub distribution companies under loud....but before that, people like
RZA (or PRINCE RAKEEM as he called himself then) were signed to labels like
TOMMY BOY RECORDS (before it became TOMMY BOY ENTERTAINMENT)and got screwed over....TOMMY BOY had what most would consider a great run what with having people like BIG NOYD, QUEEN LAHTIFAH etc on board in the early days, but its looking beyond the glitz and glamour of the blinding champagne gla**es that unveils the sad truth. most of its former artists that didnt jump ship cos of iron clad contracts are living in poverty now with no access to their royalties now...
that brings me to another important point...im sure youl know about
PUN'S story. bout how he lived "the glamour life" but in his death his family lives poor and with no way of getting any of his money & access to royalties,
BAD CONTRACTS...thats part of the reason people like CUBAN LINK left T.S and resent FAT JOE so much...
its always nice to go beyond the superficial....!